{"id":10762,"date":"2023-06-08T11:03:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T11:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smarterbusinessprocesses.com\/?p=10762"},"modified":"2023-10-06T14:01:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T14:01:09","slug":"5-brilliant-tips-to-get-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smarterbusinessprocesses.com\/5-brilliant-tips-to-get-productive\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Brilliant Tips to get Productive","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest figures\u00a0 from the ONS indicate that UK economic growth continues to be slow<\/a>.\u00a0 Improving the nation’s productivity remains a hot topic as the UK tries to catch up with France, Germany and the US.<\/p>\n

At Smarter Business Processes, productivity has always been a key focus for our clients. We know that\u00a0 common unproductive tasks can lead workers to spend less than half of their time on their main jobs and research suggests that in an eight-hour day, the average worker is only productive for around four hours.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at five time-wasters that are draining your team\u2019s productivity and taking time away from creative and innovative work, and what you can do to help them get more high-value work done.<\/p>\n

Constantly checking email<\/h2>\n

Is your team spending more time than you think on email?\u00a0Harvard Business Review<\/a>\u00a0reports that the average professional spends 28% of their workday reading and answering email, with the average full-time worker spending 2.6 hours and receiving 120 messages per day.<\/p>\n

Still, email doesn\u2019t seem to be going anywhere. According to the\u00a0State of Enterprise Collaboration report<\/a>, despite the rapid adoption of collaboration tools, 58% of IT decision makers have seen increased email usage at their companies.<\/p>\n

\"Be

It\u2019s unlikely your team is trying to waste their time in email. Maybe they\u2019re worried that someone might need something from them and they don\u2019t want to leave anyone in the lurch. Or they are waiting for information from someone else, so they keep checking back. Or perhaps you\u2019ve set the expectation that you can immediately get a hold of them through email. Fretting about email isn’t always a productive business.<\/p>\n

We can resolve this issue by building you a collaborative workspace.\u00a0 It makes for more productive employees. We can either create this for you using Smartsheet’s PMO template<\/a>, or we can work with you on a productive, customised solution.\u00a0 Either way, reduce reliance on email, and manage projects by giving teams a space to organize and manage their work outside of their inbox.<\/p>\n

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Unproductive meetings<\/h2>\n

How much time does your team spend in ineffective meetings? You know the kind. Everyone gets into a room to discuss what they\u2019ve been working on, where they are on a project, and what they\u2019re going to work on next, while taking time away from actually doing the work. Too many meetings can make you less productive in the workplace.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re having your team spend an hour getting updates on things that may or may not be relevant to the work they\u2019re doing, it\u2019s time to reconsider your approach. A work execution platform like our Smarter Dashboards tool<\/a> can help show the status of every element of the project in one place, without gathering everyone for a stand up. You can also use this tool to automate status updates, and create reports to show stakeholders that your projects are on track.<\/p>\n

Chasing deadlines<\/h2>\n

Are you or your team members spending time reminding people of upcoming deadlines? Do you keep checking in to make sure work is on track? Not only does this contribute to the volume of email, but it\u2019s also not a very productive use of your time. In fact it reduces a team’s productive capacity if chasing becomes a major activity.<\/p>\n

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There is a way to help your team and cross-functional collaborators stay on top of their deadlines. With automated workflows you can create automated reminders based on the milestones or due dates laid out in your project plan. For example, you can have Smartsheet automatically send a reminder to those responsible and accountable for a task three days before it\u2019s due, and another on the day it\u2019s due. It makes for more productive days all round.<\/p>\n

Searching for information<\/h2>\n

Searching for the information they need to get their work done can be a significant time-waster for your team. Workers on average spend 36% of their day looking for and consolidating information, according to\u00a0CMS Wire<\/a>. But 44% of the time, they can’t find the information.<\/p>\n

There is a way to get all of the information everyone needs to complete a project or manage a process in one place. Simply synch your cloud storage with your Smart sheet data.<\/a> It can make you very productive. We can work with you to connect to Google Drive or Dropbox cloud storage and sync Excel files or Google sheets to and from your Smartsheet environment. This will allow you to automatically integrate supplier price lists, customer event schedules, logistics, anything that can be saved in a spreadsheet and accessed by cloud storage. It also further helps to reduce time wasted searching for attachments in email.<\/p>\n

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Reacting to interruptions<\/h2>\n

According to the\u00a0American Psychological Association, \u201ceven brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40% of someone’s productive time.\u201d Some of these interruptions might be of a more social nature, but they often take place in the form of a search for information, project status update request, or an attempt to track down approvals to keep a project moving forward.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0automating repetitive, manual tasks<\/a> such as approvals, status updates, and reminders, your team can become more productive by cutting out unproductive interruptions. People can respond when they have a moment, without being actively interrupted. You may also want to establish and communicate \u201cinterruption-free\u201d blocks of time with your team so they can have some time that\u2019s free from interruptions for deep work.<\/p>\n

Create more time for high-value work<\/h2>\n
We can improve your team productivity today. Talk to us about your Smartsheet Workflows, Tracking, Automation and Integration.\u00a0 Arrange a free consultation<\/a> – we’d love to hear from you!<\/h5>\n

Further Reading<\/h2>\n

You might be interested in our recent blog about the challenge of Low Productivity in the UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also read about some of the ways you can boost your working practises while remote working here<\/a>.<\/p>\n