I am sure we have all experimced that sense of frustration when some task or activity in your organistaion, that should have been simple, seems to have either taken far too long, involved far too many people and become far too complicated.
Whether it is a regular or one off task or activity, are there ways we can prevent this happening quite so often? Whilst there will always be ocasions when aomething ends up being far more complex or time consuming than it first appeared; here are a few questions to ask if a task seems to create frustration or eat time too often for your liking
- Is what needs to be done clear? Very often the ‘muddle’ may come because the task itself is not clear or clearly understood. Are there procedures or a task description available? If this is an activity that your organistaion does regularly it is worth writing this down and then regularly reviewing it.
- Is it equally clear why the task needs to be done? Understanding the ‘why’ can help in explaining or simplifying the ‘how’. It may even be that the original reason why has now disappeared or changed and therefore task can either be stopped aktogether or needs to be changed.
- What do we neeed to make the task possible? Whrether it is people, information or physical items, don’t start any task until you have what you need to finish it.
- Is it clear who needs to be involved (and perhaps even more importantly, who dosen’t)? Within the organisation, is it understood who is reponsible for completing the task and who they should refer to if either they cannot do it, or they have a question? If in doubt, it is all too easy to get anyone and everyone who happens to be about involved. However, too many cooks really can spoil the broth!
- Do we know what will happen as a result of this task? If, for example, the task produces information for a third party, it is worth checking periodically whether they still need it or if there is a simpler / easier way of providing it that can save both you and them time.
If you would like to discuss getting some help with sorting some of those things that cause frustration and muddle in your organiastion, please contact me.