5 measures to improve productivity at work
How to concretely increase the productivity of your teams in 5 simple steps.
Step 1: Define the KPIs of work productivity
What is a KPI?
What is a KPI?
The KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is a measure of performance towards the goal, which translates into a key performance indicator. It is often required in areas related to business performance, such as sales management or marketing, but it is possible to define KPIs in any area and for any job. You can quantify what you are currently doing and what you need to do to achieve your goals.
By setting KPIs, objectives are quantified and everyone can capture common indicators, which has the advantage of facilitating all members’ actions towards common and clear objectives.
Step 2: Remove the bottleneck
The next step is to find the part of the whole that has the lowest processing power and efficiency, the so-called bottleneck. To identify the bottleneck, it is good to consider the following points.
- Work is often delayed
- Repetitive work
- A recurring task where the same mistakes often occur
- Time-consuming work
Step 3: Examine available systems
Now that you know what the bottleneck is, it is time to look at possible solutions to solve it.
For example, if a loss of communication occurs due to business communication while teleworking and productivity is reduced, the solution may lie in the use of collaborative communication software (chat, Slack, whattsapp, etc) or legal software. Then examine the functionality of this solution to address the adjacent problems? It is important not to neglect the side effects inherent in the change of use, but also the limits offered by the envisaged solution. Whattsapp is certainly the most used chat service in Europe for exchanging with your friends and family, or setting up an appointment, but is it relevant and secure enough to exchange information on the outcome of a confidential project?
The answer to your question should include an anticipation of your future needs and the development strategy you want your employees to accomplish, with their consent and in a certain transparency.
Step 4: Automate the tasks that can and do simplify your internal workflows
Legal workflow automation is a tool that defines a set of tasks based on a recurring, pre-programmed process for identical situations. This process works automatically for these scheduled tasks, without the need for human intervention or manual steps.
Each structure or organisation will implement workflow automation according to its needs and will provide a solution that alleviates, among other things, the burden on employees, such as data entry, validation of documents to be signed, invoices and task allocation.
The advantage of workflow automation is that it can be an opportunity to ‘rethink’ these tried and tested and perhaps outdated internal workflows. Simplification is at the heart of digital transformation and workflow automation to improve efficiency.
Step 5: Share your goals, communicate the changes and execute
Once you know your goals and areas for improvement, it is time to share them transparently with your teams and take action.
Goals are meaningless if you don’t achieve them. Make your objectives as specific as possible. Write them down in detail in the to-do list, share them and execute them one by one.
Lawyer for 20 years with international law firms and worldwide companies (Canal+, PwC legal, Nomos, Amazon) I had experienced this observation from the inside: too much useful time wasted to regularly monitor on recurring tasks and time-consuming linked to files, with low added value.
It is to respond to this critical problem that Alf, the first workflow automation platform for the automation of legal files, was designed and developed.
Customizable, collaborative and accessible in all languages, Alf is also part of a GreenTech approach that encourages responsible innovation by reducing your carbon emissions.
Sabine Zylberbogen
Registered lawyer and Founder