going digital going green – Growing Forward

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Needless to say, 2020 has been a challenging year for many small businesses. While you probably already know the importance of making positive changes and smart choices within your own company, you might be feeling overwhelmed by everything on your plate.

Unfortunately, the stress that can come from uncertain times, recession-level unemployment rates, and low profits can lead to even more problems. Stress leads to burnout, a lack of motivation and productivity, and can even cause physical health problems like high blood pressure and heart conditions.

While you may not be able to control the economy or even how successful your business is at this very moment, there are some things that are within your control. Making the choice to keep your business as organized as possible can help to alleviate some of the stress you’re feeling. It can also bring your employees a sense of comfort and familiarity, allowing them to be more productive.

So, if you’ve gotten overwhelmed by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic and you’re trying to figure out how to reel those emotions in and get back to work, get organized! Let’s look at a few strategies you can put in place to make that happen.

Don’t Waste Your Time With Documents

Many business employees spend over an hour each day trying to organize documents and digital files. If one is “misplaced” within the cloud or another document center on the computer, it can be a virtual nightmare to find it again.

Using document organization like Filecenter can help you to keep everything in one place, scan your documents easily, and even provide cloud sharing so other employees can have access to important documents at a moment’s notice. It’s also a great option for offices that are choosing to go paperless.

Plan Your Social Media Strategy

If you don’t have a person specifically tasked with social media on your team, it’s far too easy to forget about platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

But, they’re incredibly important. There are 3 billion people using these platforms each month, so it’s important to look at them as potential customers/clients. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time each day planning out posts and figuring out what to share, pick one or two days a week and create your content ahead of time, so you can automatically schedule it to post later.

Be sure to check back on your posts to see what kind of engagement they’re getting. It’s much easier to respond to a comment or answer a question than to think of fresh content several times a day.

Create a Productive Workspace

Now is the perfect time to give your workspace a boost, or completely change the scenery. Physical environments can impact the mental health of employees, and if they don’t feel inspired it will lead to a lack in productivity. Instead of your business running like a machine, it’s bound to get lazy and messy.

You can encourage both organization and productivity by creating an environment that inspires your employees. Try things like live plants in the offices, or standing desks to keep people awake and alert. Don’t be afraid to ask your employees what they need in order to feel more organized and more productive.

Whether your business is reopening now or you have plans to in the near future, staying organized will allow you to be calm and less stressed. In turn, you can pass those feelings onto your employees, and be an inspiration to your whole company.

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Small businesses don’t always have a lot of office space. But as your business and your team grow, you might not be ready to move to a bigger office for a while. So you need to make the most of the space you have available if you want to avoid raising your overheads. Luckily, there are a few things you can consider to help your business save space. Try these ideas to make sure you use your office space as efficiently as possible.

Digitize As Much As Possible

Most things don’t need to be on paper anymore. It can be useful to have some things written down or as printed documents, but there are so many types of information that are better stored digitally. You won’t need to take up valuable space with filing cabinets anymore if you digitize as much as you can.

Consider Going Open-plan

Open-plan offices are somewhat controversial. They began to get very trendy for a while, but some people are now saying they’re not conducive to higher productivity. However, if you’re willing to try out an open-plan office, it could help you save space. You might also consider long desks that several people can use, especially for those working as a team.

Create Flexible Meeting Spaces

If your business has one or two meeting spaces that you use a lot, you should think about how to make them as flexible as possible. If you can configure one meeting space to serve several different purposes, you’ll be able to use it for everything from team meetings to one-on-one meetings.

Move Your Records Out

As well as digitizing, you can also get someone else to manage your business information. You won’t have to have filing cabinets or servers so you’ll be able to make better use of your space.

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