Top 10 examples of business efficiency!

Top 10 examples of business efficiency!

Currently, we are improving the efficiency of operations in various fields. What are some examples of many efficiency improvements? This time, I would like to introduce an article that I think it is good to start from here in order to improve the efficiency of business.

What kind of ideas do you have for improving work efficiency? Introducing the tips of success with 10 cases!

 

Improving operational efficiency is also an issue for many companies. However, it takes time and effort to actually improve efficiency. You can find many ways to improve work efficiency by using the Internet, but there are many cases where you cannot expect any effect even if you investigate and practice only "methods to improve work efficiency".

It is important not only to hold down the basic methods and tips, but also to "reference ideas and examples that have been practiced in the past." Therefore, this time, I will introduce the tips for improving work efficiency, including examples that have been practiced so far.

10 selections of ideas and examples that promote operational efficiency and operational improvement

Here, we will introduce 10 ideas and examples that have been put into practice to promote operational efficiency. There is nothing difficult, and all of them can be challenged from tomorrow. Please refer to it.

 

10 ideas

- Lose business
Eliminating work does not mean not doing work, but "eliminating useless work." This is the first point to consider when considering a business improvement plan. Wasteful work means that if you have created unnecessary materials at a meeting, for example, the time required to create these materials can be said to be wasted.

It can be an important resource for others, but it's more efficient to focus on what you're supposed to do than to be prepared for such a small possibility. The key to eliminating work is to act while thinking about "Is this material really used?" And "What is the current work connected to?"

 

- Prioritize operations
After eliminating unnecessary work, let's prioritize the remaining work. It's a simple but important point to improve work efficiency.

For example, if you have a task that takes a long time and a task that does not take a long time, work on the task that takes a long time first. In between the tasks, you may be able to do tasks that do not take much time. If you focus on tasks that don't take long because they finish first, you may end up with tasks that take time.

When deciding the priority, first check the schedule etc. and decide the work to be done every hour. At that time, it is also important to make detailed settings such as "working for XX from what time to what time". As you get used to it, you will be able to back-calculate by what time one task should be completed and proceed according to schedule.

 

- To automate
If you look at the work content, you may be doing the same work on a daily basis. The characteristic of such work is often simple but heavy work. And often only the person in charge understands how to organize and share. Therefore, there is a risk that business will be stopped if the person in charge disappears.

To prevent this from happening, let's automate such repetitive tasks. Automation is the use of macros to make it easier to handle work in Excel, email, and Word. You can complete the work with the touch of a button, and work efficiency will increase at once.

 

- Business manual creation
You can improve the efficiency of your work by creating a manual of work methods and rules. Manuals are designed for readers to understand their work, so the easier they are to read, the easier it is to understand.

Therefore, the manual creator should not only write the knowledge, but also use texts, figures, tables, etc. that are easy for the reader to understand, and make it easy to read. In addition, manuals are often created when employees join the company or when new systems or equipment are introduced. It is important to prepare the manual so that it can be read at that time, rather than starting to create it at the time of introduction, so prepare early.

 

- Create a business flowchart
Clarifying the business flow also leads to efficiency. The business manual explains the content of the business and how to proceed, but the business flowchart explains what kind of business there is throughout the day and how to proceed.

Even if you understand the business flow, it is meaningless if you do not understand the contents. On the contrary, even if you know the contents of the work, you cannot improve the efficiency of the work unless you understand the overall flow. Therefore, let's create a business manual and a flowchart at the same time. Let's read the manual for each business while checking the business flow chart.

 

- Utilize the database
A database is a system that stores data that has been used in a company so far. It is possible not only to accumulate data, but also to retrieve it. For example, you can know not only the information of customers who have traded so far, but also the inventory information of products.

The database also covers detailed information such as customer questions and answers, what kind of opinions they had, and the results of questionnaires. Therefore, you can know the cases that happened in the past and their countermeasures, and you can deal with them efficiently.

It also allows us to unify our customer service. One way to further reduce the effort is to publish "Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" on the homepage.

 

- Divide work into multiple times
The amount of work varies from person to person and from day to day. When work occurs intensively, it is possible to reduce the load on the person in charge by dividing the corresponding time. This kind of response is called "Samidare correspondence".

