A Guide for Improving the Organization of Your Business
Business organization is more than tidying up your workspace and is often reflective of bigger issues within your company, learn how to keep your business organized.
As a business, whether a growing startup or an established company, professionalism should be at the forefront of everything you do at all times. One trait which doesn’t reflect professionalism is disorganization within a business. This can easily snowball to have a knock-on effect for many processes within your business, so getting a firm hold on the orderliness within your business is key.
Good organization doesn’t come naturally to a lot of individuals, let alone a business as a whole. With so many key players, it takes proper strategy and planning to get an adequate system in place and to always ensure that every employee is taking the appropriate steps to maintain these standards.
Problems Can Easily Arise From a Disorganized Company
Being disorganized as a business isn’t just about your workspace or having the area in a bit of a mess. It’s also about every aspect of everything you do, including ordering systems, customer service, employee productivity and more.
Disorganization can easily result in:
- Lack of employee productivity. You can’t expect your employees to work to the best of their ability if they are confused about the workings of their job, the running of the business, or if the aims and goals aren’t clear within the organization.
- Increase in employee dissatisfaction. As above, this may soon wear down the employee, leaving them more frustrated than satisfied.
- Compromising business relationships. If you’re constantly unorganized, other businesses, such as suppliers or contractors, may not want to work with you.
- Compromising client relationships. Customer orders or customer service may be negatively affected due to bad organization, such as delay of orders, lack of communication, or poor delivery of service.
- A negative brand. Your business may soon become known for being disorganized, both from an employee and a customer perspective.
How to Get Organized
Being more organized takes conscious steps, but it doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task.
Streamline Processes
You should always seek out the easiest, quickest, and most effective way of doing a task. Within business, there will be many automated processes and software options that will be available to you and which will be a boon when it comes to time saving and organization. Systems that can organize information for you will be a help if you constantly need to maintain files and keep a log of information.
For those times where software or automated processes aren’t possible, be sure to understand the quickest route to achieving something, such as an employee particularly skilled in a certain area.
Ensure Good Communication at All Times
No matter what kind of communication it is (between employees, partners, or customers), you need to ensure that it’s strong at all times. Bad communication can easily result in a host of problems and repercussions within companies.
Businesses will always hit hurdles, and there’s always a chance for problems with a client’s order or service. What matters is how you deal with it, and that you can effectively communicate regarding what is going on.
Communication can be improved. Choose the best channel of communication for your business. If an email trail with all information is your best source, for example, ensure that all relevant parties are emailing and updating at all times.
Then start following up any communication between different departments and/or people, and seeing what can be changed for the better. It might help, for instance, to have systems in place which display information that will be helpful if anyone, customer or department, needs to check the status of orders or information.
Have a Secure Document Management System in Place
Document management allows the storing and sharing of information on a digital platform. For larger businesses in particular with a wealth of information needing to be stored and shared, a document management system is going to ensure effective organization of digital documents.
Document filing is one area that is very time-consuming for businesses and one area which can easily be done incorrectly, such as data loss or misfiling. A digital system helps for better and more trustworthy organization, not to mention having lawsuit documentation management is highly beneficial for financial situations. When you have more clients than you ever envisioned, a document management system is a must. It will be crucial in fighting any lawsuits.
Assign a Role to Everyone
Bad organization can easily arise when there is no clear hierarchy, or when employees aren’t sure who to report to or who is in charge. Assigning a role to everyone doesn’t have to mean having a specific management label; it simply means that everyone knows what they’re doing, and when they should be doing it.
Whether it’s for specific departments, a specific order or a certain task, always make sure each individual knows their role, and who to speak to regarding any problems. This then takes away presumptions or misunderstandings between employees, especially within larger businesses, such as employees failing to do something because they presumed another employee had already done it.
Clarity at all times is key.
Planning is Important
You cannot hope to be organized as a business going forward if you’re failing to plan. Planning, even for the smallest of tasks, and keeping an effective schedule is imperative for great organization.
A shared business calendar which everyone can access — such as on the company system — can be helpful for organization within an office space, such as outlining meeting times and important upcoming events. Keeping a schedule regarding updates for client orders, such as lead times and shipping, is beneficial for keeping track of orders and also for lead times to provide customers with.
Planning is also key for the bigger business goals, such as organizing any important strategies like marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
Good organization means being transparent with everything your business does when it’s necessary. You want to ensure that everyone involved in each process has access to all the information they need, as well as knows how to communicate through all stages of each process.
Technology is a key help for better organization within businesses, so you should ensure that you’re embracing all types of digital tools and software, which will make business processes easier and quicker. Any business which isn’t best using technology for improvement, both with organization and otherwise, may easily fall behind.
