Of all the resources companies regularly monitor and allocate, time is perhaps the most important. In the business world, saving time can also mean saving money, and time can often mean the difference between a happy customer and an angry customer or a successful launch and a failure. This makes finding ways to save time a top priority for any entrepreneur.
To help their own businesses save time, members of the Young Entrepreneur Council have implemented their own productivity hacks. Below, they each discuss their chosen strategy as well as what other businesses can do to benefit from it.
1. Set Priorities Using an Eisenhower Matrix
We implement the Eisenhower matrix when managing projects or tasks and it has allowed us to improve our productivity considerably. It’s a project management mechanism that allowed us to prioritize our tasks by focusing on two important factors: importance and urgency. It’s a pretty self-explanatory model to implement in a business and doesn’t require you to go through extensive training to train your team. – Chris Klosowski, Easy Digital Downloads
2. Use project management tools to help plan your week
We use a project management tool to break down recurring and project-based tasks for each team member. We require each team member to plan their week in advance and check future tasks to ensure they have everything they need to perform with minimal back and forth. This type of management reduces daily communication and helps us meet deadlines. – Libby Rothschild, Patron Dietitian
3. Encourage time blocking
Blocking time is the most useful strategy for maximizing productivity. To use this tactic, encourage your team to block out rolling periods of time that are pre-scheduled for high-priority tasks, then ensure time is dedicated to those tasks. This creates blocks of meetings and blocks of free time, allowing everyone to have a schedule with long stretches of uninterrupted time to focus. – Arian Radmand, IgnitePost
4. Take advantage of asynchronous video messaging
“Loom, not Zoom” is a slogan for our team! This means we use asynchronous video messaging for anything that doesn’t require real-time chat. This eliminates unnecessary meetings, improves efficiency, allows for flexible scheduling and most importantly, over time this approach has built us a library of videos which are now used for training and support which continue to save us time. time. – Devesh Dwivedi, Devesh Dwivedi
5. Make sure everyone takes regular breaks
Sometimes, one can be so focused on work that one reaches the point of exhaustion, which can affect work productivity. Scheduling micro-moments to get away from the daily grind and unwind can help you unwind and get back to your tasks. Other companies may encourage employees to take breaks, especially under strict deadlines, to improve productivity rather than suffer from burnout. – Brian David Crane, Spreading Good Ideas
6. Automate repetitive tasks
Automating repetitive tasks has saved our team countless hours. We use several tools to take repetitive tasks out of people’s hands. Things like social media posting, email, campaign management, and even some aspects of content production are exhausting and daunting, but also absolutely necessary. We’ve “outsourced” them to technology and it’s the best decision we’ve ever made. -Solomon Timothy, OneIMS
7. Give your teams project autonomy
One productivity hack that has worked for us is that we empowered our teams to design their workflows and have end-to-end accountability for projects. Of course, we have clearly communicated our vision, but it is the teams who develop the action plan and the strategies to achieve the milestones set. This has saved a lot of time because there are fewer strategy and follow-up meetings. – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Shapes
8. Set clear goals and pathways
You can dramatically improve company-level productivity by setting clear goals and pathways. Some employees work well on their own, but others need structure to be more productive. Instead of saying “I want us to have 10,000 Twitter followers,” explain how you want the team to accomplish this task. Setting clear paths for your team will save you time and eliminate self-doubt. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights
9. Set ‘Rocks’ on a weekly basis
We are currently trying out a policy of setting “rocks”, or personal goals, tied to projects and assignments on a weekly basis. Then we schedule a weekly meeting to talk about those rocks and if they are achievable within a given timeframe. This saves time when new clients come online or we have potential opportunities that require time investments. Companies can do the same with weekly meetings and goals. – Duran Inci, Optimum7
