4 quick tips to improve your team's efficiency

It's a no-brainer that in any business, to remain competitive you must boost operational efficiency wherever possible. It's particularly important for SMEs to operate efficiently, because they often have more limited resources than larger top tier companies. 

Reporting on projects, pooling together plans and quotes for tenders, and making sure projects are completed on time (and within budget) are all a part of the golden goal - and understanding what small operational tweaks you and your team can make to improve efficiencies will help reduce overall operating costs, improve client satisfaction, and will help keep you ahead of your competition. 

Here are four simple tips you can follow to help boost your team’s efficiency:

1. Time tracking and recording

There are a lot of timesheet software in the market which you can utilise for this. Timesheets will allow you to keep track of your team’s hours and compare them to your project timeline. This will provide you a better understanding of how each team member utilises their time. On the other hand, getting your team to record their daily activities will enable them to plan out their day better. Here's a list of timesheet software you can choose from.

Once you have the sufficient data from your timesheet, you will be able to analyse your team’s productivity. This will help you and your team find ways to boost efficiency based on the data you have analysed.

2. Effective planning

For businesses, it is important to plan out a project timeframe that is realistic. The data you have collected from your timesheet will help you do this. Plan out a timeframe which caters to your team’s capabilities and ensure that the schedule is followed accordingly.

3. Manage your customer’s expectations

Make sure that each member of your team has a clear understanding of the project’s scope, possible risks as well as other project elements such as deliverables. This will help you create a realistic project timeframe for your client and, in turn, your client’s expectations will not exceed your capabilities to complete a project. You can include these information on your business capability statement which you can present to your potential clients.

4. Collaboration is key

Create a work environment where collaboration is encouraged and start building a productive team. Increase your team’s productivity and efficiency by encouraging them to collaborate with and learn from each other. Let them share ideas, techniques and other know-hows with one another. As the saying goes, “two heads are better than one”.

Managing and organising your tasks will help you keep track of your productivity, and it will help you monitor your team's efficiency.

PlantMiner helps improve efficiencies for construction companies by helping them source all their plant, equipment and subcontractor hire quotes in one place. Don't spend hours running around chasing people for prices, instead, improve efficiencies in your procurement process by letting us do the running around for you. If you've got an upcoming project that you need quotes for, give us a try and tell us what you need to hire here.

For additional advice, check out our article on gaining a competitive edge for your construction business, or download our free Gantt template below to help organise your project tasks and team priorities.  

Author's note: Information on this post was sourced from KeyedIn Projects