by Scott Holloway

Created on: January 16, 2011   Last Updated: January 19, 2011

In today’s competitive business environment employees are expected to be increasingly productive in order to reduce the cost of doing business. At times it seems that you can never accomplish everything that is expected of you. Fortunately most productivity issues can be identified and grouped into several common categories that can be dealt with in an effective manner. By examining various aspects of office activity you can develop effective action plans which will not only increase overall productivity but increase quality and timeliness of your performance.

One of the biggest roadblocks on the way to greater productivity is organization. Wasting time looking for things around the office is a huge time waster. Start by looking at your workspace. It is hard to imagine finding something quickly if it is sitting in one of several piles on the desk. Organize materials in and around your workspace by categorizing them based on subject matter and level of importance. Materials can then be placed in file folders which can be labeled for easy identification. Folders and other materials can be placed in file cabinets, slotted trays, or even boxes. The result will be a neater work area where materials can be retrieved much more quickly. Organization also extends to scheduling of meetings, email, and storage of other electronic information. Most people do not fully use the capabilities of desktop software commonly available in the office. Software such as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook, and others contain features which will allow you to organize not only the workday itself but also to prioritize information based on importance or subject matter. By having a priority list available you will tend to spend more time focusing on completing important tasks versus low priority activities which can completed at a later time.  Improving your time management skills can even help you get better results by doing less work of greater quality, because you're focusing on the things that really matter rather than all the low-priority busywork that just keeps you busy.

Another impediment to productivity is redundancy. If you were to look at the information that is collected, contained in various reports, or reviewed in meetings with different groups of employees you would likely find redundancies. Wherever possible it is advisable to eliminate this duplication of information. This streamlining will result in a more efficient process and save time and effort which can be

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