Chaos in Your Office? Four Ways to Get Your Office Under Control.

Does your office feel chaotic?

Are invoices piling up?

Do you have slow-paying clients?

A pile of quotes or bids to get through?

Or are you reliant on one or two key people who if they moved on would cause you major headaches?

If this is you then I’ve got 4 helpful steps that are going to help you get your office under control.

Step 1: Complete a thorough task analysis. 

Task analysis involves creating a list of all the tasks required to run your office. 

Get everyone involved so your list covers everything. 

It doesn’t matter who’s doing the task at present. 

Include everything from answering the phone, invoicing, taxes, payroll, compliance certificates, pricing through to vehicle servicing and getting stationery. 

The more detailed the list the better. 

Listing all the tasks that your business currently does is the easy part. 

It is as important to list all activities that you are not getting to right now. 

For instance, marketing, performance reviews for your team, and other activities that will help your business grow and improve. 

Using a whiteboard (or an A3 sheet of paper) works well.

Step 2: Once you have all the tasks on paper divide the tasks up into roles such as Receptionist, Office Administrator, Estimator, etc. 

By clearly outlining what tasks each role is responsible for you prevent confusion around who is responsible for what. 

Clear roles are important in any business but especially so in a family business when a husband and wife work together!

Step 3: Including Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in your Job Descriptions ensures your team has a clear understanding of what good performance is. 

Take an Office Administrator for example. 

KPIs could include all quotes followed up one day after sending, all jobs invoiced within 2 days of completion, Profit and Loss Statement completed by the 10th of the following month, and all tax obligations filed and paid on time. 

An incentive program where your team is rewarded based on achieving their KPIs can also improve productivity.

Once you’ve completed the Task Analysis, Job Descriptions, and set up KPIs for each role in the office…

Step 4: Create a daily and weekly checklist to help ensure all tasks get completed. 

Your Checklist will include all the tasks for the day and at what time of the day the task should be completed. 

Weekly tasks are also assigned to specific days and times. 

For example, “follow-up overdue accounts” could be included on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. 

Monthly and annual tasks such as taxes or annual accounts can be included too. 

The act of physically “ticking off” the tasks encourages more ownership and accountability from your team (and yourself). 

You reduce your stress levels as all the tasks are written down and no longer stuck in your, or someone else’s head.

I hope you found this helpful, happy systemizing.