It's been said that being organized brings empowerment. Does your team feel empowered... or just exhausted? If you're seeing some signs of your team reaching overwhelm, it could have everything to do with not being organized. Take a look at the signs that your team could use a little help getting coordinated.
More Work Than Time
There is nothing wrong with being valuable and having tons of work to do. The problem comes in when you have more work than you have time. If you're organized and you have a handle on your resources, last minute requests and rush orders shouldn't put your team in the position of burning the midnight oil on a regular basis.
Getting organized can help your team members to really focus on their current projects, without having to turn down impromptu requests. If you're not using good project management software, you're missing out on the opportunity to keep everyone up to date. You and your team can use it to keep track of the amount of work assigned to each team member, to track actual project status, and to check updates to see if projects are on track to meet deadlines. With all of this information, it's easier to see who has availability for last minute work requests and who you can delegate additional tasks to if needed.
Forget Forgotten Work
Nothing is worse than getting a status request on something you don't even have on your to-do list. Failing to track all work requests and deadlines can not only increase the workload and stress of your team, it can result in lost customers.
Team calendars in addition to your project management tracking system can help keep everyone in the loop and on top of requests. Effective management of communications, work requests, deadlines, and team member availability will keep everyone calm and keep the workflow flowing.
The Email Avalanche
Email is one of the most incredible advances in business in the last century. But the down side is it can also become a drain on your time and a blockade to efficiency. Keeping it in check is key to being productive.
Controlling your email might be a simple as scheduling time each day to clean out your inbox, reply to requests, and file messages. If you're using email to communicate with your team, it might be time to consider an enterprise social network to enable more productive communication with quicker response and ease in management, that won't fill up your email inbox.
A.A. Milne once said: "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." This is true even in your marketing team. Getting organized can get you out of overwhelm mode and into a more satisfying and productive work environment.
