An efficiency expert helps businesses become more profitable through improving one or more aspects of their firm’s organizational structure and development plans. She is generally considered a business consultant who specializes in identifying a company’s inefficiencies and recommending solutions. The areas of concern may relate to any area of the business’ operations.
A person in this position may work for a large or small business consulting company. Large companies sometimes have an efficiency expert on staff as a full-time employee. The position may also be held by a self-employed, independent contractor. The companies for which she works can vary in size from small to large, although most have at least ten full time employees.
Immediately following her hire, an efficiency expert normally meets with the company’s leaders and managers to assess the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. Aside from referencing documents reflecting profit, loss and investments, the expert normally heavily relies on the verbal candor of the company leaders. She typically needs to be aware of all areas of concern, real or perceived, in order to accurately identify problems and recommend solutions.
After a satisfactory amount of information and facts are provided, an efficiency expert customarily proceeds to analyze where a company’s effectiveness is failing. One of the most common areas of inefficiency is found in the company’s general business communication structure. The other typical area that needs revamping to improve efficiency is re-categorizing or restructuring jobs and job descriptions.
Many companies that suffer from inefficiency can trace the problem to poor and unclear oral and written communications among employees. An efficiency expert commonly discovers that management and staff are frequently working toward different goals without their knowledge. She may also find that employees considered to be on the same team have different objectives and are unaware their efforts may be canceling each other out and accomplishing nothing. To merge these divergent paths into one that leads to the company’s overall success, she ordinarily recommends corporate learning programs to improve communications and increase productivity.
Clearly defined job responsibilities also normally increase a company’s efficiency. An efficiency expert often finds job descriptions for vastly different job titles duplicate each other or have a significant number of the same duties. Efficiency in each department and in the company in general ordinarily shows notable improvement when duplicated efforts are eliminated.
This position normally requires a bachelor’s degree in business administration, economics, psychology or finance. Many companies prefer advanced degrees in these subjects. A successful candidate’s resume normally includes accomplishments in business analysis and consulting as well.