Grow Your Business

Due to the economy, most entrepreneurs are faced with a situation wherein they have to do more with less. A way to lessen this burden is through multitasking, which can enable your company to maximize productivity.

Although multitasking sounds like a great idea for businesses, convincing employees to put in extra work can be tricky. In these tough times bosses must encourage multitasking as a way of increasing efficiency, while at the same time reducing cost and weeding out redundant positions. Here are some tips from entrepreneurs and managers on how to convince your people to start doing more for you company.

1) Start doing it yourself

Chit Juan owner of Echostore says that entrepreneurs must lead the way by setting an example. “Even bosses must take on more roles or multiple responsibilities, which is what an entrepreneur is anyway.” On the other hand, Monibel Dychiao of Steak MD says she personally cooks and serves during peak hours to set an example for her employees that nobody is exempted from doing more work.

 

2) Reward them

According to Elizabeth Tan, Administration Manager of news agency Agence France Presse (AFP), the best way to motivate employees to multitask is to reward them. She says increasing their salaries, giving them merit increases, and even additional benefits go a long way in encouraging employees to multitask. For her part, young businesswoman Anj Fereira of Café Kafe says that even small rewards like free mobile phone loads would do. “Maybe small motivations like if hitting targets would be free lunch or even free mobile loads is a plus, or think of something that would also help them in this economic crisis like a training program for extra income,” she said,

4) Motivate and challenge them

Instead of presenting it as extra work, present multitasking as an opportunity for personal and professional development. Dychiao of Steak MD shares: “I tell them this is the time to show what you can do, so we can see their potential and see their ability to lead others. To those who understand, they can see that as a challenge so we can identify them when we start expanding again, (after the crisis),” For her part, Tan adds that you can’t force multitasking because if the employee doesn’t want to do it, then he or she may cause added inefficiency due to errors while doing a job that’s ill suited to her skill set.

 

5) Make them feel more involved

The best way to convince people to multitask is to show them a vision and make them feel involved. Fereira recommends telling employees what the company’s goals are to make them feel involved. Further, she says that employers should “delegate and do not dictate”. Delegating tasks, activities and programs would make your employees understand the strategies that the company wants to implement in order to grow.