Tips To Improving Workflow

Tech it up:

As a virtual assistant I feel like it's my obligatory duty to inform everyone of the value technology can play on workflow not only making your own job easier, but improving the ease of access and flows to your clients/customers. Consider some of the following resources for improving workflow and how they can help.

Cloud Suite Service - Companies like Gsuite, Zoho, and Salesforce with CRM & team collaboration software are great for keeping in touch and sharing information with co-workers a breeze. Google probably has the free version of communications, and team collaboration resources out there due to google drive being free.

Virtual Communication - In light of the corona virus pandemic, virtual communications have skyrocketed. Consider using software like zoom & google hangouts for communicating with your team. My personal recommendation is starting a group chat which can further encourage communication.

Social Media Manager Tools - Websites/apps like Hoot Suite & Social Pilot are great for the people who post either for their clients or for their own personal business. Creating & posting content are already time consuming enough natively, these platforms allow you to post across each social media platform individually from one space.

*Check out my previous article "A guide to going virtual" for more tech resources

Look for ways to Improve your Processes

Look at some of the business processes you have in place (if you even have any in place). Consider this, If I asked you to explain the cycle of which money flows in your business how would you describe it? Often times the best way to improve a system is: 1. Establish what your concrete cycle is, 2. Identify areas of lag, 3. Look for ways to improve your customer or employees experience (yourself if you're a solopreneur). Listen, or ask for customer feedback on negative experiences they had, or difficulties in your dealing with any of your processes (like the amount of time it takes to onboard a client).

Learn To Maker A Decision Fast; And Learn To Adjust Even Faster.

If you listened to my podcast "Tips On Improving Work Flow" I briefly discussed how the faster you can make a decision, the faster you can correct it if its wrong; or the faster you can move on with the right. It's okay to be wrong, and change courses, but if you're going to improve workflow then learning to make your choices fast and learning to correct the wrong even faster is a prime way to not only increase efficiency but increase speed.

Undoubtably in your quest to accomplishing these things you are bound to be imperfect and make a mistake. So it is best if you get acquainted with admitting your mistakes and having solutions for those mistakes so your team or investors don't feel like you don't have things under control.

Open Communication

We already talked about some tech that can help improve communication, but let's talk about about communication itself. Encouraging open and consistent communication (not enough to be distracting) will allow team members to feel more comfortable with sharing. Recognizing when members are performing well and being disciplined in your approach when critiquing. A delicate approach when critiquing allows for collaboratives to be open about their mistakes, therefore allowing it to be remedied quicker and increasing workflow.

In conclusion ...

The most important thing to remember is that the best way to look for improvements to your workflow is making the customer's or your employees lives (even both) easier. Whether by purchasing a cloud suite, or investing in equipment like a scanner, it's important to have your team or business functioning on an equal platform making sharing more fluid. If you're interested in upping your workflow, but still need some extra help, consider giving us a call for a free 1 hour consultation. Visit us at Offsource.tech to learn more.