Managing work especially during COVID has become a challenge for us all. Whether we like to openly discuss it or not, we are seriously struggling. It is our two lives that have merged and now we are experiencing adulthood in its prime.
Nonetheless, at the very core, work can get hectic. Spending hours going through piles of paper, or emails and trying to meet the deadline. In the midst of it all, you are still behind your goals for today and getting frustrating. What can work best for these situations is knowing how to manage your workflow, improve your communication, and take adequate breaks.
Another thing that can work for you is learning how to prioritize your work and to-do-list; which will improve your work-life balance inside your house.
Point of Contemplation: Work and workplace can be quite hard on our nerves and mental health. This could be for two reasons: A) we are incapable of handling our work and matters at work B) the workplace is toxic. Now, that COVID-19 has rendered the entire world at a standstill with the majority working from home, we cannot help but miss our workspace and the routine life.
Nonetheless, work is work and there are great ways you can manage it like a champ!
So let us dive into those ways, shall we?
1) Communication is the key
Communication is everything when it comes to any business. If there is no proper and transparent communication, then there are bound to be issued. A successful work-day would be full of back and forth communication, where employees, teams, and the entire ecosystem will talk to each other.
Moreover, when you’re dealing with strict timelines and project deadlines, it is best to communicate as a manager and ask about the progress. Because if you assume that everyone would be on the case, then chances are no one has even touched the project yet.
All in all, communicating your worries, roadblocks, or reports keep work streamlined and organized.
2) Initiate Training Sessions
Employee training regarding work management, stress management, and teamwork can take productivity several notches up. Often, employees feel burnt out and lose the motivation that results in slow progress and low-results. This is why it is important to conduct training sessions that help employees deal with such blockages.
Investing all this time and money into your employees will only elevate the quality of your projects in return. Moreover, they would be more equipped to handle bigger and complex projects. So, it is a win-win situation!
3) Encourage Taking Breaks
Don’t be that micro-manager that would want everyone to work in two sitting straight with just lunch break to take a breather. They are not machines and neither should be treated like one. So, encourage them to ease their minds and take frequent breaks to get a breather.
Social interactions, a little change in the surrounding, and attention diverted for a small amount of time can do wonders for some employees. They’d feel refreshed and energized. Moreover, once they are feeling recharged, they can give better performance and focus more sharply than before.
Always remember, to encourage those frequent break cycle yourself, so the employees are not feeling as if they are sabotaging their performance at work. Be the change bringer and do so with complete confidence within your workforce.
4) Use Necessary Tools
These tools can be anything at this point. The world of technology has transcended to another level after the implementation of AI, ML, and Big Data. So, there are great software solutions and tools made by software development companies in Houston and around the globe that would streamline your work in a jiffy.
Currently, with work from home orders around the globe, we need collaboration tools more than ever. So, you can make use of apps and web applications like Zoom, Meet, and Skype to stay in touch and conduct meetings. Moreover, you can also look up some great online tools that help in remote work.
All in all, it would be a waste to stick to traditional ways of conducting work and not relying on some of the best tools out there.
5) Tackle Complex Tasks First
This is a great way to manage your workflow. How? So you get up, have breakfast, head over to your office, and ready to start your work. Yes? At this point, you are fresh and have good energy levels. Yes? Well, this is the perfect time to tackle tasks that are complex and difficult, so you can approach them with a sharp focus and mind.
Once you are done with completing them, then you can head over to the tasks that do not require much of your mind running on a marathon and you can do that with ease.
Quick Tip: Make sure you are maintaining a to-do-list, as this will save you much of your time sorting your task first thing in the office. If you are not a to-d-list kind of person, then become one for productivity’s sake.
6) Don’t Take Your Work at Home
Jokes on us on this one! Since many of us are working from home, in which case, I would say do not take your work outside your work hours. CLOCK OUT!
Maintaining a healthy balance is key. And the key is in your hands, so make sure you are making use of it and not procrastinating into pulling an all-nighter. Otherwise, you will be left exhausted and the cycle of bad performance will continue.
Keeping the above tips in practice, try to finish your work at the office and come home to rest and recreate it! A home is not the place for work or anything work-related and vice versa.
Bottom Line?
Learn to have great control over your mind. Once you have your thoughts aligned and do not let them distract you, you can be great at managing your work. Of course, the above mentioned practical advice will also help.
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