Greater productivity is the one thing that a company can change and encourage at almost zero cost. Merely implementing some small, simple steps to improve productivity can take your business or personal output to the next level. We’ve collated some great, easy to implement tips on how to improve your productivity levels in a business day.

Is that meeting really important?

One of the most time-consuming parts of an average week is meetings. Plenty are crucial, but there are often too many ‘catch up’ meetings or unnecessary project sessions that include repeat information or team members who may not benefit from the meeting. Before you agree to attend/arrange a session, make sure it is totally necessary by creating an agenda. Putting together the list of items to be discussed throughout the meeting can make it clear to see if certain topics could be a quick email, or a separate catch up with one or two key team members. According to Entrepreneur Europe, early stage companies find growth and productivity stifled by spending over 20% of staff hours in meetings.

Avoid unneeded tech

Phones, social media and other technologies have improved the way we work in our professional life, from streamlining processes to increased revenue, but they’ve also hit productivity hard. Twitter, Facebook and even professional social media platforms such as Slack (a collaborative instant messaging platform) inundate us with notifications and reasons to procrastinate. Turn over your phone, put it in a drawer or move it away from your person to avoid the temptation of checking social media. From just a few months ago, Business Insider produced an article about mobile phone use distracting us from our working day, and how keeping your device in another room for certain parts of the day could massively improve the work you complete. This may seem like a small tip, but the impact could be huge.

Plan with the end in mind

The eagerness to move forward with a project and be productive can often be the downfall of an employee, especially if they’re not a finisher at heart. People often become less productive as a way of avoiding a difficult or potentially derailing situation that’s on the horizon. A good way of combating this is knowing what the end goal is and working backwards from there. This will help you define your milestones, know when to bring the right people in to help, and establish your first steps. Planning with the end in mind can turn goals into easily attainable stages that increase productivity. Regular progress reviews against these milestones will help with measuring the increase in productivity and help boost morale.

These are just a couple of ideas about how to improve productivity within your business. The reality is too many small distractions can cause a loss of rhythm in work, so a culture of encouraging small, simple changes mixed with allowing people to work the way they can be most productive will turn those hours procrastinating into valuable time improving output.