"Material check" is one of the situations where you can effectively utilize the sami-dare response. For example, suppose a material creator creates 50 materials. The created materials will be handed over to the next person in charge, but in that case, the person in charge will check 50 materials at a time, which takes a lot of labor and time.

But what if you want to create 10 materials at a time and send them in 5 batches? Whether you create it or receive it and check it, the burden of one time is greatly reduced. The trick to dealing with shavings is to know in advance how much the handing side can handle without problems.

 

- Change the person in charge of business
People have their strengths and weaknesses. You have to get the job done, even if you're not good at it, but if you can, consider changing your responsibilities.

In that case, the person in charge of human resources will first set up a forum for discussion and understand the current status of employees. In addition to that, we will consult with the person in charge of the department and make adjustments so that we can become the appropriate department / person in charge. That alone can be expected to improve work efficiency.

For example, rather than assigning employees who are good at English to sales and general affairs, it would be more efficient to change to an overseas department. In addition, it is important to check and review the areas of strength, such as sales for people with high communication skills and marketing for people who are familiar with product circumstances.

 

- Speed ​​up your work
It's simple, but the faster you work, the more efficient you are. One of the characteristics of people who work fast is that each process is very fast and they are working while grasping the next task. Not only the rotation of the head, but also the speed of connecting what was processed by the head as an action is fast.

But just being early doesn't make sense. Even if you work early, if you make many mistakes, you may spend more time fixing them, resulting in less efficiency. Keep in mind the speed and try to work with few mistakes.

It takes some getting used to doing the work quickly, but it is also important to improve your skills voluntarily. For work that uses a personal computer, speed up typing, such as enabling blind touch, and if you often use English materials, study English. Your efforts will greatly improve the efficiency of your work.

 

- Combine various ideas
You can expect an effect just by surely completing the ideas introduced so far, but you can realize even greater effects by combining them. For example, by combining "Creating a business manual" and "Creating a business flowchart", you can understand not only the content of the business but also the flow at once to improve efficiency.

And as a result, it also leads to "increasing work speed". However, the point is not to try to do all the ideas at once. Ideas are compatible, and incompatibility can reduce efficiency, so it is important to identify the combination.

 

Key points for successful work efficiency ideas

There are several ideas for improving operational efficiency. However, simply implementing those ideas may not be very effective. To make good use of it, you need to hold down the points that suit each idea.

Let's take a concrete look at what to keep in mind when trying out ideas.

 

- Clarify the items you want to improve efficiency
It will take a huge amount of time to streamline all operations. If you stick to efficiency, it can be inefficient. Therefore, let's first pick up the items you want to improve efficiency.

Items that you want to improve, such as whether you want to create a new manual to equalize the quality of work, eliminate waste of work and improve efficiency, review the allocation of personnel and increase the average work speed, etc. let's decide. This will give you an idea of ​​what to do first.

 

- Identify "waste" in everyday work
It is thought that there is not a little waste in business. First of all, let's write down the work that you usually do every hour. "From what time to what time", "who", "what are you doing" and so on.

Then, you can see people who are doing the same work at the same time and people who are doing work that does not have to be done. By finding "waste" in the work that you usually do, you can improve the efficiency of your work.

 

- Find a business that is likely to be put together
Some tasks can be put together. For example, if you have people doing similar jobs in different departments, let one of them do the work for you. Then, the remaining one will be free and you can do a different job.

Alternatively, if you plan to have several meetings with the same members, you may want to combine them into one. Not only the meeting time but also the travel time required for it can be shortened.

 

- Equalize work quality manually
Even if one good employee can do all the work, if the other employees can't do the same work, the work efficiency is poor. Therefore, the existence of a "business manual" becomes important. Business manuals are created to make the quality of work of employees as uniform as possible.

The manual describes not only the contents of work, but also the knowledge and rules of working at a company. While raising awareness of work, we will acquire knowledge, which will eventually lead to more efficient work.

Aim to unify the standards of materials with the opportunity of efficiency improvement
The standards of materials are constantly being updated. If the standard changes depending on the manual, each person who reads it may acquire different knowledge. If you want to improve work efficiency, create a unified standard for materials.

Formatting and design are also important to make it easy to understand. It will be easier to see if you unify the details such as formats and fonts. By unifying the details, it is convenient for replacement and correction. Let's unify the standards of the materials, taking the opportunity to think about efficiency.

In addition, the manual can be created on paper, or can be sent and distributed by email or in-house system all at once. Examine what method is most appropriate and proceed carefully.

