As an author specializing in workplace topics, one of the biggest changes when it comes to productivity is taking place outside the well-publicized walls of the tech industry giants. The increase in productivity that is currently occurring on a huge scale is being accomplished by small businesses, family-run enterprises, and even start-ups consisting of two people. There is a lot more to this phenomenon than meets the eye.
The headlines miss the real story
The vast majority of discussions around workplace technology deal with sensational predictions about huge disruptions and transformations, about jobs disappearing in the blink of an eye. However, in reality, the situation is quite different and less sensational. An accountancy practice can draft a series of documents much faster. A marketing firm can come up with its first draft in a few minutes instead of hours. While it is not really sensational, over a year’s worth of effort, the result becomes tangible.
What turns this into an actual revolution, rather than a lot of hype, is its scope. This is not about a select few leading firms gaining some advantage. This is about a great many firms, of the sort that make up the vast majority of the economy, becoming incrementally more productive at the mundane activities they perform every day. And this is precisely what makes it unreportable, and precisely what makes it more important than the reportage that dominates the news cycle.
Removing friction, not replacing people
The groups that are really leveraging this change are not swapping out their people. Instead, they are reducing friction within their people’s day. The endless drafting, the endless formatting, the endless starting again from scratch on tasks, this work gets pushed aside, making way for the judgment and interpersonal skills which truly generate value. Framing is everything in this case – this is about augmentation, not replacement – and companies know this and see huge benefits as a result.
The practical approach would be to recognize the smaller tasks that waste time during the day and automate the initial process friction, leaving the human element of judgment intact. A lot of the offices I report on simply explore these AI tools to find a few that fit their routine, and the cumulative time savings add up to something genuinely significant.
Why small teams adapt faster
Ironically enough, it turns out that smaller groups are moving much quicker than bigger ones. Since they don’t have any kind of organizational bureaucracy that would hinder their adoption of something new, since they don’t have any procurement cycle or committee, they can experiment with software starting from one day and then start using it productively very quickly indeed. Larger companies are only as fast as their approval process, meaning they will always be slower.
This is no less than a complete turnaround. For a very long time in business, size provided efficiencies that smaller firms were unable to match. The current trend somewhat reverses this by giving smaller groups the same abilities that would have required a whole department before, but without any of the associated costs. It won’t eliminate the benefits of size, but it certainly reduces them, which can be a huge benefit for small firms.
How to join the revolution sensibly
The right way to approach the matter is by doing things gradually and not attempting a complete overhaul in one shot. It involves looking for one repetitive and lengthy process that causes stress and measuring the outcome without exaggeration. If the time saved improves productivity while not reducing the quality, one should move on from there. Such an approach helps avoid confusion during the transition period.
The understated bottom line
In case you lead a small group, there’s definitely potential here, and the entry barrier isn’t high either. Start with something small, but don’t lose that crucial human element. Beginning with a free AI tools platform lets you test where the gains are real for your specific work before committing to anything.
This productivity revolution occurring in small companies is something that will never make splashy headlines for its lack of shock value, but it is happening, it is pervasive, and it gives regular employees powers they simply did not have before. Companies taking notice are steadily gaining an advantage one step at a time.
Why incremental change is the real story
The main reason why this increase in efficiency tends to fly under the radar is the fact that it’s simply not exciting enough to write about. There are no sudden breakthroughs, there aren’t any companies which get turned into efficiency powerhouses overnight – just thousands of different teams becoming slightly more efficient at their regular tasks, on a weekly basis. However, this sort of slow but steady progress does lead to some very significant changes, thanks to the power of compounding.
This is why I tell the owners of small businesses to stop paying attention to the wild claims and pay attention to the boring but very concrete truth. Identify just one single boring process, streamline it, and then measure if you really managed to save time without compromising the quality. If you did, move to another process. It’s the boring and gradual way how productivity improvements are actually achieved, and it’s precisely what those successful small groups are doing under the radar.
