With the right task management system, your business saves time and money as productivity increases. Your team benefits too: Without the daily stress brought on by worry over mundane, complicated tasks, engagement increases, there’s a tighter focus on teamwork, and the customer experience improves. Task management systems aren’t the only factor worth considering: Here are five ways to improve the way your team accomplishes its goals.
Equip for Efficiency
Contractors know just how important it is to send framers, roofers, and electricians off to job sites with the correct tools. Just like these essential blue-collar workers, your own experts need the right systems at their fingertips – along with an information delivery system that ensures each individual has quick, effortless access to the features required for task completion. Eliminating complicated or repetitive processes saves time, freeing up employee focus for more important interactions.
It can be tempting to cut corners in an effort to save time or money but this misguided strategy rarely leads to success. Whether your employees are onsite or if you’ve opted for a mobile workforce, your people are among your greatest assets and Sapho’s modern portal is the easiest way to leverage that human capital. Ensuring that employee have the tools required for the job at hand is the first and arguably the most important step toward creating a smooth and effective employee experience.
Prioritize and Focus
How do you decide which responsibilities are most important? Solid prioritizing strategies are essential to task management, whether you’re using technology or not. As you decide how to prioritize, consider whether any time-wasters such as emails, meetings, and “busy” work are interfering with top-tier tasks. These might be somewhat important, but all too often, they are handled before true essentials receive attention. Whatever is slowing the flow of priority tasks, it’s quite likely that there’s a system that could help, or there’s someone at a lower level who could handle it. Alternately, it may be possible to schedule it behind other tasks that take precedence.
Mentally or physically map out priorities and consider contingencies before implementing changes. Planning does takes time, but you’ll consider it well-spent once priorities have been organized. Once you have determined which priorities are most important, place your focus on those or communicate the importance of focus. Creating a tight, specific action plan with a timeframe for completion is among the best methods for ensuring that important details receive the necessary attention.
Delegate and Motivate
Which employees are most effective at certain aspects of common tasks? Whatever needs to be accomplished, the odds are good that certain employees are going to be faster and better than others. While it does pay to identify weaknesses and provide tools for improvement, productivity increases when strengths are identified and tasks are delegated accordingly.
Motivation is as important as other aspects of task management, so take a good look at your company’s culture and determine whether your people are as motivated as possible. Try asking these questions:
- What makes your employees tick?
- Who seems unmotivated, and who seems to have a knack for energizing others?
- How can you increase employee enthusiasm?
- How can you foster a sense of satisfaction that encourages your workers to do their very best work?
Empowerment, respect, and recognition are just a few factors that go into creating a motivating work atmosphere. While it might take some time to connect the dots, you’ll discover that motivated employees produce better results, no matter what the task.
Track Progress
If your company is using a task management system, then it’s likely that you have a method for tracking progress in place. Be sure that people are using it! In the absence of a system that tracks progress, ensure that you come up with a way to keep track of each project and the smaller tasks it contains. A simple whiteboard will do if you’re in a small, casual setting. Communicating goals, assigning specific tasks to people or teams, and assuring regular check-in are a few ways to track any project’s progress.
Don’t Skimp on Details
Whatever the task, break it down into smaller units as you determine how best to manage it. Ensure that workers know what’s expected and ensure that they have access to all essential details and instructions for completion. Even when processes seem completely obvious, tightly outlined details reduce the potential for miscommunication and the many problems that can come with it.
Last but not least, foster an open atmosphere and encourage discussion. When people feel comfortable with the communication process, they’ll be more engaged with others as well as with the tasks that require completion. The odds are very good that your employees are already working hard – and if clunky processes prevent efficiency, it’s likely that they’re more stressed than they need to be. Give them what they need in terms of equipment, leadership, and motivation, and you’ll discover that task management requires less effort despite improved results.
