How Structure within an Organization Creates Efficiency, Boosts Productivity, and Builds a Strong Team

In mid 2021 Tier Level was on the brink of a season of growth that we could not have predicted. We had a few team members choose to move on to new opportunities, to which we celebrated, and we also removed some unnecessary negativity from within our organization. With all of these big changes came the immediate need to create structure where it was absent. Our executive team began to build what we now know as our well segmented, organized and blossoming team here at Tier Level. The challenge was not conquered easily, and we know we will never master perfection, however, we were able to implement some rather crucial elements to our organization that we desperately want to share with all the small businesses we serve. So buckle up, well actually, just stay seated and read on friends, because here we go!

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Creating structure, why and how?

As our team was changing for the better, our first task was to create structure within the company. A building without a strong foundation will indeed crumble. We segmented departments and mapped out an internal structure to start. We then began to meet with each team member to ensure our thoughts as leaders were in line with their interests and goals as individuals. We set titles and rewrote full job descriptions for each role. Each employee reviewed them, gave feedback and signed the description stating they were ready to take on the challenge that was in front of them.

By creating roles and responsibilities for each team member, we created a clear path for each person and made sure that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. This helped with efficiency and also made it easier for our team members to understand their role in the company. That was only the beginning. Given what we do and how we customize our service for each of our clients, it was crucially important that we created a streamlined form of communication on each account. We had to get all data, communication, tracking and monitoring in one place. But how?

Our answer was Monday.com, a digital organizational home for everything we were needing to accomplish.

One of the biggest challenges facing companies today is a lack of structure. As companies grow, they often have trouble creating clear lines of authority and accountability. And when it comes to organizing your team, that can lead to chaos and confusion. By creating structure in your company through well defined roles and responsibilities, you can help reduce waste and increase productivity. Start by defining your company's purpose. To have a successful business, you need to know what you're trying to achieve and why. Defining your purpose will give you focus, direction and motivation. Then, create a job description for each position within your organization. This will help everyone know what their role is and what they are responsible for. It also helps with accountability because it's easy to say "I didn't know that was my responsibility." If your job description clearly states what your responsibilities are, there will be no excuses for not knowing what you were supposed to be doing.

Automate What You Can

Knowing we needed to create structure in the daily tasks while keeping the communication at the forefront we began the daunting task of building out our Monday.com platform. Our leadership team is not the type to micromanage and we did not want to start down that rabbit hole, because, well, we all know how that ends. However, we wanted to create a system that allowed each team member to structure their workload in a manner that fit them, while being able to easily track the tasks and make notes for themselves and other team members along the way. While we were working on that we realized how crucial it was to keep as much of the tracking in one central location, where management could oversee and offer help or direction where needed. 

Monday.com is a phenomenal tool that has allowed us to not only build out a task/project tracking platform for our entire organization's operations, but it has also allowed us to build custom automations. We have been able to connect departments and the work they do for a single client in one place. Each task is tracked and all notes are in one place where the team can access them and communicate with each other in real time. Building this massive interconnected platform complete with automations to handle the mundane notifications has been extremely beneficial. This has lead to a massive increase in our productivity and total team communication. While we have increased our task productivity, it has allowed us more time to work on other projects as well as devote quality time to our clients. Being a company that is extremely client focused, this was a big win for our team and our clients!

Automating tasks can help your business become more efficient and boost productivity. Automated systems are not a new concept, they’ve been around for decades. The idea behind automations is gaining steam in small businesses because of the potential to save time and money, reduce errors and boost productivity. In fact, research from McKinsey & Co. found that companies that use automation technologies are three times more likely to be highly productive than those that don’t. Doing a little research into task/project management software that can fit your company is crucial. It’s important to take advantage of any tool that can make your life easier. Automation is a great way to streamline operations, but it also helps you save time and money. We all love to save money while becoming more productive, how could you refuse that?!

Delegate, Delegate, Delegate

As we transitioned the team into their new roles and gave them a platform in which to support their work and communication, our leaders decided it was best for our clients to have one person to communicate with on the regular. Taking on that responsibility meant that delegation of tasks would be essential in getting the work done in a timely manner. Our executive team had to learn how to lean on this team that they had built, and put faith and trust in their ability as well as the functionality of the structured platform built to support it. Spoiler alert, it worked seamlessly! Were there mistakes, hiccups and challenges? Yes, Absolutely! But each one was a learning opportunity to fine tune the process and continue to improve it over time.

