The results of the Brazilian economy in 2016 and the expectation for this year 2017 is still reduced consumption and retraction of the economy. This crisis is the result of several factors, but mainly, it is a reflection of the political and economic instability that has settled in the country.
We all know that Brazil's problems are great, but we can also realize the opportunity for improvements in our political and economic structure, which can influence major positive changes for Brazil in the future. In addition, historically in Brazil, crises have always preceded periods of great economic growth, which leads us to believe that after this crisis, the country will resume growth and be one of the most promising markets in the world.
It is important to understand that, while this scenario reduces consumption, increases competitiveness between companies, requiring them to become more efficient and productive. Thus, we have new possibilities to develop differentials compared to competitors, who will put the company in the market, in the short or medium term, with the resumption of growth.
Crisis and turbulence situations are precisely the times when companies should seek intelligent and improvement solutions in their management. This will bring great advantages to the competition and allow greater growth when the crisis scenario is left behind.
In this context, the key word for companies is productivity ! The improvement of productivity necessarily goes through management , where it is not enough to cut costs or investments, but to seek more results from where it is possible to happen. With this point of view, we can direct attention to: processes and people . These are the pillars of good management and the factors that can contribute to the increased productivity of your company.
Streamline processes to increase productivity
A company's process improvements can generate numerous benefits, such as cost reduction, time optimization, higher task quality and increased customer satisfaction.
Within processes, we can insert technology as a fundamental factor. Exploring the multitude of services and tools available on the internet is the best way to optimize processes in companies, let's look at some procedures to be addressed:
Map current processes and build workflows
All companies have processes, even if they are not documented. So first, identify all your business processes, a good option is to organize them by different sectors and stages. And then, document the entry and exit information of each process, listing the ultimate goal of this.
After that, it is possible to create workflows, organizing the activities by responsible and the sequence that all processes should follow between employees and sectors. In this organization it is important to evaluate what is not important to the result and what is most relevant. Processes that do not contribute to the results may even be discarded.
Use IT services to monitor and evaluate processes
There are different methodologies and systems that can contribute to the organization of your company's processes and tasks. With the definition of processes and their flows, it is possible to organize team tasks, define the sequence of activities between employees and obtain relevant information about the development of activities and results. For this, management systems such as ERPs, or task management systems such as Runrun.it or Trello .
Explore the potential of technology and the internet
Exploring IT services on the Internet can greatly increase productivity between employees and the company's performance as a whole. There are many alternatives, follows a small list of available topics and tools:
- Finance Control: Accounting , Nibo , Granatum and several others
- File Storage and Management with Google Drive or Drop box
- Communication with Customers: Zendesk , Zopim , Skype or Social Networks
- Sales Management with Pipedrive , Agendor , Salesforce and others
Flexibility and less bureaucracy
Try delegating greater responsibility to employees and increasing their autonomy for decision making, so the tendency is to reduce the approval steps within the company. Along with this, eliminate processes that do not contribute to the company's results and only serve to bureaucratize the flow of activities.
People
Today, the main asset of a company is human capital, so investing in people is critical and strategic. Let's look at some actions that can be developed in companies, turning employees:
Set goals and motivate employees
It is necessary that both the company and employees know the goals to be achieved and where everyone wants to go. For this, the manager must set results and productivity goals for the company, set the evaluation indicators and the way of distribution of goals, and can be by sector, by team and even individually. It is a fundamental part that directors are involved in the process, who know and follow the results, as this way, employees will feel confidence and seek to work together in order to achieve the results.
Together with the goals, it is important to define bonuses to employees in order to motivate them to seek the proposed results. These bonuses can be in cash, awards, travel, courses, etc. A recent method for organizing objectives is OKR , widely used in technology companies and Google. With OKR , the company's general goals are defined, objectives by sector and what key results will be measured to assess whether the goals have been achieved.
Training and Training
Investing in people who are part of the company is among the best investments a company can make. Therefore, managers should evaluate together with their employees, which can be improved within the company's processes and how it can be improved, often these improvements are using some new methodology or tool. This is the ideal time to invest in team training, offering courses aimed at these methodologies, with the objective of training well -qualified and advanced knowledge in the most recent and better in their areas, so that this knowledge is incorporated and implemented in the company's activities.
Employees with good training will innovate and create processes that will improve company results and at the same time will have motivation to perform their activities in the best way possible.
Increase the focus and eliminate the waste of time
The waste of time during work is one of the main factors that compromise team productivity. To solve this problem, it is essential that each employee has a clear understanding of his attributions, goals and results to be achieved. Along with this, the manager should follow the progress of activities and the delivery of tasks, checking if they are within the stipulated deadlines and with due quality. If deliveries are not in agreement, it should be evaluated what are the reasons, seeking to make direct contact with the team, as it is possible that it is unproductive because it is without focus, as it may not have knowledge about the importance of delivery to the results of the company.
Technology resources can also contribute significantly to the waste of time at work, employees can use working time in mobile phone use for conversations on WhatsApp with friends, or company computers for personal email access, social networks , instant communicators, entertainment sites, games, purchases, etc. To alleviate this problem, the company must create a policy of using technology and the Internet resources , creating rules and limits in relation to what can be used and accessed, defining schedules and punishments in case of non -compliance with the rules.
Improve communication and share knowledge
Sharing knowledge and experiences between sectors and teams can contribute significantly to increased productivity in your company. Employees often develop activities effectively, but do not document the processes and actions performed. Documenting this knowledge will help others to learn and improve their actions. For this, the company can use intranet systems, discussion forums or an internal content blog.
Facilitating and encouraging communication between sectors and employees is also important, can expedite information exchange and even reduce costs with document and bureaucracy. For this, it can be used instant communication programs like Skype . Another tool that has stood out as an option for corporate communication is Slack , as it allows the creation of channels focused on some topic or sectors of the company.
Increase productivity through management, optimizing processes and qualifying employees . This thought must compose managers strategies during this period of economic instability and reduction of consumption.
Share in the comments what your business has done to be well positioned in the market and circumvent the crisis!
