SIX Easy tips for Increasing Workplace Efficiency

In today’s rapidly changing technology and ever-evolving work force characteristics, one of the most pressing issues for organizations and firms today is how to increase efficiency at workplace and wherever labor is put to use. To quote Abraham Lincoln, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” This adage has stood the test of time and resonates with planning and executing tasks more efficiently.

Given below are six easy tips that can be leveraged to increase efficiency at workplace.

1. Delegate Tasks: Often, employees end up shoulderingmultipletasks on themselves. Two major reasons for this are; Firstly lack of trust on peers and secondly, introversion in personality. To come up the best deliverable, employees need to develop a mutual trust amongst each other in order to get assistance in completing their individual tasks. One has to feel comfortable in reaching out to peers for help if they want to get volunteered at work else one risks becoming somebody else’s work-horse.
2. Attend Relevant Meetings: As believed, time is the most important currency of life. Many people go overboard on the idea of meetings for the benefit of networking with peers. They fail to realize that whether the meeting is relevant to them or not. Whether the particular meeting with colleagueswill fetch some results or will simply lead to wastage of time... It’s very important to know what meetings to refuse in order to channelize time productively and enhance workplace efficiency.
3. Prioritize Tasks: Creating To-Do lists of everyday tasks at work is an idea worth considering so that one does not lose focus. Another aspect of using To-Do lists is the fact that it brings a great sense of accomplishment to strike off a task once it’s complete. Plus, it also gives you a visualization of your progress towards your destination.
4. Minimize Distractions: Perhaps the most ubiquitous of distractions in a workplace is Social Media. Frequent access to social media sites while at work is a rabbit hole one should steer clear off. Every minute spent on this can add up in a day’s worth of time.
5. Limit Multi-Tasking: Multi-tasking works for some, but taking ownership of responsibilities and tasks should be realistic and should not be done on impulse. The oxymoron that you have to ‘slow down to get ahead’ applies to multitasking. Switching focus repeatedly is known to reduce memory recall and we are more prone to make mistakes. Knowing which task needs your undivided attention can save a lot of re-work as well.
6. Take a Break: People with desk-jobs develop a sedentary routine which begins to reflect in their productivity. A smarter way to accomplish increased efficiency is to work in short bursts at your peak productive hours and take breaks of short intervals as it is an essential component in maintaining a sound body and mind.

Workplace efficiency lies at the intersection of skills, technology, and the practices adopted by an organization. These three elements exist in tandem and are inter-dependant. Best practices of work efficiency are most effective when they are implemented in concert throughactive engagement between the employer and the employees. Adopting these simple ideas can readily accelerate the overall efficiency and productivity at any workplace.