Managing a remote or hybrid team can be challenging, especially when it comes to planning and scheduling tasks and meetings. You want to avoid double-booking your team members, which can cause confusion, frustration, and missed deadlines. How can you prevent this common problem and ensure that your team works efficiently and effectively? Here are some tips to help you.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to avoid double-booking your team members is to use a shared calendar tool, such as Google Calendar, Outlook, or Calendly. A shared calendar allows you to see your team's availability, schedule meetings and events, and send reminders and notifications. You can also set permissions and preferences for who can view, edit, or add events to the calendar. Make sure that your team members update their calendar regularly and sync it with their other devices and platforms.
In my experience, I have found that shared calendars are wonderful. They allow you the opportunity to see when team members are available. To be able to choose if you need to decide which team members must attend meetings or you can schedule meeting with minimum team members to allow other work to be done and share the agenda and discussion to the masses when available. Shared calendar can be used for time off and all types of notifications and generally is a postive for the overall.
Shared calendars are great! In my opinion, it’s the simplest way to be able to schedule meetings efficiently. Also, even though you may have a shared calendar, you can still make the meeting you wish to as “private”, when needed.
Another key factor to avoid double-booking your team members is to communicate clearly and frequently with them. You should establish regular check-ins, updates, and feedback sessions with your team, either individually or in groups, depending on the nature and scope of the project. You should also use a communication tool, such as Slack, Teams, or Zoom, that allows you to send messages, share files, and make calls easily and quickly. You should also encourage your team members to communicate with each other and report any conflicts or issues that may arise.
A third tip to avoid double-booking your team members is to prioritize and delegate tasks effectively. You should have a clear understanding of the goals, objectives, and deadlines of the project, and assign tasks to your team members based on their skills, strengths, and availability. You should also use a project management tool, such as Asana, Trello, or Basecamp, that allows you to create, track, and update tasks, subtasks, and milestones. You should also review the progress and performance of your team members regularly and make adjustments as needed.
A fourth suggestion to avoid double-booking your team members is to respect their time zones and boundaries. If your team is distributed across different locations and regions, you should be aware of the time differences and plan your meetings and events accordingly. You should also avoid scheduling meetings or events too early or too late, or on weekends or holidays, unless absolutely necessary. You should also respect your team members' personal and professional boundaries, and avoid contacting them outside of their working hours or expecting them to respond immediately.
Being cognizant of one’s time zones are very important. Working for multiple remote companies in the past, I always made sure to put my calendar on my current time zone as well as notating my working hours, that way there was no confusion about when I was/wasn’t available.
A final recommendation to avoid double-booking your team members is to be flexible and adaptable . You should recognize that remote and hybrid work can be unpredictable and dynamic, and that your team members may face challenges or opportunities that require changes or adjustments. You should be open to feedback and suggestions from your team members, and be willing to modify your plans and schedules as needed. You should also be supportive and empathetic to your team members, and acknowledge their efforts and achievements.
In the dynamic landscape of the business environment, nothing is constant, and neither are the calendar schedules. Embracing adaptability and flexibility accommodates team members who may have urgent needs to address outside the confines of the work schedule. A team leader who is considerate and goes out of their way to accommodate team members inspires a profitable work culture for both the team and the organization.