Five ways to waste less time
People do not always do what you tell them to. This is a fact both in the family as well as in many organizations. A lot of the time, it has nothing to do with unwillingness, or the effort it takes to do the chore. Many of us recognize this from our own experience. So what else can be the underlying cause of these behaviors?
Our management consultants have gained a lot of insights into the challenges that might cause these issues. For example:
The information you need is scattered on different islands, such as the C-drive, intranet or other systems.
Consequence: You lose time searching, and cannot be sure that you have the correct and most recent information.
The available instructions contain too much information to digest. It is hard to find out what are the minimum requirements for the things you are supposed to do.
Consequence: You end up tired and confused, which means you lose interest, start cutting corners, or even worse − start making mistakes.
The platform used for the management system is hard to maintain, keep up-to-date and may require external help to reconfigure.
Consequence: It will be costly for you to have an updated system, when changes in templates are needed, adding/removing roles required or when a re-organization takes place.
Needless to say, everyone should be able to access the relevant information instead of wasting time whilst searching for it.
So, can we do anything about the abovementioned? Yes we can! Here are some advice:
Make sure that you have a system that is the natural starting point for the user, and that it has a good support for search functions, tagging, etc.
Be very clear about what the minimum requirements are for users and state this at the beginning of each document. Let the other information follow as optional, or/and as an appendix.
Do not fall into the trap of getting a system that consumes a lot of external support to stay updated. It should be easy to maintain and configure.
Have a system in place that manages new updates and revisions, so that everyone can rely on the latest and greatest.
Create interactivity with the users, and make sure they can easily send feedback to the one responsible for the document, process or such.
These are some things you can do to make your organization waste less time, and become more efficient.
Are you interested in learning more about how to create an easy-to-access and flexible management system? Check out our webinar User-friendly management systems.