 

- Extreme commitment to work hinders efficiency
It is important to demand perfection and high quality for business. However, it is possible that that commitment has significantly reduced operational efficiency.

This is a problem if you are more particular about it and work is delayed. It is better to be aware of "achieving the client's purpose" rather than how perfect it is. Keep in mind that it is not "getting rid of your commitment = cutting corners".

 

- Consider covering the people who actually work
Improving efficiency does not always lead to good results. Depending on the person, there are things that they are good at and things that they are not good at, and it is possible that what they have done so far will change and the efficiency will worsen.

Therefore, it is necessary to consider the impact of improving efficiency on employees and countermeasures. It is also important to cover the people who actually work.

 

- Points to note when implementing ideas for improving business efficiency
It is important to make improvements by referring to ideas and examples of improving work efficiency. However, it can be counterproductive by sticking too much to improving. Here, we will explain what you should be careful about when referring to ideas and examples.

 

- Don't suddenly try to implement all the ideas
There are many ideas and examples when thinking about improving work efficiency, but let's not execute various ideas at once. At first glance, it seems that the effect can be expected efficiently, but it is not always the case.

There is a big difference between running one idea 100% and running 10 ideas 10% each. Assuming the same capacity, if you do one thing 100%, you will be more likely to achieve it. However, if you do many things at once, each one will be half-hearted, and you may end up with nothing.

The important thing is to make a realistic plan according to the capacity of the worker and make sure that it can be executed.

 

- Use the mistakes you make as feedback
Mistakes are inevitable in our work. The important thing is not the mistake itself, but how to handle it.

The best thing you shouldn't do is not report the mistake to your boss. If you make a mistake, you know that you don't want to report the mistake. However, if the mistakes are repeated many times, not only will the business be delayed, but the company itself may be seriously damaged.

First, let's be honest about the mistakes we made. Organize in advance "what was the mistake that occurred" and "why such a mistake occurred". Think about how to deal with that mistake. In addition, make sure that others haven't made similar mistakes. Don't end your mistakes with just mistakes, but use them as feedback.

 

- Tools that help improve work efficiency
Memo function
Many computers have a memo function by default, and you can record any data on your computer such as texts, images, and videos. You can search for words and save the created files for each folder and manage them hierarchically, so you can easily review the necessary information compared to paper memos.

 

- Screenshot function
Like the memo function, the screenshot function is often provided on the computer as a default function, and you can easily take a screenshot at any time by using the shortcut key. By using screenshots, you can efficiently share information that is difficult to convey just by explaining the text.

 

- Online storage service
Online storage services such as Google Drive and Drop Box allow you to share and sync data between any member. When working on a project with multiple members, it is more efficient to store the data in the online storage service from the beginning rather than sharing the data from time to time. You can use Google Drive and Drop Box for free, but if you are dealing with large amounts of data or highly confidential data, you should install the paid version.

 

- Task project management service
You can easily prioritize your tasks by managing tasks and projects in a visually easy-to-understand manner using task and project management services such as Backlog and Trello. In addition, since the progress can be shared among any member, it is possible to change or add the person in charge according to the situation and improve work efficiency.

 

- Cloud-based manual service
By utilizing the cloud-based manual service, you can create, modify, and browse the manuals you need at any time and place. Creating a manual from scratch usually takes a huge amount of time and puts a heavy burden on the creator. In that respect, many cloud-based manual services have manual templates, so anyone can easily create high-quality manuals and significantly reduce the creation time.

Teachme Biz is a visual SOP platform that makes it easier to understand and more efficient in business by making full use of images, videos, and texts. In addition to the basic manual creation function and browsing function, the task distribution function and training function allow superiors to grasp the work execution status of their subordinates and support new employee education.

Teachme Biz, the No. 1 manual creation tool

 

Summary

Many ideas have been put into practice to streamline operations. As a result, many companies have succeeded in improving efficiency. The important thing is to determine which ideas are appropriate for your company.

"Teachme Biz" is a visual SOP platform that makes it easier to understand and improves work efficiency by making full use of images, videos, and texts.

SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) are explanations of specific tasks and procedures in order for each task to ensure safety and maintain quality. In the visual SOP, by effectively using this SOP not only text but also images and videos, it is possible to create a manual that anyone can easily understand.