You're overwhelmed with tasks in PR. How can you strategically prioritize to ensure success?

Eine kreative Methode zur Priorisierung in der PR ist die sogenannte "Impact-Matrix". Erstellen Sie eine zweidimensionale Matrix, um Aufgaben nicht nur nach Dringlichkeit, sondern auch nach ihrem potenziellen Einfluss auf Ihr Unternehmen oder Ihren Kunden zu bewerten. Aufgaben mit hohem Einfluss und hoher Dringlichkeit sollten sofort bearbeitet werden, w?hrend weniger wichtige Aufgaben warten k?nnen. Ein weiterer Ansatz ist die Nutzung von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI). KI-Tools k?nnen helfen, Trends und potenzielle Krisen frühzeitig zu erkennen, sodass Sie proaktiv statt reaktiv handeln k?nnen. Diese Technologie kann auch bei der schnellen Bewertung und Kategorisierung von Aufgaben nach Dringlichkeit und Wichtigkeit unterstützen.

Take. A Step. Back. Your world might be on fire, but you rushing head first without taking the time to consider the tasks at hand will lead to catastrophic failure. You will either deliver subpar results, or you will get caught in an infinite loop of tasks you will never see the end of. Determine the tasks that are business critical, put them at the top of your list. Amongst those, consider how much flexibility there is to the deadline at the scale of the project: 6pm is firm, EOP reads as "I want to look at it first thing in the morning". Once your sorting is done, always update stakeholders on the tasks you moved around on the new deliverable timeline. Don't be apologetic, don't justify yourself, if you deliver, nobody will care.

Ein innovativer Ansatz zur Bewertung der Auswirkungen von PR-Aufgaben ist die Durchführung von "Zukunfts-Workshops". In diesen Workshops simulieren Sie verschiedene Szenarien und analysieren, wie aktuelle Aufgaben langfristig zu Ihren PR-Zielen beitragen k?nnten. Dies hilft Ihnen, Aufgaben zu priorisieren, die strategische Vorteile bringen. Ein weiterer kreativer Vorschlag ist die Einführung von "Erfolgs-Metriken au?erhalb der Norm". Betrachten Sie unkonventionelle Kennzahlen wie die Anzahl der qualitativ hochwertigen Interaktionen oder die Tiefe der Beziehungen zu Medienkontakten, um den langfristigen Wert Ihrer Aufgaben besser zu bewerten.

Determine which tasks will have the most significant impact on your PR goals. Focus on high-impact activities that align with overall objectives.

Leveraging your team's strengths is key to getting pressure off you. You need to assess your team members' skills and interests, then delegate tasks accordingly. This ensures work is completed efficiently while providing growth opportunities. This also empowers your team by giving them ownership and accountability over specific projects or areas.

Ein frischer Ansatz beim Delegieren ist die Einführung von "Task Swap Sessions". Diese erm?glichen es Teammitgliedern, ihre Aufgaben für eine begrenzte Zeit zu tauschen, wodurch sie neue F?higkeiten erlernen und frische Perspektiven gewinnen k?nnen. Dies f?rdert nicht nur die Zusammenarbeit, sondern sorgt auch für eine ausgewogenere Arbeitsbelastung. Ein weiterer innovativer Vorschlag ist die Nutzung von "Skill-Sharing-Plattformen". Durch den Aufbau eines internen Netzwerks, in dem Teammitglieder ihre F?higkeiten und Fachkenntnisse anbieten und austauschen, k?nnen Aufgaben effizienter delegiert werden. Dies st?rkt das Team und sorgt dafür, dass Aufgaben an die richtigen Personen gelangen.

PR or comms are very rarely a one-man show, you tend to have a team around you that is most likely able to take a few things off your plate. Play around your teams' strength: anybody with a handful of minutes to spare can help you out. However, delegating WISELY is indeed key: anybody can offer to help, but make sure you attribute to any volunteer tasks they master. You do not want to spend more time reviewing or worse redoing a task you delegated when you could have produced the same or a better output faster. Consider also the time you will need to brief the person on the task you need to delegate: a junior might need more time to process or have more questions about a task you or a senior manager will understand in a few words.

Wir nutzen ein Social-Media-Tool und planen im Team immer eine Woche im Voraus Content - das spart uns Zeit und dadurch, dass wir uns intern mit diese Aufgabe abwechseln, hat jeder Einblick in Aktuelles. Auch das Community-Management und Reporting wird mit dem Tool erleichtert, da wir so alles an einem Ort haben.

I highly doubt technology is going to save you if you are at the exact moment you realize you are overwhelmed by tasks. Some will say "Use your new best buddy Chat GPT", and yeah, that would be a quick shortcut if you don't care too much about the quality of the output. However, considering technological or software solutions to a task bottleneck can be a relevant learning from a rush. Nonetheless, a tool is only ever as good as the persons using them. Define processes that help you stay ahead of the curve and even anticipate your or your client's needs. Last tip: make sure you have a clear understanding of all the features offered by your softwares. Don't go looking for another tool when the one you use might have a similar function!

A pure case of "Do what I say, not what I do", particularly on LinkedIn where your timeline is flooded with (legitimate or self-proclaimed) workaholic overachievers. It's very complex for a PR agency to set proper boundaries. Clients are more often than not under the assumption that because they pay your retainer, you work 1) only for them, 2) all day, every day. If they are not happy with your service level, they take their business elsewhere and your treasury takes a hit. Designing a service level agreement can help. You define a contractual frame that gives a standard timeframe for deliverables, and you stick to it. There will be exceptions. There always are. But you need your clients to understand when it is an exception.

Slow down! That is the easiest way to say no. If you want to set boundaries and set them clearly, step back and allow yourself to "experience" the issue at hand. I promise you, it is a lot more pleasant experience. A steady hand and a clear mind will naturally have boundaries.

Learn from your mistakes. You must have heard that saying at least once in your life, right? What could you have done better? Were you too ambitious and too eager to say yes? Should have you said stop earlier to some people? Who could have done this or that in your stead? Every single action you take is worthy of a post-mortem, no matter its form. Face-to-face with your lunch break, under the shower or in a team meeting, if there was a problem for you, for the team, the client, the company, you need to address it so it can be tackled more efficiently, or before it even becomes a problem if it occurs again. The last step is not to bury that post-mortem. Act on it. Otherwise, you wasted more of your precious time in a useless meeting.