This is a guest post by Trainual Certified Consultant Greg Gunther. Greg is the director and founder of Your Business Momentum, a business coaching firm that helps companies systemize their operations and scale their teams.

Why is it that some small businesses seem to get so much more done, even though we’re all allotted the same 24 hours a day, seven days a week?

That’s the million dollar question. Because let’s face it: everyone is busy in today’s world. There’s so much to do that — wouldn’t it be great to add more hours to your day? So, how can you actually do it all?

As a business owner, you’re faced with competing tasks and may start to re-think your priorities, including remembering why you got into business in the first place. Often, the very reason for setting up your own business was to create more freedom to pursue what you love. 

But the reality? That looks more like a never-ending to-do list that can make you feel chained to your business with very little of the freedom you desire. The realization you are now serving your business rather than the business serving you, is a stark one that many business owners face.

So how is it that some small businesses are able to stay on top of things, while the rest struggle to get the work done? If you’re feeling caught up in the daily grind, here are some tips to help your business become a productivity machine. 

1. Define your vision and strategy.  

One reason why companies get so busy? They don’t prioritize what’s really important to the business, and end up doing too much. That’s the result of not having a clearly defined strategy. 

So, map out your vision and set a clear direction for the business. More importantly, involve your team so they feel part of the creation and know where they fit into the future of the business. Provide them with enough clarity and certainty that ensures they work together towards a common vision. That way, your team can prioritize which tasks will really move the needle and which ones can wait for a later date.

It’s also important to make sure you have a well-structured strategy planning process, which integrates the implementation of systems to support and measure the execution of strategic initiatives. Building a solid system for implementing this strategy will enhance its impact and ensure its effectiveness. 

2. Leverage your strengths.

Successful business owners only do what they’re good at — then they leverage. Leverage is an amazing force that allows us to multiply our abilities. Time leverage is an essential strategy in conquering work overload to be more effective and get more done. If you only use your own time and efforts, you can only achieve so much. 

Business owners often have to be a “jack of all trades.” You wear the sales hat, look after marketing, do all your HR, and manage your bookkeeping and accounts. But that doesn’t mean you should be focusing on all aspects of your business at the same time. You can’t do everything — no one can. Make sure you focus on what you do best and learn to outsource or delegate to those who are best at what they do.

🔥 Tip: Here’s a simple test you can use to better understand your strengths. 

3. Delegate and hold your team accountable.

The most logical thing to do after you’ve decided to leverage your strengths and focus on what you do best is to start delegating the things you should not be doing in the business. Your skills are better used on profitable tasks. By doing the work yourself, you're failing to make the best use of your time. On the other hand, by meaningfully involving other people in the project, you develop your team’s skills and abilities.

But delegating can be tricky. You need to make sure you have a clear vision of what you want to achieve from this process and create some accountability around it. The best way to do this is to develop straightforward instructions on the best way to perform a task. By setting the standard, you help your employees understand the expectations and add some clarity to the process. From there, you can focus more on getting profitable tasks done, while your team handles the other necessary tasks that keep the business moving.

Walker Hill Finance, who used this advice, managed to add some accountability in their team. Employees are now able to perform their role by themselves, easing the pressure for team members to be with them at every single step. 

4. Create your business functional structure.

Another productivity tip: make sure you have the right people in the right seats! To do that, you must have a functional structure in your business. A functional structure is a business structure that is based on the function of each position within the business and the knowledge and skills of the team members that perform each role.

Your functional structure should have key people accountable for each area of the business (and looks very different from your standard organizational chart). 

Make sure to map out a structure in your business that will improve accountability, empower your team, and free up some time, so that you can do the things that you enjoy. 

🔥 Tip: Check out these 4 Steps to Mapping your Business Structure.

5. Develop role clarity.

Developing role clarity is another key to boosting productivity. Having clear job descriptions for each role and sharing them amongst the team will help each person understand what they’re responsible for. 

Make sure you communicate your expectations with your team so that everyone fully understands their role and responsibilities. This will create more clarity and improve their motivation.

6. Systemize, systemize, systemize! 

Building a more productive business takes good systems and processes. Remember, systemizing is one thing, but it’s the training and accountability that follow the processes that bring the systems to life.

Systems integrate the successful delegation, role clarity, and functional structure of the business. In order to successfully delegate, you need to make sure that your team is aware of your expectations and the best way to perform a certain task. 

Improvisation is not the way to go. 

You need to define the exact way certain tasks need to be done, document them, and share them with the team. Making sure those systems and processes are part of your company’s playbook will bring great cultural change. You can use a business playbook tool to make sure everyone has the appropriate systems and processes assigned to them.

If you don’t know where to start systemizing, make sure to reach out to a systems specialist who will expertly guide you through the process.