Essential Tips for Managing Office Workflow and Reducing Bottlenecks
In the corporate sphere, a bottleneck is something that delays or interferes with business processes, resulting in poor team productivity and hindering performance. Bottlenecks can occur in startups that are growing faster than the team can keep up with, and in established companies suffering with outdated technology and inefficient team processes.
Bottlenecks have a knock on effect on the rest of the team, or perhaps on the rest of the organisation, causing delays, stress, and creating tension and resentment between employees. If your team is experiencing a bottleneck, try implementing the following tips to better manage your team’s workflow and be a productive, united front moving forward.
Establish a Task Prioritisation System
Within any team structure, having clarity and guidance on the way tasks should be prioritised is imperative. Employees should always have an explicit understanding of task prioritisation, and managers are responsible for ensuring this. Employees being left confused and idle will inherently lead to wasted time and a spanner in the overall productivity of the team.
Task prioritisation can be implemented in a number of ways. One of the most common and logical ways to prioritise tasks is by their deadline; this will also help employees to slow down and be more intentional with their output. Tasks can also be prioritised by their influence on the rest of the team; for example, tasks that are a pre-requisite of the task of another team member should be prioritised so that colleagues are not constantly waiting on each other to get work done. It is also crucial to ensure small, less important tasks are not taking up too much time; prioritising tasks based on how long they take will help to prevent time being wasted on small, less important tasks when there are larger, more pressing tasks still waiting.
Delegation of Authority (DOA)
Many businesses report time wasting and inefficiency linked to waiting on colleagues and managers for approval. In any case, waiting around for approval is an unproductive and time consuming process that causes frustration and resentment to build up within team structures. Generally, inefficient decision making stems from poor management of authority within a team structure and can be particularly costly in terms of poor employee performance and a decrease in morale.
Individuals in a position of authority should be given clear parameters detailing their authority, and clearly established limits on the scope of their authority. This should then be made aware to the rest of the team, so that it is common knowledge which member of the team has the authority to make certain approvals and should therefore be consulted to make certain decisions. This will prevent time being wasted by employees waiting around for approval and enable the team to run smoothly, with each member of management making effective decisions within the parameters of their own authority.
Maintain a Clear Document Management System
Keeping electronic documents in a neat and orderly manner is essential for enabling all members of the team to efficiently locate and use the files they need. When files get lost or go awry, this can have a serious detrimental impact on productivity and lead to significant delays in various business processes.
Modern day companies tend to store all documents and paperwork in a digital format. Using a document management system can help companies to access, store, manage, and track their documents electronically. It is common for companies to struggle to find the time and resources to manage documents internally, especially when digital files and folders are heavily used by a larger team. For these reasons, implementing a formal document management solution can be instrumental in getting your electronic files under control and keeping up to date with the latest advancements in document management technology.
Work on Your Team’s Communication
Communication, communication, communication: one of the single most important cornerstones of an efficient and functional team dynamic. Especially in an increasingly digital world, with employees often working remotely and communicating through instant messaging and video calls, clear and effective communication is essential for successful and productive teamwork.
When teams communicate poorly, each member of the team is receiving an insufficient amount of information, meaning all the small decisions they are making throughout the day are not aligned. This can result in impacted scheduling, wasted resources, and wasted time. To amend this issue, managers are encouraged to create and implement clear communication strategies for their team. By clarifying communication based needs and expectations for the team, managers can clarify and streamline the team’s communication, resulting in improved teamwork, increased output and productivity, greater creativity and idea sharing and, ultimately, an increase in output and productivity within the team.
