How To Optimize Task Management, Communication, and Training In Your Team

Do you feel overwhelmed trying to optimize for task management? Or to create effective communication in your team? If yes, you’re not alone.

In my experience, most companies go out of business because of mismanagement.

When I look at a struggling business I find these two things:

• Lack of marketing – Not enough clients
• Poor management – A weak leader and a lousy team

9 out of 10 times it’s either of the two or worse…

Both.

You could blame the government or the economy or the market. But I think mismanagement is the biggest reason for businesses failing.

I believe a leader is a dealer in hope. He should be able to paint a picture for his team to follow.

I always say:

The best businesses have the best leaders.

So today I want to focus on management. Specifically, task management.

You see…

If you want to be successful as a leader, you have to plan and execute projects. However big or small they may be.

And to do so you need to optimize task management throughout your company.

According to a PMI study, high-performing organizations successfully complete 89% of their projects, while low performers complete only 36%.

Furthermore, whether you manage a remote team, or in an office environment…

Good communication is an important factor in the success of any project. Therefore, increasing effective communication should be high on the agenda of any leader.

The Foundation Of Optimizing Task Management

As a business, you could be working on several projects. And every single project is made up of several tasks.

Knowing how to manage each of those tasks is the secret to getting your projects completed on time.

At the very basic level, you are looking at to-do lists.

But task management becomes more complicated when it comes to managing workloads at a bigger scale.

Task management is a process where you have to:

• Outline your project. And identify all the tasks to be completed
• Prioritize the tasks based on a set criteria
• Create a schedule that is firm yet flexible
• Delegate to the right people
• Coordinate and communicate with them
• Monitor, track and analyze their progress

As you can see optimized task management requires a group of people working together.

And that requires effective communication among your team. It requires appropriate time management too. Because you need your team spending only the required amount of time allocated to each task. 

Priority tasks need to be completed first. You have to ensure your team doesn’t get distracted and stays on track.

Optimized task management lets you stay on top of all your work. And helps your team meet their deadlines.

Think of it this way…

Your business is a machine. And each project takes your machine forward.

To execute each project you want each part of your machine to operate in the most optimized way. You want all the nuts and bolts coming together in perfect harmony.

In other words, you want your business to be a well-oiled machine.

And to do that time and time again, you need a structure in place.

Create A Structure

Now, when it comes to managing people, one thing I’ve learned is…

People are not manageable. You cannot actually manage people.

It is much better if you can create systems so people can manage themselves.

As your company grows, you will not be able to micromanage everyone. Because you will have a lot of people on your team, right?

So you have to create a structure. Or a system where you create a yellow path. And tell your team that this is the path I want you to walk on.

Your job as a leader is to show them what would it take for them to be successful.

Success could be however your team defines it.

It could be in:

• Financial terms
• Terms of status
• Terms of their role within the company

Whatever their goals are, if that person is the right person, your job is to show them the right path.

Your job as a leader is to coach them to be successful and walk on the path.

Ensure that they don’t deviate from that.

So I suggest since people are not manageable…

Create a structure, manage their compensation, manage infrastructure.

And then you just need to find the right people to fit that structure.

Hire The Right People

I see a lot of business owners hiring their friends and relatives. That’s a big mistake.

You see…

Business is a game of margins. And friends don’t always result in results. Profitable employees do.

The only reason you hire people in your company is so they give you results.

You hire for profitability. Period.

The Structure Of Effective Task Management

This structure is only a template. It is not a definitive structure that would fit all businesses.

What applies to you may not apply to someone else’s business.

A big company could have hundreds of projects going on. On the other hand, a small business may have 2-3 projects at the most.

Everything depends on the size of your business, your team, your budget and the scope of your projects, etc.

What you need to do as a leader is to have a system in place. And if you have the right people working in that structure, your task management will be optimized.

Modify this template and adapt it to your business needs and requirements.

1. Establish An Outline For Your Projects

As a leader, you have to first create a general outline for your projects.

For each particular project:

• Define the goals and purpose of the project.
• Identify all the tasks needed to achieve the goals.
• A practical timeframe your team would need to execute them.
• Decide and allocate the budget and resources your team requires.

You should break big tasks into smaller subtasks and then focus on getting them completed one by one.

Remember if planning one project triggers an idea for another project, do not add to that project. Instead, create a new one. And create a separate plan for it later.

Let’s say you are planning for the creation of your company’s product catalog.

While planning for that, you may get the idea to create other company collaterals.

What you should do is make that a different project. Do not add on to the catalog project.

You see…

You have to keep each project narrowed and focused. Plan, schedule and gather your team and resources to work on it. And put that plan into action.

If your focus is clear and defined, your timeframe and budget allocation will remain in check.

For optimized task management, you have to establish an overall budget and schedule for the entire project first.

Then you have to identify and account for other things that would be required for individual tasks within the project.

Having that overview will help you and your team better understand everything.

It will also keep your budget in check. 

Once you have established these outlines…

2. Categorize And Prioritize Tasks

Once you have all the tasks listed out to execute each project…

You have to assign a priority level to each task. Define them by a set of properties.

Once you have this structure in place, you would be able to prioritize and assign tasks effectively.

Hence, it is important to establish what is important at a specific instance.

One way to look at your tasks is to identify:

• Tasks that can be scheduled chronologically
• The ones that can be scheduled simultaneously or
• Tasks that can be executed at any time within the project timeline

Then create a schedule around those tasks.

Another way for optimized task management is to describe your tasks in detail. 

Then evaluate them based on a set of assigned parameters.

How hard is the task?

It’s up to you to decide the difficulty level required for each task. But it is important you define them.

You could use tags such as:

• Very Easy
• Easy
• Moderate
• Difficult
• Very Hard

You could use the level of skill or brainpower needed to define the above tags.

How urgent is the task?

An effective team leader knows not every task on their to-do list needs to be done right away.

You could use tags such as:

• Right Now
• Today
• Tomorrow
• In a week

Try to be honest and realistic in your estimations. If you plan to do everything now, you will never get anything done.

How significant is the task?

You could think of it as to how much of an impact a task has on your team. Or even your project or customers.

You could use tags such as:

• Insignificant
• Minor
• Major
• Critical
• Highly Critical etc.

How much of an impact a task can have is subjective. It depends on the task, the project, and your team members.

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