How Efficient Organization Improves Productivity
When you see the word “Organization,” what do you think of?
An organized closet?
An organized bookshelf?
An organized filing cabinet?
These are all areas to keep organized for better functionality, but have you ever thought about organizing your business? We are not talking about having your pens in a holder on the right side of your desk and your paper clips colour coded in your drawer, although this is our love language!
In this blog we are going to explain what happens when you lack efficient organization in your business, discuss why organization in your business isn’t enough, and provide a few tips on where to start efficiently organizing so you can maximize your productivity.
What does inefficient organizing look like?
1. Picking the wrong organizational system. An incorrect organizational system can tank efficiency.
There are a TON of different ways you can organize but it is important to pick the right system for what you are organizing. Will you organize alphabetically or by colour? Will you use a three-category folder system or have an individual folder for every aspect of your business and/or life (and will that then be alphabetical or colour-coded?)
Let me give you an example of inefficient organizing:
When I was younger, and VHSs were still a thing, I chose to organize them by colour instead of alphabetically. Why? Because they looked ugly alphabetically and I didn’t like it (seriously!); I knew where everything was, and it was quick and easy to find what I was looking for.
Center Stage was yellow, 10 Things I Hate About You was white.
This worked for me. It was organized… but not efficient.
Realistically, efficiency here didn’t matter because I didn’t own a Blockbuster location (if you are reading this thinking “WTF is Blockbuster… please Google and do not make me feel old by asking)… nor did I ever plan to. But, can you imagine if Blockbuster colour-coded their movies instead of doing it alphabetically? That would be a Friday night of chaos! Thank you Blockbuster for choosing efficiency over aesthetics.
My fictional, colour-coded video rental store would have been organized, but definitely wouldn’t be efficient. It wouldn’t have worked for anyone else who wanted to quickly find a movie, and would have wasted a ton of MY time because I would have had to help each individual person locate the video they wanted.
Choosing an organizational system without considering the needs of the others who need to access it will almost always result in inefficient organizing.
2. Over-organizing. Too much organization can lead to chaos and have the exact opposite effect.
Here is an example of this:
One of our clients desperately needed help with email management. They said they were overwhelmed, lost things, couldn’t find things, and were drowning. They also said they had all their folders already organized, they just needed some help sorting incoming emails.
Yes, the folders were “organized” by our client. She had a system. That system just happened to be that every single person she ever got an email from…had its own folder. Every project, you guessed it…its own folder, and every app…another folder. She was OVER-organized.
What did this mean? Well, every email that came in could have been put in 3 different folders.
Example email: Olivia sends an email about Project X and how to effectively use Google to get what we need.
Where does this email go? The Olivia folder, the Project X folder, or the Google folder?
In this case you pick one…and file it. Initially, it wastes a bit of time when figuring out where to file it but, more importantly, it will waste much more time down the line when you have to look in multiple folders to find it when you need to access the information later. When organizing efficiently, less is more.
You can be organized in many different ways, but when you are efficiently organized you and your business will save a ton of time (and money).
3. Not documenting or communicating. Organization doesn’t matter if no one knows where to look.
Organization means nothing if you are the only one who knows the system. It needs to make sense, be clearly documented, and be clearly communicated.
When I start developing a process for a client or for any other aspect of my business, I write down each step as I’m doing it, because it’s not useful if no one knows about it, or if I (or someone on my team) can’t repeat it.
There are two parts to documenting and communicating processes:
1. When they are first created
Almost everything we do has a process, and I do not want to have to notify the entire team every time a new document is created (that would be a pain). As part of onboarding, anyone that joins the team is given a run down of how we work, what apps we use, where to find processes etc. Then going forward, if they need something they know exactly where to find it.
For example, at TVA PTBO we have a Google Folder called “Learning Library”. This folder contains instructions on everything possible that I have ever done: how to build a website on Squarespace, how to download and install Clockify, how to use Google (and all its components), and my team knows about and has access to this folder. That way, if they need help with something they’re starting on, they know that the first place they should check for guidance is this library.
We also have client folders with client-specific processes so, again, when they go to start something for Client A, they go to Client A’s folder to check if there is an already-existing process.
IF it is a brand new process that has an immediate task assigned - I will usually link the process document, but if not my team knows where to look for it.
Maybe: IF I am working on a brand new process that has an immediate task assigned, I will usually link the process document to the member of my team who is working on that task. The better I equip my team members with knowledge of where to look for any given process document, the more empowered they are to begin work immediately and save time and effort.
2. When they are updated
After you have used a process for a while, you stop looking at the process document because you now know it inside and out. This goes for the members of your team, too, who will effectively be functioning on autopilot for any particular process. So, when those processes get updated, it is important to communicate to the team that there have been changes and to make sure that they review the changes. This way everyone in the team can collectively stop using the old “autopilot” process and instead work with the updated one.
Why organization isn’t enough in your business
Even with organization in the workplace, you can easily end up duplicating work when you don’t have the proper processes in place. This is particularly evident when launching work with a new client. Everyone in your business is scattering to complete a task that they have done multiple times before.
The reason they are scattered?
Because the task is for a different client and, without a documented process to follow, there will be confusion as to who is doing what, when, how, and where. There are multiple steps to the task at hand, and trying to remember all these steps while also getting the work done can be overwhelming.
This is where strategies, processes, and workflows come into play to avoid:
Wasted time
Wasted resources
Frustration
Confusion
Inconsistencies
Efficient business organization allows each member of your team to know what their tasks are so they can get them done confidently and without confusion. This makes your turnaround time quicker and almost always avoids situations where anyone has to repeat the work.
Like we always say… Work Smarter, Not Harder!
How can I start efficiently organizing in my business?
Now for our favourite part! Here are three areas where you can get started on efficiently organizing your business.
1. Create Written Processes
When you have tasks that require multiple steps, write them out! It is so much easier to follow a written process than trying to remember all the things when there are so many moving parts. In addition, a written process can be accessed and used by others in your business, because you have taken the process from your own head and gotten it on paper.
When making use of written processes, ensure that your steps are easy enough for a team to follow, and update the central process document as needed. Going down the list of steps while completing a process will keep things consistent and, if there is a mistake made, you can always backtrack in your steps and see where the mistake occurred. You can fix the problem at its source rather than starting all over again.
2. Use Templates
Using templates in your business is a must. Not only is it a time saver (no more staring at a blank Word document trying to figure out where to begin), it also makes life easier and ensures consistency. A template is your starting point to make sure that you have all the right details and placeholders that you would possibly need.
With a template ready to go, you just have to plug in the information required. Whether it is a contract template, social media graphics, email templates…you just have to fill in the necessary details and you are done!
3. Deploy Automations
Once you’ve got your processes and templates, the magic of automation is yours for the taking. A common misconception about automation is that it has to be an all-or-nothing approach, where you either get everything automated or everything needs to be done manually.
For most processes there is a blend of automatic and manual steps to go through, and the options range from those that are mostly automatic with a few manual steps, to those that are launched automatically with subsequent manual steps.
The beauty here is that you can choose the blend that works best for your business.
Whether you work solo or with a team, we can assure you that efficiently organizing your business will allow you to get sh*it done efficiently while boosting productivity.
Things don’t need to be complicated. WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER.
Looking for more help? Check out our other blogs!
