Streamlining business operations can sound like a daunting task. But if you use a simple, methodical approach, you can make a big difference without overhauling everything you do!
At Elevate, we focus on helping our clients create systems to streamline and automate their operations so they can avoid getting stressed out, overworked, and overwhelmed.
When things run smoothly (often without your direct input!), everyone benefits: you, your team, and your clients or customers.
Today, we’re looking at the importance of streamlining operations, 4 key areas of business you should prioritize when you get serious about leveling up your operations, and some of the most common roadblocks or challenges to building a more efficiently run business.
Let’s make work less stressful and more productive this year!
Why does streamlining business operations matter?
A clean, efficient business is more productive, more efficient, and easier to scale than a messy, slow business that doesn’t have clearly defined systems, procedures, and automations in place.
The main reasons you should prioritize streamlining your operations include:
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Cost effectiveness: as things get more expensive, saving time means saving money, and this can have a huge impact on your overall profit margins
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Customer expectations: with overnight deliveries and increasing speed of service, clients expect you to keep up with their fast-paced demands
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Scaling + growth: you can’t scale chaos! Streamlining your operations will make it much easier to grow
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Peace of mind: running a streamlined business means less work on your end and more free time for things like vision casting, creative problem solving, and generating revenue
When your operations are streamlined, it’s much easier to delegate tasks and responsibilities to others. They understand what needs to happen, and you don’t have to constantly check in or answer questions.
As CEO, you can’t be in charge of every tiny detail of how the business runs. (That’s not your job!) Streamlining gives you the opportunity to clean everything up, know who is in charge of what, and take advantage of automations wherever possible.
If you’ve been feeling like you need to clone yourself or work 80 hours a week in order to keep things going, that’s a sure sign it’s time to streamline your operations!
Which areas of your operations should you streamline first?
If you’re staring down a messy business (and don’t feel bad if you are, lots of very successful CEOs are in need of some operational cleanup!), it can be hard to know where to start making changes.
We recommend starting with the things that suck up the most of your time and can be easily streamlined without a massive overhaul or reconfiguration.
You want to get some small, meaningful wins in place before you tackle any larger, systemic issues.
For most CEOs, leaders, and business owners, you’ll want to start with:
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Inbox management
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Calendar management
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Document management
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Systems + procedures
Within each of these areas, there are smaller tasks that can be quickly streamlined. If you want to streamline your inbox management, for example, you may want to start by cleaning up your existing inbox before setting up some basic rules and automations to keep it clean moving forward.
When you’re ready to dive in and start doing the work, click on the link for the area listed above for our professional “best tips” you can implement immediately.
What challenges get in the way of streamlining business operations?
Streamlining is a buzzword for a reason. Everyone knows they should be doing it… but it’s actually much harder to put this knowledge into practice than expected.
Understanding the common challenges that get in the way of streamlining can help you make a plan for avoiding them and proactively manage the process from the beginning.
One of the biggest problems we see with our clients is that you’re simply too close to the day-to-day to understand where changes are needed. It can feel like things are working “fine” because you’re managing every part of a system or process yourself… but that’s not your job.
Bringing in an outside expert is often the best way to identify inefficiencies and most effectively streamline operations.
Your team can propose another common challenge. Most people don’t love the idea of change, which can lead to team members being resistant to learning a new system or way of doing things, even if it’s more efficient or easier.
Combat this roadblock by involving your team in the streamlining process. Ask for their input, take time to understand their pushback (sometimes it’s valid!), and give them a sense of ownership in the process.
Keeping things streamlined once you’ve cleaned them up is a huge issue. If you don’t have clear SOPs that are customized to each system and automation you put in place, details will be missed, and things will quickly become messy again. It’s also hard for different contributors to stay on top of their responsibilities if they aren’t clearly written out and communicated.
Support your streamlining efforts with a tailored SOP Library that captures all your new systems in detail and makes it easy for anyone to come in and follow the procedure to keep things neat, organized, and efficient for years to come.
Need help streamlining?
Whether you need an outside expert who can see the big picture or a team of operational pros who can create and document new systems and automations, our team at Elevate is here for you.
There are a number of ways we can support your streamlining efforts:
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Partnering you with one of our talented Virtual Executive Assistants to streamline things for you from the inside, building a business that’s ready to scale
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Working with you 1:1, CEO to CEO, to troubleshoot your problems, create an action plan, or build out a strategic roadmap for streamlining your business
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Stepping in for a short-term Get It Done Service to solve your problem for you, whether it’s needing an SOP Library, inbox cleanup and management, or help streamlining your bookkeeping or hiring processes
Our operational experts love streamlining anything and everything. We know what works, how to customize your systems to your unique business needs, and how to set you up for future-proof, long-term success.
Check out our website or click one of the specific links above to get started!
