Are you looking to improve operational efficiency within your organisation? Nine Feet Tall has nine handy tips to help you drive operational efficiency. Read below and contact us to see if we can help your organisation.
What is Operational Efficiency?
Operational Efficiency is not a line in the strategy, or a KPI. It is a continuous process. Technically speaking it is a measurement of resource allocation, how much output an organisation is getting from their inputs. Due to technology constantly developing, economic changes, and countless other factors, an organisation will always have opportunities to improve and drive operational efficiency.
It takes time, knowledge and skill to be able to drive long-term efficiency in business operations. At Nine Feet Tall, we want to make sure you aren’t putting in more than you’re getting out…
Why is it important?
Operational efficiency is the difference between being a participant in the market and being a market leader.
Any organisation can focus solely on reducing costs and increasing output, but peak operational efficiency can unlock many benefits beyond just saving money. For example:
- Increased market position
- Greater customer satisfaction
- More engaged employees
- Reduced costs
- Higher profitability
If you want to achieve all of this then read on and discover Nine Feet Tall’s top tips for operational efficiency below…
Nine top tips to drive Operational Efficiency
1. Adopting a Mindset of Continuous Improvement
Any changes that an organisation makes to drive operational efficiency will not be effective without first focusing on the mindset of the employees. Humans are naturally apprehensive about change, however, putting the work in to adopt a mindset of continuous improvement and a positive relationship with change will mean much larger operational efficiency gains. Everyone at each level of an organisation should have a positive mindset around change and an appreciation that continuous growth and improvement is where success lies.
2. Viewing Your Organisation as a Whole
The key to increasing operational efficiency is to view nothing in isolation. Driving operational efficiency will have an impact on people, technology and finances. The most direct way to improve operational efficiency is to cut costs, but even this quick fix will impact processes, people and possibly the underlying culture, which can have negative long-term consequences.
All strategies for efficiency gains need to consider the impact on all areas of the business. Focus on increasing cross-department communication and reducing any common bottlenecks that arise.
3. Streamline Operational Processes
Many organisations are may struggle to improve on current processes due to the fact they are undocumented. A huge movement towards operational efficiency is to create a written, standard process for even the smallest of tasks. This means that over time they can be reviewed and improved, and allows employees to cover their colleagues, even with no notice.
Once these processes are documented, explore why they exist. Are they feeding the strategy, helping to reach key metrics, or are they processes that should have been automated long ago? Now you can review inputs versus outputs, effort required versus the output, and see where to optimise current processes. This can be reviewed as often as needed, but only if the documentation is kept up to date.
4. Just Enough Governance
Nine Feet Tall feels strongly about this tip, as it is a key part of our proven methodology. Efficiency in business operations can only truly be unlocked if the organisation is not being slowed down with unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape. It is key to find the right balance of governance to ensure the right level of control and transparency. We coin this as ‘Just Enough Governance’, allowing team to operate autonomously and flexibly but within the processes outline by the organisation. It helps bolster trust between leadership and employees, it helps drive the mindset of continuous improvement by not holding everything up with red tape.
5. Focus on People
This has been touched on in some of our tips already, but it’s important enough to stand on its own! People make up an organisation. Include your people in change. Focus on building a positive trusting culture. Provide regular employee training on anything new. Focus on having accessible leadership. All these things will drive your operational efficiency further than some small cost cuttings here and there. Ultimately, invest in your people, culture and support.
6. Change Capability
People like the idea of change and often recognise the need for it, but implementing long lasting and effective change isn’t easy. Having this ability is having change capability. In essence, it is a measure of agility, of how capable a company is of delivering long term change with minimal disruption to both the operations of the business and the people that work within it.
Driving operational efficiency forward requires change, and the better prepared your organisation is for change, the higher chance of it sticking and being effective. Invest the time, invest in your leaders, invest in making sure your organisation has the necessary resources and skills.
7. Focus on Metrics
There are many key operational efficiency metrics, including capacity utilisation, the measure of translation time of a process, or the lead time of a product or service. However, it’s often the softer indicators of operational efficiency that will paint you the real picture of how efficient your organisation’s processes are. If you don’t like how it looks, let Nine Feet Tall provide you with a fresh canvas and the knowledge you need to pick the right colours.
8. Leverage Technology
Organisations that adopt and adapt to new technologies will prove more efficient in the long run. By accepting that many technologies are not a ‘threat’, and pivoting to make it work for you, this can drive huge operational efficiency gains. Again, it starts with a mindset shift and ensuring that an organisation has suitable resources, either internal or external, with the knowledge to select the correct technologies.
Automation of routine smaller tasks can free up employees to work on tasks that can ultimately provide more value. It can also eliminate human errors, increasing output, and pushing operational efficiency.
9. Think Ahead
All organisations will have different driving factors behind improving operational efficiency, with varying timelines. But to improve operational efficiency in the long-term, all organisations should be planning ahead. Perhaps this looks like a 3, 5 and 10 year plan. Set some specific, measurable goals and outline a plan for getting there.
Having these goals will allow an organisation to focus their recruitment to ensure that they have the resources and skills required. It can shine a light on which areas need to focus more on automation and new technologies, and which areas of the business are able to meet these goals with their current processes and resources.
Key Takeaways
Operational efficiency is about more than just money, cutting costs and increasing revenue. It is everyone’s responsibility. It lies with each area of the business. It is fed by organisational culture and most importantly, it is not a once-and-done activity but a continuous goal, with regular opportunities to improve.
Why Choose Us?
Nine Feet Tall specialises in delivering complex change combining the power of technology and people. Our focus is on achieving real results for our clients, which can include seeing a tangible improvement in operational efficiency.
Finding the issues is only the beginning – the real challenge lies in making the changes and realising efficiencies. Nine Feet Tall will work with you to successfully transform ways of working, optimise engagement and ultimately deliver costs saving, quality improvement and customer satisfaction.
Using our combined expertise and experience, we’ve helped companies reduce error reductions by 80%, increase revenue through up-selling, and identify quick wins resulting in savings of almost £40 million for one client alone.
Start your journey to a more efficient operation today by contacting a member of our team HERE.
