What is an ultra-talented staff member in a workplace devoid of efficiency?

An overpaid space filler.

We’ve all seen it happen: well-trained, hard-working professionals stymied by the environment and/or systems in which they’ve been placed.

So, what can you do to improve workplace efficiency? Here are five tips for everyone from people in a position of business leadership to entry-level employees:

  • Meet at Your Own Risk — Sometimes face-to-face communication is vital, but often workplace meetings are unnecessary and serve as a forum for repeat information. Don’t schedule a meeting unless benefits will be reaped.
  • Don’t Take Multi-tasking Too Far — You might be able to zoom through emails, track business-related social media and leap tall mountains of paperwork with a single bound, but it very well could be hurting your productivity. The better we give assignments based on realistic, prudent workload, the better your employees can get back to being superheroes instead of befuddled sidekicks.
  • Prioritize Tasks Each Day — It’s one thing to make a to-do list. But take it one step further by putting the items in order from most important to least important. Business people lose a lot of time needlessly bouncing back and forth between necessities and activities that belong on the backburner.
  • Be Honest About Distractions — There certainly are viable reasons or excuses for activities such as wearing headphones, monitoring social media sites and watching videos on the clock. But it’s important to frequently evaluate workplace distractions, determine harmful practices and respond accordingly.
  • Promote Wellness — Whether it’s through incentives or simply valuable in-house education, wellness programs are receiving high praise for their improvement of employee satisfaction and even bottom lines. It just makes sense that staff members who have more energy and feel better about themselves will perform better on the job.

Workplace efficiency means different things to different people at different companies. But here’s one point you don’t need an MBA to figure out: There’s no point having a talented team if you’re not maximizing their abilities.