Five Tips for Improving Workflow Efficiency“Workflow” has become a buzzword in the business arena—for good reason. Optimizing the flow of work can result in higher productivity, improved efficiencies and, ultimately, greater employee and customer satisfaction. An added benefit: It’s empowering to have proactive control over your business processes—not to mention, add to your company’s bottom line.Mapping out a strategy starts with taking a 360-degree view of current operations. What obstacles are hindering performance? What steps can be taken to improve processes and procedures, both short- and long-term? Here, five tips to help enhance your office workflow.

1. Identify Unnecessary, Duplicated, and Overlapping Tasks

Few companies, no matter what size, operate at peak efficiency 100 percent of the time. Chances are it’s due to employees performing tasks that aren’t integral to the success of the practice. Eliminating unnecessary actions positively impacts how (and how quickly) work gets completed.Redundancies can often be traced to lapses in communication. Without proper discussion, it’s easy to think others are accomplishing tasks or working on a project when, in reality, nobody has touched it. Clearly communicating assignments, roles and expectations are critical to ensure all work is completed on time and on budget.

3. Remove Bottlenecks

By definition, bottlenecks are any part of a process that slows it down. Warning signs include a backlog of work, continuous errors, stressed employees, even unhappy clients.Before you can remove barriers, you have to pinpoint them. This is where you’ll want to dig deeper to understand why a workflow is inefficient. Maybe it’s staff. Are employees overloaded and on the verge of burnout? Or do they lack the necessary skill set? In either case, you’ll want to assess carefully. Solutions may mean bringing on additional staff or ramping up training—a direct lead-in to the following tip.

4. Hire and Train Well

Most business owners underestimate the time and effort it takes to staff a high-functioning office. An outside recruiting firm has the ability to source specialized talent (on-the-market and passive), vet candidates and be your right hand throughout the hiring process—all geared to saving time and money over the long haul.Training provides staff members with skills and confidence to excel in their roles. It can alsohelp alleviate procrastination, which occurs when employees are in unfamiliar territory or feel overwhelmed by their workload.

4. Automate Where Appropriate

In simple terms, workflow automation is a strategy to help streamline your company’s daily operations. Along with reducing the likelihood of human error, optimizing technology can improve service—a boon for both clients and staff.Among the aspects of the workflow process that can be automated: patient information (pre- and post-visit), billing, customer service, project management, timekeeping and payroll.

5. Keep Refining

Even the best designed workflows need to be reassessed periodically, especially as a business grows. Continuous monitoring and review are essential for process improvement, or to incorporate automation and new workflows. Engaging peers, suppliers and vendors can all add value to your organization.The key to success in workflow process management is to implement best practices that suit your company's needs and culture.Are you hiring? Learn how JobSnob can help you streamline workflow by connecting you with top quality candidates ideally suited to your business.