As a business owner, manager or supervisor, you have probably had to deal with issues caused by employee procrastination countless times. While procrastination may not sound like a big deal on the surface, in reality, it is a serious issue that can cause various problems. In this article, we will discuss the common cause of procrastination and how automation can be a lasting solution, making life easier for your employees.
Why Do Employees Procrastinate?
Procrastination involves postponing or delaying work that should be done either by doing nothing or focusing on other less important tasks. It is a problem that is quite common in many modern workplaces.
Most times, managers resort to various gimmicks to force motivation and get workers to do their tasks. This doesn’t work in most cases because the problem most times isn’t a lack of motivation. For most organizations, the reason why workers procrastinate is due to the nature of the work itself. When tasks are too complex, unclear, or monotonous, workers are likely to procrastinate. In some cases, some employees have too much on their plate while others do very little.
Workflow Automation – A Practical Way to End Procrastination
Since we have established that the major reason for procrastination in most cases isn’t a lack of motivation on the part of the workers but difficulties in how work is structured, how exactly can you put an end to it?
Perhaps the simplest way to enable your team to do their work at the right time is by organizing the tasks and making them easier to complete. Workflow automation involves the use of process management software to create defined steps within a process and automate and monitor them. These workflows are often created to define specific tasks, with tools to streamline and optimize them.
Not only does this save time, but it also helps to cut costs and limit the chances of missing out on tasks along the way due to procrastination. By introducing automation, you can set menial routine tasks on autopilot, freeing up your employees’ time to focus on more important ones. Workflow automation will also boost team morale and improve efficiency.
A workflow automation tool makes it easier to create and assign tasks to employees. It includes features that push mundane tasks along automatically and ensure that employees promptly receive information about tasks they need to perform manually. A workflow automation software also ensures proper tracking of incomplete tasks so that nothing is missed or forgotten.
Top 5 Tasks That You Can Automate Today
A lot of organizations have limited staff and this can make it difficult to stay on top of all vital tasks. Even with an abundant workforce, tasks can become repetitive and boring and this may also lead to procrastination. Here are 5 top tasks you may consider automating to solve the problem of procrastination in your organization:
1. Document routing and approvals
From purchase orders to invoices, several documents pass hands from one department to the other within an organization. With workflow automation, you can send out pre-filled forms, queries, quotes, and documents to higher-ups for instant review and approval so that nothing is missed.
2. Customer service
From sending an automatic response to inquiries to following up on customers, taking feedback, or collecting responses, automation can help you stay connected to your customers. This is important since customers want to know that you care about their issues, and procrastination can hurt your customer relationship very deeply.
3. Set deadlines and automate alerts
It is easy to procrastinate when there is no clear knowledge of when tasks should be completed. Workflow automation tools make it easier to set clear deadlines for tasks so that nothing is missed. You can create clear-to-do, and set deadlines and priorities for tasks. Most automation tools also allow you to set alerts that notify you of tasks to be completed to avoid putting them off till it’s too late.
4. Team-focused communication
You probably can’t count the number of times you’ve missed an important communication because you didn’t check your email or it got mixed up in the sea of emails you get daily. Dealing with too many messages can make it difficult to keep up with tasks. A workflow automation tool makes it easier to organize team communications in a way that makes tasks easily accessible.
5. Task Assignments
Lack of clarity on task assignments is one of the major causes of procrastination. Your employees will be better motivated when the tasks assigned to them are properly defined. Maintaining transparency and visibility of tasks also ensures that employees know what they’re meant to be working on and that everyone is doing their part towards the common goal.
How to Choose The Right Workflow Automation Tool
The first step in choosing a workflow automation tool that works just right for your business is to make a list of all your process requirements. Then you can choose a tool that has all the core features you need. Your automation tool should also be adaptable to your needs, easy to use, and scalable so that it grows with the needs of your organization. You should also consider how well it integrates with your existing system and the tools you use for easy deployment.
Conclusion
Automating some of your day-to-day tasks is easier than you think and it’ll do wonders for your organization. While you can try to brute-force your way and solve your procrastination through motivation or a “just do it” attitude, you’ll find it easier to simply make it easier for your workers to complete the tasks assigned to them. In the long run, workflow automation is a more effective strategy to solve procrastination issues and improve productivity.
Author Bio:
Chintan Jain is the Director of Product Marketing at Kissflow, a unified platform that enables organizations to manage all types of work in one place. Chintan is a skilled marketing practitioner who writes extensively on topics like workplace technologies, work management, and the digital workplace. He also actively contributes to various business and technology platforms.
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