Business executives have the important task of managing teams and guiding how ambitious goals are met. In a world where competition thrives and challenges persist, there are a few secrets that these leaders have learned along the way to cultivate an unbeatable workflow for their teams in order to meet these goals.
Below, 19 Forbes Business Council members divulge their best-kept secrets to create efficient, repeatable workflows for their teams. These helpful tips can pave the way to long-term success, sustained growth and accomplishment.
1. Ensure Your Team Understands The Process
First, make sure that the people doing the work understand that by making processes efficient and repeatable, they will have more work that they enjoy. Otherwise, you’re asking them to reduce their value to the organization, which is a nonstarter. Then, pair up one to two people who do the work with at least one person who is great at documentation and automation so that computers do computer work and humans do human work. – Michael White, MashTank
2. Eliminate Silos
To reach ambitious goals, break down silos and encourage and reward collaboration. Empower team members to figure out the best way to do that. – Suzanne Lerner, Michael Stars
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3. Clearly Define Expectations
Relationships and goals take a negative turn when expectations aren’t met. As a leader, clearly defining expectations and trusting your team to execute is one secret to creating an efficient, repeatable workflow to achieve ambitious goals. Agree on the metrics that equal success for the goals and schedule standing meetings to stay aligned. – Austin Speck, Titan Brands
4. Celebrate Milestones
Celebrate milestones regularly and loudly. Perseverance and belief are connected at the hip, so when a goal feels too far away, it’s natural for determination to fade. When you map a path to the goals with obtainable milestones and give public recognition each time one is reached, it keeps the motivation engines running. – Matthew Tranguch, PMG
5. Outline Company Mission
The key to efficient workflow is clearly outlining the overall mission of the company. Clearly describe the goal of the project and clearly assign responsibility and a time frame. Also, give the team responsibility to drive the project without micromanagement interventions. – Andrejka Bernatova, ESGEN Acquisition Corporation
6. Get Into The Spirit Of The Goal
Ambitious goals happen through being able to inspire and leverage your team. You want to inspire them to get into the spirit of the goal so that obstacles seem like opportunities and solutions are abundant. This spirit will allow you to lean into each team member’s strengths as opposed to doing it all yourself. – Mykie Stiller, Voss Coaching Co.
7. Use An Engaging CRM
I like using a CRM tool that will prompt engagement. I think that is the best way to keep everyone consistently goal-focused, especially as you size up. – Johnny Pineyro, Surgent Capital
8. Create Incentives
We incentivize productivity through bonuses, free lunches and early release on Fridays for efficient teams that finish their work early. It’s amazing what an employee will achieve just to go home an hour early. – Tammy Sons, Tn Nursery
9. Learn How To Teach
You need to learn how to teach and delegate. No one ever achieves big business goals by doing it alone, and you’re not the only one trying to do well in your industry. Sharing what you’ve learned with your community not only reiterates what you’ve already learned, but also allows you to build a team of people who understand your goals and know how to achieve results. Rising tides lift all boats. – Pace Morby, SubTo
10. Delegate Tasks And Tactics
Assemble a team that understands your vision and let them handle the tasks and tactics that will allow your strategy to be realized. Will glitches occur in the delegation process? Yes, but when they do, don’t don’t try to fix them yourself. Instead, work with your team to improve their execution. This will allow you to focus on the big-picture macro decisions. – Dr. David Lenihan, Tiber Health
11. Continuously Improve
Processes and workflow are important, so improving both of these over time is critical. Ensuring that the team is able to execute against continuous change to exceed customer expectations is absolutely priceless. – Karrie Sullivan, Culminate Strategy Group
12. Foster Full Transparency
The key lies in fostering full transparency about the company’s direction, objectives, risks, potential outcomes of failure, expectations and evaluation criteria. When employees have a comprehensive view of the organizational landscape, they are better equipped to self-organize and prioritize their efforts effectively, promoting accountability and empowering better-informed decision making. – Denys Grabchak, Performetry
13. Prioritize Simplicity In Workflows
Clearly define outcomes, break goals into actionable tasks and assign based on team strengths. Promote open communication for spotting inefficiencies. Regularly refine processes, as goals and dynamics evolve. Embracing clarity and continuous improvement helps achieve ambitious targets. – Ari Chazanas, Lotus West Properties
14. Create A ‘Ritualized Review’ Process
My go-to secret for an efficient workflow is a “ritualized review” process. Schedule regular team meetings to review key metrics and assess progress. This keeps everyone aligned and accountable, allowing for quick adjustments to meet ambitious goals. This consistent check-in creates a focused, adaptable team environment that’s geared for success. – Jeff Pedowitz, The Pedowitz Group
15. Simplify Instructions
Break down complex goals into clear, concise instructions. Open channels for dialogue, ensuring everyone comprehends the mission. With streamlined communication, the team can efficiently collaborate, making strides toward ambitious objectives. – S.W. Miliano, Terrazel, Inc./The Stone Register
16. Reverse Engineer Goals
One secret for creating an efficient and repeatable workflow to help team members reach ambitious goals is to reverse engineer the goal. Whether the goal is income-related or sales-related, breaking it down into specific daily tasks makes it easier to create a plan for success. Once you have the daily numbers needed to reach the goal, build a plan to hit those numbers and simplify for success. – Chris Clear, Clear Storage Group, LLC
17. Be Open And Honest
I don’t think there are any secrets, but my answer is twofold: The organization needs to be open and honest, and staff must be allowed to make their own decisions; objectives and key results can generate this. This is explained in detail in John Doerr’s excellent book Measure What Matters. – Per Sjofors, Sjofors & Partners Inc.
18. Embrace Cloud-Based Technologies
Streamlining our property management processes across a diverse, remote team has been pivotal in achieving ambitious targets. By embracing cloud-based technologies like integrated management software, we ensure seamless collaboration while managing properties worldwide. This workflow empowers our international team to provide guaranteed rent and exceptional service, setting a foundation for success. – Johan Hajji, UpperKey
19. Create Systems
Everything begins with systems. We study the proven methods of W. Edwards Deming. We also use systems that have worked for us over our past 35 years in business. When we have a need to create a new system, we even have a proven system for that. – ‘Smitty’ Robert J. Smith, Robert J. Smith Productions
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