8 key factors that decrease business productivity

You want your business to succeed – that’s a given. However, you might be doing some things that are actually holding your business back from achieving its full potential.

If you’re not being as productive as possible, then you’re not giving your business its best chance at success. Here are some of the things you could be doing that sabotage business productivity.

Not tracking your time

Where does all your time go? If you’re not tracking it, then you have no idea. However, tracking your time and that of your employees doesn’t need to be difficult. Just get time tracking app that allows you keep tabs on how long you spend on each task or activity throughout the day. You can then use that information to make any necessary adjustments to your schedule going forward.

Having too many meetings

Meetings can be great. They can help you communicate with your whole team at once. They can facilitate camaraderie and collaboration. And they can also be huge time wasters if you don’t have a specific goal or purpose in mind. This is especially the case when you’re in the manufacturing business and you need to meet with various suppliers for your business. Instead of coming to a meeting blind, prepare a list of questions as well as criteria to help you weed out unnecessary back and forth with the suppliers. One way to do this is to tap into platforms such as Sourcify that help make sure such transactions are done seamlessly

Working without breaks

If you’re working constantly without breaks and forcing your team to do the same, it might seem like you should be getting a lot done. However, you could be doing just the opposite. If you don’t ever give yourself and the members of your team a break, it could lead to potential burnout or just a lack of motivation to get things done. So schedule in regular breaks if you want to stay on task.

Being general with your goals

You need goals if you want to have any hope of getting things done. However, having general goals about what you want to accomplish isn’t enough. You have to actually break down those goals and determine how you’re going to get them accomplished if you want to have any chance of being productive. If you don’t, then you and your team will be left without any real direction.

Multitasking

Getting more than one thing done at a time seems like a great way to be productive. However, attempting to multitask can actually sabotage your team’s productivity. If you’re always switching between tasks, you never really get to focus on one thing long enough to make any real progress. That means you could simply be tricking yourself into thinking that you’re getting more done when in reality you’re just doing a lot of unnecessary busy work that lacks focus.

Getting distracted

Likewise, surrounding yourself with a lot of potential distractions can be a huge issue when it comes to productivity. Think about it – if your phone is constantly alerting you to new social media posts and your desktop is constantly alerting you to new emails, how can you expect to really get anything else done? Instead, it can be a good practice to turn off those notifications and even consider having quiet office hours where team members can’t come to you with tasks or questions so that you can really get focused on the task at hand. Then just specify a time where you can answer questions or respond to emails later in the day.

Not automating

Just because you can get a lot done on your own doesn’t mean that’s an efficient way to do things. There are plenty of tools and systems out there that can help you do things better and in less time than you could on your own, no matter how great you are at your job. Tools like Buffer, Mailchimp and Expensify can help you automate certain tasks ranging from social media posts to tracking expenses so that you don’t have to spend your own time worrying about those things.

There are many things to consider when it comes to business productivity. It’s not an exact science, but it is important that you don’t sabotage yourself by taking part in any of the activities listed above.

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DISCLAIMER: This article expresses my own ideas and opinions. Any information I have shared are from sources that I believe to be reliable and accurate. I did not receive any financial compensation in writing this post, nor do I own any shares in any company I’ve mentioned. I encourage any reader to do their own diligent research first before making any investment decisions.