Megan Schreckenbach, Vice President of Account Services
If your news feed looks like mine, today’s “suggested article or content” is accompanied by the buzz words, #worklifebalance and touts some article honing in on productivity, organization or some other “how-to” breakdown that will undoubtedly show me how to “do it all!” It’s like Facebook is watching me or something!
But, let’s face it, as professionals and as parents, we are being pulled in countless different directions on any given day, and we live in a world where a saturated, color-coded Outlook calendar is worn like a badge of honor (do we really need to have a meeting about the meeting we just had?). At the risk of sounding like the stereotypical #workingmom, perhaps a refresher on effective project management could be in order? The tactics hold up across the board and the skills can exponentially increase your productivity and organization in your personal life and obviously in your professional career.
Create a Plan
We’ve all been there … sitting at the bottom of the mountain of a new project that you’ve just been assigned. Any other procrastinators out there? I don’t typically admit it, but getting started is the most intimidating part for me. Let’s just put the big overwhelming thing I don’t want to start nicely to the side. Hey, sometimes life is just better that way … until it’s not. We all know it’s a weight being carried around, subconsciously bringing you down, until you STOP and get STARTED. Just do the thing! It’s like when you were in school and you had to make an outline for a term paper. With that outline developed, your road map is now in front of you and the mountain now looks much more like a molehill.
Seeing that there is a path and a set of logical steps, whether faced with a big hairy project at work or at home, is the solution. Living in denial (although at the moment seems much easier) is harder in the long run. Just get started … the clouds open up, the sun shines brighter and you are probably a more pleasant colleague when you have a plan.
Manage Expectations
“You must establish expectations and follow through,” said every parenting book ever written (harder than it sounds, let’s be honest). My daughter knows that when I start counting, ONE (after she responds with “No!” after I calmly ask her to put her clothes away); TWO (when she smirks after I politely repeat the request); that when we reach the dreaded, you’ve done it now, there’s no turning back – THREE!, that there is a consequence.
The parent has to be the enforcer, and at times the project manager may have to act as the disciplinarian, keeping your team and project on task and on schedule. The only way this holds up is by setting clear objectives, milestones and expectations in the beginning and refining along the way as necessary. To be unclear is to be unkind, and clearly communicating what is expected is the best way to get the results you want (or in the case of a toddler, about 50% of the time).
At the end of the day you can’t exactly bribe your team members with ice cream or a new toy … or can you? Perhaps an adult size “sticker chart” will take performance up a notch.
Designate Priorities and Stay on Task: Organization Makes Life Go Mostly Round
If it’s not on your calendar, it doesn’t exist. That saturated, color-coded calendar I alluded to earlier, well, it could be your downfall, or it could be the tool that allows you to rise to the top of your game!
In my line of work, the atmosphere can be chaotic at times, some days living in a perpetual state of distraction (who are we kidding, that’s how we pretty much all exist). You know those days where you reach the end and have nothing to show for it? The WORST! In fact, one study showed it takes about 25 minutes to get back into the swing of things after you’ve been interrupted.
Michael Gass, business development consultant, shared, “One of our biggest challenges is knowing what to work on each day. It’s also the key to lessening the distractions and increasing our productivity. So, the use of your calendar needs to be a priority. I recommend setting a regular time to do your scheduling. Spend an hour to plan and calendar your entire work week. That’s not a lot of time when you understand how much an hour of planning makes your time so much more focused and productive.”
The recommended practice of listing the top two or three things that need to get done today and not working on anything else until those items are completed is one that keeps being put in front of me. Perhaps the universe is telling me something. I don’t know about you, but let’s admit just how hard that can be – both at the office and outside of the office. Everyone is ultimately in the business of service, and we NEED to answer every email immediately so we can check that box, clear that inbox, answer that text, and appear “on top of it,” to our clients and peers … but are you? You may have a clean inbox, but did you check off the 2 or 3 things that REALLY needed to get done today?
Stephen Covey’s, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, lists this as one of the habits. Take care of your big rocks, your most impactful, important things, first!
“Don’t focus on being busy; focus on being productive. Allow what matters most to drive your day.”
– Gary Keller
Sure, we have to be able to adapt (lesson #1 when you become a parent) or you simply won’t survive or at least won’t be everyone’s favorite project manager, that’s for sure. Things come up, things happen, and re-evaluation is necessary to ensure the best outcome, and a certain amount of flexibility is important to inspire creativity.
Delegate Results, Not Tasks
Kids are relentless negotiators and at times (when I’m not at peak performance) pretty darn skilled. By the time it’s all said and done, I wonder if the 4-year-old’s way just might have been better.
As a project manager and organizational leader, try tweaking the way you think about delegating. Delegate results, not tasks. I love this shift in mindset because the potential long-term benefits are huge. Your team member might have a better tactical approach to get to the desired result. You hopefully hired competent employees; let them have ownership. This lesson in empowerment stands to grow the skill set and confidence of your team members and ultimately create a natural path of growth for the organization as a whole. Delegate results, not tasks.
Servant Leadership
My kid mimics me, her teachers, princess Elsa, and that annoying kid from school … it’s unavoidable, but when I see those mirror neurons in action, it’s no doubt apparent that kids pick up on everything … no pressure! Children look to parents for examples of how they are to walk through the world, and it’s the same for your team members. They are going to be looking to project managers to set the tone for their organization. The goal should be to engage in servant leadership and understand that you are a role model and absolutely have the power to set the tone and establish the standard … again, no pressure!
Final Tip
If you ever need a boost … for essentially ANYTHING, spend some time with author and motivational speaker Rachel Hollis and you’ll hopefully leave feeling like you can take on the world and then some. She remarks “that we all get the same amount of time. Not the same circumstances or the same level of assistance, but we all get the same 1,440 minutes every single day. The difference between your life, or mine, or Beyonce’s is defined by what we choose to do with those minutes we’re allotted.”
Truthfully, life is one giant project, you gotta manage it!
Another great way to effectively manage that big project is to ask for help. The team at Foster Marketing is always ready to step in and lighten your load. Contact us today!