How to make a big impact with limited resources

You can achieve so much more with your existing team

Within SMBs, you only have limited resources at your disposal. That often makes it difficult to make a real impact. Fortunately, that doesn't always have to be the case!

In this post, I explain how you can still make a big impact with a small team.

Working effectively with limited resources

Especially when deadlines are approaching, stress increases and work has to be done, we are quickly inclined to look for efficiency. In itself, that is very logical, but it also has a price.

Efficiency focuses on the short term. How can we complete the tasks on our plate as quickly as possible? What you are looking for are the possibilities to cut corners. We skip a certain test with little risk, to save an hour of time, for example.

Effectiveness, on the other hand, focuses on the long term. It is based on the idea that the costs precede the benefits. In doing so, you are, in fact, ensuring more effectiveness in the future.

Suppose that the test you are now skipping, for that hour of profit, will cause a problem in a few months. You are now completely out of the project and working hard to meet the next deadline. So you have to step out of your new project, read up on that old project and solve the problem. This always costs a multiple of the hour you 'saved' before.

So strive for effectiveness. You will see that you will become much more efficient in the long term!

Results are more important than tasks

When you want to make an impact with a small team, it is important to focus on that desired impact. The result you have in mind always comes before the tasks that need to be performed.

Aren't those tasks important? Of course, they are, but if the result can be achieved without performing those tasks, that might be even more valuable! So that makes the results even more important than the tasks on your plate.

Suppose you want to increase the conversion of a product page by 5% on the e-commerce site of a good customer. You have brainstormed about this with your team and 8 tasks have been identified that should ensure this.

The team gets to work on this and after performing 6 of the 8 tasks it turns out that 5% has already been achieved. Then the tasks that are still open suddenly become a lot less important (and less valuable).

Of course, you can go for 2 options:

- You can also perform the other 2 tasks and make your customer even happier because you might be able to achieve 6%.

- Or you tackle something else for your customer, with which you also achieve another result.

Whatever you choose, you can do the rest of the work with peace of mind because the desired effect has already been achieved!

Look for solutions, not for additional employees

When I talk to entrepreneurs, I often hear that it is very difficult to find good employees. That is of course true, but by focusing on employees, you entirely ignore what you already have in-house. You can often make a much greater impact with your current employees than you think.

When you look for solutions with your existing team, you often discover new ways of working. You can divide work differently, create a different schedule, and perhaps even develop wholly new business models.

I have experienced a team that really had too few people. At least, that is what they thought. Until we really started to look at how they worked at that time. There was a clear separation between the different functions.

This ensured that even simple tasks were not taken over from each other. Not even if a certain employee did have the time, space and expertise for it. For example, he or she would 'work ahead' to fill the time.

That seems efficient, but it often happened that the work that this employee did extra do not have to be done at all. This while this employee could have made a huge impact by taking over some simple tasks from a colleague.

Looking within a team - and sometimes even between teams - at how work gets done and how team members can help each other is a huge boost to the impact you can make. So make sure you don't limit yourself!

Simple, right?!

Yes, I admit it: it looks incredibly simple on the screen. In practice, it is often a bit more difficult than you read here. So don't see these tips as a quick win to meet your deadlines right away. Investing in this is profitable in the long run.

Do you want to brainstorm about the possibilities that are still available for your company? Then feel free to contact me. I can certainly give you some tips that you can start using right away.

Do you have a tip yourself that you don't see here? Then don't hesitate and put it in the comments. You will also help others with it!