Being a business owner is tough and keeping ahead of the curve in terms of innovation, expansion and creative thought is a constant struggle. Here are four ideas that you can utilise in your business to make everything and everyone work better.
Standup meetings
It might sound like something out of Glengarry Glenross but the standup meeting is a great way to instil a bit of agency into a team. The morning meeting can be a great way for a whole group of people to shut off if everyone is slumped over their lattes at a board room table.
But if you conduct your meetings in a bright airy space, with everyone stood to attention, then it can get people in the kind of active head space needed for a hard day’s work. Make sure you’ve got some space to make stand up notes, high circle tables work perfectly, and make sure everyone’s still got their lattes and watch those turn-off sessions turn into something productive and meaningful.
Create and complete small projects
Humans are pretty predictable creatures and one thing the study of psychology has shown us is that we all get a boost from completing a project. The best way to utilise this in the business world is to make sure that not all of your projects are weeks and months long.
Try to divide long projects into sprints that your team can complete and feel good about. Where possible try to create smaller, in-house projects aimed at increasing productivity so that you can get a two-fold boost to your work rate both in the satisfaction factor of a job well done as well as new processes that can help out on the bigger tasks.
Consider hiring a branding consultant
A pair of outside eyes can be helpful when it comes to spotting untapped potential in your business and under utilised markets. Outside rebranding consultants spend their days and weeks coming into businesses and finding areas where you are under performing in the market and tweaking your out facing image to make your business more appealing to the consumer.
It’s always scary handing the reins of something this important to someone else, but remember that anyone you get in ultimately works in an advisory capacity and any concept you don’t love doesn’t have to be acted on. Nothing gives a company and a work force a boost like a new image and a new direction though so shop around and see what’s available in your area.
Get out of the office
This one works a charm when the workload gets too much. We can all tire of our workplace surroundings whether we’re at the top of the tree or just working a 9-5. Remember that while you may love to burn the midnight oil at your trusty executive desk, your workforce can always benefit from a little change of scenery.
Book meeting times outside of the office, in coffee houses for instance, or conduct a quick chat that could be done at a desk on a walk round the block. Even a twenty-minute break from the same old scene can be enough to get someone back into the groove and producing top results for the day.
Even if you feel like you should be carrying on where you are, take a look ahead in your schedule and see if there’s something you can bring forward that will give you a chance to get out there and clear your head.