Delegation provided structure within our organization by creating efficiency and support between our teams. It is an important business strategy that has helped our leaders become a strong executive team, and fostered growth which, in turn, allowed our company to scale. When we implemented the restructure of our organization and utilized automations in areas where we hadn't before, it generated a system of transparency and trust throughout the entire team. The executive team now had the ability to put in a request and track the progress of that request through each team as it traveled to completion. This ensured seamless communication, and proper completion of each task all while allowing the client success team to track its progress.

Delegating tasks can have a positive effect on your organization. It not only relieves your leadership team from the day to day activity allowing them to focus on larger strategic decisions. It also helps prevent burnout among employees who may be overworked or stressed out due to their job responsibilities. When you implement delegating tasks, you're creating a more efficient workflow, which means your employees will be able to complete their work faster and better than before. Another positive outcome of delegating is better employee engagement inter-departmentally. If employees have more responsibility and freedom to accomplish those responsibilities within certain boundaries, they'll be happier about working for the company and more likely to stay with it long term. This helps with retention — something every business owner wants! A happy employee is one who stays on board longer than expected because they're invested in the company's success.

Cross Train your Team

Ok, structure was set, it was supported through automations and delegated tasks creating effortless communication and tracking. We quickly realized that having departmental separation and defined responsibilities for everyone was great, except when someone fell ill or took vacation time. We knew that cross-training certain members of our team would be imperative to maintain this new found boost in productivity. We began to cross-train our teams in certain areas which allowed for a change of scenery for our employees and it, to our surprise, brought invaluable excitement to our team culture. Cross-training allowed employees to take on tasks outside their job description, which helped keep our projects from falling behind schedule or getting derailed entirely when someone was out. It also helps us prevent burnout by giving our employees more opportunities for variety in their workday and over time, more responsibility. One employee stated, "Getting cross-trained has brought me perspective on the other departments responsibilities and I have gained a new respect for my co-workers." See, invaluable!

The benefit of cross-training is that one person's absence will not cause an interruption in productivity. It is particularly evident when you have employees who work remotely from the office like we do. Having each person learn multiple roles within the company ensures that there is always someone around who knows what needs to be done and how best to do it. Cross-training members of your team can also be a great way to reduce employee turnover. It gives employees more variety in their tasks on a daily basis, avoiding boredom or redundancy. Oddly, it also improves quality of life knowing that taking time off does not mean they will return to a heap of unfinished work. This inevitably improves employee morale because it gives you the employer a different view of your team as they are given new challenges and more responsibility. This in turn affords employees more opportunities for career advancement and promotions as well as increases their knowledge and experience within their position or department.

Let's Put it All Together

All of this to say, teamwork is one of the most important factors of success in providing quality service to our clients. Creating well defined structure within the company supported by automated tracking platforms, allowing growth through delegation and cross training, propelled our team forward in a way we hoped but could not have predicted. It also gave our senior executive team a chance to focus on refining their skills in leadership. We successfully boosted our productivity and efficiency through outside the box thinking and re-strategizing the way we do things. We are not done yet, to keep this ship moving forward through both smooth and rough waters. We have to continue working together to make improvements, fill the holes that develop over time and stay up to date on all technological advances.

Overall our organization has chosen to invest in these systems and create a culture of service and constant improvement. We will surely beat our competition and more importantly, provide the best service possible to our clients. We can and will continue to overcome obstacles thrown our way and we now have the best chance of gaining a competitive edge in our field so we will continue to succeed no matter what.

If you're looking to solve your company's productivity issues, look into these major steps that worked for our company. We know the road is hard and full of roadblocks as well as pitfalls but it is a proven way to make a big impact on your bottom line over time. It is important to remember that these approaches are just a starting point in improving business performance. Their value comes from their ability to spark conversation, ignite thinking and promote creativity.

Contact Us!

For strategies to dramatically improve your company's productivity and profitability, be sure to reach out to our executive team! We hope you enjoyed reading our story and learning a few tips on how to improve your company's productivity and efficiency.

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