Most businesses waste 30-50% of their time on tasks that don’t move the needle.

That’s why time & motion studies are a key part of almost every ScaleSmart engagement. Without data, you’re just guessing. Understanding where time actually goes is the first step to fixing inefficiencies.

This is a key element of what I take clients through. What are you spending your time doing? What is the intended outcome? How does this link to your overall company targets and KPIs?

And the results? Consistently shocking.

Some of the worst offenders:

🚨 Overlapping roles & responsibilities – Key team members doing the exact same thing. Happens in both SMEs and FTSE100 companies. When teams are siloed and budgets are separate, entire departments unknowingly duplicate work.

🚨 Manual execution where automation should exist – If a human is copying and pasting, errors are inevitable. Want to know where this happens most? Finance.

🚨 No connection between daily work and company goals – If your team can’t link their daily tasks to a KPI, they’re working blind.

🚨 Poor planning – No structured time blocking, no prioritization. The result? A constant state of busyness that leads to delays and firefighting.

🚨 Reactive decision-making – Jumping from one task to the next, derailed meetings, inbox-driven schedules… instead of executing on what actually matters.

The cost?

- Subpar margins
- Time-on-task 10x higher than necessary
- Too many employees doing too little
- Budget wastage on duplicated efforts