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Tips and Tools for Staying On Time, On Task and On Quality
As the business day is comprised of more tasks and employees have 24-hour access via cell phones and e-mails, managers must find creative ways to meet demands and stay productive. Efficiency is one way to do this. If you can become more efficient, you can accomplish more tasks in the same amount of time. If you work smarter and faster, which is the definition of efficiency, you can even find free time you thought you lost.
We've all heard the time management tip for processing paper on our desks, which is to touch it only once. Act on it, file it, or delegate it to the proper area but don't lay it back on your desk to look at later. I watch businesses work to increase the turnover or servicing of current customers, I've noticed a few tips that are interesting, effective, and creative that can help you increase your turnover in your office and lead to efficiency. Why is turnover important? Because the faster you can serve, treat, process, or meet customer's needs, the more customers you can serve in the same amount of time or in the same size facility. Improving turnover is directly related to the bottom line. It is not necessary to add larger facilities, increase your operating hours, or make other capital improvements if you can increase turnover.
Consider the restaurant that experiences a lull after lunch and before the dinner hour. Offer an "early-bird" special to customers who dine before 6 p.m. as a way to use the extra capacity. My college is offering Saturday classes and on-line hybrid classes for the same reason. But it is important to offer customers the same service level. Working faster to increase turnover will backfire if you fail to maintain quality and service levels your customer expect.
Employees in the many nail shops in this area take walk-in customers as well as quote appointment times. These times are extremely accurate. How? The work stations have a timer in use. The employee will set the timer for the standard time it should take to complete the task selected by the customer. By staying within the allotted time, service wait times and scheduling can remain accurate. Having accurate times for processing correspondence or proofing reports can better help managers schedule their days as well.
An area restaurant uses a team approach to service customers and particularly for re-filling drinks. They place a small plain paper coaster under diet soft drink glasses, unsweet tea glasses, and decaffeinated coffee cups. This way all servers can tell diet from regular sodas, sweetened from unsweetened tea, and decaffeinated from regular coffee. This is a quick, standardized, visual reminder that works well and costs little. The cost of the paper coasters is offset by the accuracy and speed of refills, which does increase the customer turnover. Also any available server can offer drink refills. In an office setting, color-coded files can help communicate information quick and easily. In the college setting, we use purple files for student folders. They don't get lost on our desk and at the end of the semester's advising; they can easily be sorted and returned to the proper secure location.
Performing quality work can also save time and increase turnover. If you do it right the first time, you don't have to do it over. Quality product manufacturing or service delivery can save time by eliminating rework, overtime, scrap, customer complaints, or even costly litigation. From the medical field come examples of marking body parts for surgery and having both the patient and physician sign in permanent ink. This ensures the surgery will be performed on the correct location. An efficiency expert who studied the original writings of Benjamin Franklin, one of the earliest American efficiency experts, told me she has a template for various packing lists on her computer. One for hot weather business trips, one for cold weather business trips and for vacations she has three packing checklists for skiing, beach trips, and mountains. She never forgets any of her supplies or sporting gear with this system. Similar lists help plan office meetings, seminars, and training sessions for various size groups and at several locations.
A store selling a number of parts and electronic supplies places a blue tag on the hooks of out-of-stock items to alert customers the items can be quickly ordered on-line. When termite inspections are made in a basement or crawl space, a local pest control company notes the service date in ink on a wood frame or support in a far back corner of the structure. This notation assures the owner the technician did perform the service.
A busy junior executive keeps a separate folder for each committee and notes the dates of meetings he attends in the inside left side of the folder; this record reminds him not only of his participation for later performance activity reporting, but also is a visual reminder of the progress his group is making on the assigned task.
Another restaurant with daily specials used a 1/3 sheet of paper listing the meat and vegetable specials and prices. The server merely circled the items the customer requested and a separate sheet was marked for each customer. This sheet was used by the cook to fill the order and was returned to the customer and used as the ticket for payment. Each customer sheet's was numbered (1,2,3, etc.) so the server could quickly distinguish the customer's order and didn't have to ask, "Who had the meatloaf?"
Involving customers in co-production will also save time. In some restaurants customers may prepare their own salads, fill their own drinks, or select their own condiments. Systems to improve quality and time can be simple, effective, and inexpensive. What tips do you use? What others could you implement? Consider reading one of the many popular press books on time management and efficiency. One or two helpful tips can help you find extra time.
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