One of the biggest problems of running a startup lies in the fact that it always feels like an uphill battle. First of all, you’re trying to outcompete companies that have several times your manpower, logistics, and resources. Still, just because something sounds difficult, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible or that it’s not worth doing. What you need to keep in mind is that increasing productivity in your startup is definitely not a difficult matter. Here are the top six ways you can do so on a budget.
1. Focus on the task at hand
The first thing you need to understand is the fact that it’s quite easy to get distracted, especially when working online. After all, tabs with your social media accounts are just a click away and making a five-minute YouTube break always sounds like a compelling idea. Still, you need to show some restraint. The simplest way to do so is to actually make it harder for you to get distracted. For instance, if you need social media for work, make a new profile, don’t use your own with your personal contacts and DMs. Also, it would be ideal that you use a separate computer for work. Sure, it’s an additional expense but it’s definitely worth the investment.
2. Use adequate tools
The use of proper tools for the job is also a major determiner when it comes to the productivity of your team, regardless of its size. For instance, a tool like Taskworld can help you with all those vital micro-management tasks that lead to the improvement of productivity as a whole. You get assistance for file management and performance report compiling. You also get some aid when it comes to time tracking and composing an efficient project timeline. Overall, the use of an adequate platform can automate some vital tasks and make your job a lot simpler.
3. Improve office design
Improving office design is one of the simplest ways to achieve a slight boost in productivity without having to sacrifice anything. There are so many simple design tricks that you can use like enhanced task lighting, ergonomic furniture, and so on. For instance, one out-of-the-box ergonomic trends that are used all over the world is – standing desks. This boosts not only the health of your employees but also their focus and alertness in the workplace. Finally, keep in mind that design can also be used to minimize distractions. For instance, by adding rugs to the office you can lower the noise generated by the foot traffic, which will help minimize the number of audio distractions within the room.
4. Mandatory breaks
Perhaps the most important thing you need to consider when it comes to boosting the productivity of your startup is the concept of mandatory breaks. You see, there are some people who believe that they can reach excellence by pushing themselves extra hard and skipping breaks. All that this achieves is that it makes them more likely to make a mistake and it makes them overworked in the long run. In fact, in order to turn this one around even further, you could always consider starting a trend of interval working.
5. Encourage a healthy lifestyle
The problem with productivity is that it’s not just something that you can fix in the office 100 percent of the time. An employee that doesn’t eat well, sleep enough, and has some issues at home will not be the most productive member of your team. Here, however, you can just encourage, inquire about the problem (but not be too pushy), and offer your advice. There are some things that you just can’t affect, nonetheless, you can’t know if you can fix this problem if you don’t at least try.
6. Invest in talent retention
A lot of employees see startups as a starting point and not a place where they’ll build their careers. This is a shame, seeing as how by the time your employees get enough skill and experience they might already start considering other offers. So, make them stay by incentivizing them, building a personal relationship, and showing that they have a career in this industry.
Conclusion
The most important thing you need to learn how to do is to track your progress. You see, without tracking your progress, you might get the wrong idea, seeing as how you can subjectively overestimate or underestimate the difference. This is why you need to consistently track your progress over a longer period of time and then calculate averages. This way, you’ll get the most accurate picture possible and find yourself in a situation where your productivity can truly reach its full potential.
