There’s an old saying that you’ve probably heard used a lot. “Time is of the essence.” It’s the kind of thing you usually hear when someone’s in a rush or really needs to meet some kind of deadline. But it takes on a slightly different meaning when you’re talking about a business. Because here’s the thing: when you’re running a business, time is always of the essence. If there’s one resource that’s more valuable to you than any other, it’s time. Not only that but it’s also the only resource that you simply can’t get back once you’ve used it. Which makes it all the more ridiculous just how much time is wasted by the vast majority of businesses. A smart, productive use of your time is one of the most important aspects of any business and without it, you’re just going to end up falling behind or getting buried in a mountain of tasks. To make sure that doesn’t happen, here are just a few ways that you might be wasting time in your business, and how to avoid them.
Too many meetings
Some things can only be dealt with by coming together to discuss them with your employees. But that certainly doesn’t mean that every single issue should be dealt with in this way. The vast majority of employees would consider meetings to be a serious waste of their time and over the course of a month they could end up eating into huge amounts of time that could be spent more productively.
Stretching yourself/your team too thin
There’s definitely something to be said for the importance of streamlining your team so that you avoid spending money on unnecessary staffing costs. However, you should also be aware that you and your team are just people, and people have their limits. No matter how committed or skilled you might be, there will always be a limit to what you can achieve on your own without some support. Not only that but there is also going to be a point when you reach the edge of your personal skill sets. The solution to both of these issues is to outsource certain tasks to outside companies or freelancers. Whether it’s marketing techniques or managed IT services, there are plenty of jobs that would be far better dealt with my outsourcing rather than wasting time on it yourself.
Distractions
Let’s be perfectly honest; we’ve all hopped onto Facebook or Twitter at work from time to time. But if your employees are doing that regularly, it’s going to start eating into their work day in a pretty significant way. Make sure that your employees are fully aware of what they should be doing and when it is and isn’t appropriate to be surfing the web. It’s also a good idea to look at why employees might be getting bored or distracted. It could be down to another staff member or they may simply not have enough to keep them busy.
