When it comes to the business world, two words always pop up: productivity and efficiency. If your business is efficient, and if your employees are productive, then you have a winning combination on your hands.

Building up such a utopia of a business is not easy, because improving efficiency and boosting productivity must always be done retroactively. You can make plans and strategies to make workflows more efficient and use all the tips and tricks in the book to help keep your employees on task, but the best method is to analyze your current efforts and strategize improvements based on your current system.

Things get messy, especially when you reach a stage where you are either expanding or facing a downturn. That mess becomes catastrophic if you haven’t put in effort towards improving your business’ efficiency beforehand.

In either situation, do not panic. Instead, follow these steps:

Find the Perfect Project Management Tool for Your Team

There are many different kinds of project management tools out there, and don’t assume that they are interchangeable. Even within similar project management solutions, some stand out. They may offer more features. They may make it easy to integrate into other tools and systems so that everything can be handled from one central

The best product roadmap software can help your teams improve their organizational efficiency. It can help them cut down on unnecessary delays and ensure that they are delivering in the most optimum manner possible. At the end of the day, gaining the highest levels of productivity in a remote work setting is what companies are looking to obtain. Additionally, a tool should be such that it is able to integrate with other software solutions that the business and its employees are using.

Can Handle Task Delegation

Task delegation is a trademark of any project management tool and is one of the features most businesses should look for. The only time task delegation is not a straight-forward process is when it comes to creative teams. Though it will be different for creative teams, each member should know what they are doing and the general structure of the tasks they have on their hands.

Makes Approval and Edits a Cinch

With one creative project management system, both your team and your stakeholders can be involved in the process. Forget the days of sending emails back and forth just to show the next minor update to the spread. Today stakeholders can view, ask for edits, and collaborate in real-time with your creative team to improve and then approve of the project for publication.

This real-time review and approval process means you cut down substantially on the back and forth edits. Around 80% of tasks are typically approved of with two or fewer edits involved, taking a lot of stress out of the project, all thanks to one online portal.

If those stakeholders are clients, it also means you can vastly improve transparency and visibility. By inviting those stakeholders into the process in such a way, you can provide that extra level of value that turns one client into an ongoing relationship.

Works with Other Systems You Use

The last thing you need to keep in mind when it comes to the tools you choose is integration. It should be easy to use the creative suites with your creative management program. Such a small step makes it easier and more fluid for remote teams to work effectively and productively, just because there is no roadblock in their creative process.

Encourage Health and Wellbeing

The right project management tools will help your team work collaboratively, but if they feel horrible and their mental health is in a bad place, they will not work as well as they would otherwise. It can feel like you have no control in these areas, but that is the furthest thing from the truth.

There are many ways that you can support their health and wellbeing.

Flextime

One of the best options is to offer flextime, which allows employees to get their work done when they can throughout the day. This is ideal for parents, those that have health concerns, and those struggling with their mental health.

Be Compassionate

The last thing you want is employees not to let you know of issues at home that will impact their quality of work. Be supportive and compassionate, and work together to come up with a compromise. If they are struggling because a loved one was just hospitalized, you will get better work out of them later by supporting them now and giving them the time to properly care for their loved one, or, in the worst-case scenario, work through their grief. Don’t give up on a quality employee that would otherwise be with you for years just because they are going through a bad period in their life.

Support Their Development

People who see a future with your business tend to work harder and more productively. Employees that are allowed to shine that have a real hand in changing and helping your business grow to see your business as their own. You want this. You want them to see your success as their own, because that is how you encourage motivation and dedication, even amongst remote teams.

You can do this with raises and promotions, yes, but one tool that many businesses don’t rely on enough is continuing education. Train your team up. Help them build the skills they want to learn. You’ll benefit, they’ll be inspired to work harder and in new, innovative ways, and you can provide that incentive to love your business even when working from home.

This doesn’t have to be a costly option, either. Once a month offer one employee to go on a training course, workshop, or conference if there are any available. You could even sponsor and pay for them to complete an online course and receive a certification. Spread out the opportunities, and you can budget in this benefit while reaping the rewards all throughout the year.

It is important to remember that improving efficiency and productivity can be done in two main steps. One, to improve the morale and support amongst your staff. Two, to speed up workflows with the right tools. With this combined approach, you work to help improve the efficiency of your business from two approaches. Humans will not respond the same way as machines and vice versa, but by approaching the two sides independently, you can work to raise standards across the board.

Read Also:

• How to Manage The Risk Of Remote Employees
• How to Protect Employee Relationships When Working from Home