Because there is nothing more precious and costly in your work than time.
We generally waste far too much time on tedious tasks during the working day. Whether you’re an employer or an employee, certain repetitive everyday tasks can quickly become time-consuming, such as dealing with emails.
That’s why you need to identify these activities and find effective solutions so that you can devote more time to the most important projects.
So what are time-consuming activities? How can we identify them and what solutions can we opt for to reduce them?
What are time-consuming activities?
There are many time-consuming activities or tasks, both at work and in our personal lives. They include incessant meetings, the flood of emails that accumulate in mailboxes and so on.
Because of these activities, the person concerned may find less and less time to work on more important projects. So it’s important to take corrective action, starting by identifying these tasks.
Some examples of time-consuming tasks
For example, some meetings can be time-consuming, as you will be obliged to attend meetings that drag on without really adding any value. Similarly, in the case of paternalistic companies, it is essential to ask permission from the company’s hierarchy before you can take any initiative.
Time-consuming activities also include administrative tasks. These are often very time-consuming and burdensome. Handling calls is also an important part of the job. It can be difficult for some people to manage call time well.
Solutions to reduce time-consuming activities
One of the best ways of dealing with time-consuming activities within a company is to outsource them. In other words, delegating these activities to a third party or even a company. This solution can be used for answering emails, making appointments, entering documents or even processing orders. It is then possible to opt for a remote secretarial service, for example, to reduce the majority of unprofitable tasks. You can also opt for a specialist office assistance agency to help you with time-consuming day-to-day tasks.This solution is particularly suited to the self-employed, as it allows them to manage all or part of their administrative tasks, saving them valuable time.
You can also opt to outsource your bookkeeping. Accounting often takes hours and requires concentration to minimise the risk of errors. You can lighten the load by hiring an accountant. This professional can work in your office or remotely, and his or her involvement can be very effective in taking stock of the various expenses based on your invoices.Another solution is to be rigorous in carrying out tasks. Every task can become time-consuming if it takes a long time to complete. This often happens when you carry out two or more activities at the same time, a counter-productive practice. It is therefore advisable to eliminate distractions, so that tasks can be completed more quickly and time can be freed up for other important activities.
It’s also advisable to try and put in place efficient processes for recurring tasks that don’t add much value. For example, you could send a prospect a questionnaire to assess the seriousness of their request before following it up. Depending on their answers, it will be easier to to choose the next step, perhaps a telephone interview or something similar. Such an evaluation process is highly effective in avoiding wasting the time of the customer you are trying to satisfy.
Another simple and practical solution to the various problems associated with wasted time is to adopt project and portfolio management software. This type of software often makes it possible to improve overall project productivity, as the low value-added tasks that teams carry out generally represent a very large workload. In fact, there are a number of software packages available that incorporate a range of different functions, including centralisation of information and documents and automation of simple tasks. This makes it possible to guide the team more effectively and avoid its members putting a lot of productivity effort into work with little added value.
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