Christmas, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries - each time a gift-giving occasion passes people are reminded that vague hints are seldom a good way to get what you want. Managers would do well to remember this as well. Offering vague directions or assuming that employees understand what you expect often leads to disappointment when the results aren’t what you were hoping for. Communication is key. Clearly stated objectives, concrete directions and the ability to question any aspects that are confusing can keep your project from going off the rails. Often the reason managers don’t provide all this support boils down to a lack of a time. They have other projects that require their attention and can’t be readily available for the duration of each and every project they manage. Thankfully, technology can really help in this situation.
First, put it in an e-mail. It may be tempting to have a meeting or stop by a person’s desk to discuss a new project but when all the communication is verbal, there are multiple opportunities for details to be missed or misinterpreted. Was the other person really paying attention or were they distracted by their phone or what was going on around them. Did you remember to tell them everything you intended or did you get distracted yourself and forget to mention a critical detail? Putting the project outline in writing gives you both something to refer back to. This can really help keep things moving in the right direction.
In a previous post we profiled a few list management solutions that can help you keep your projects on target. These can be great for allowing both the employee and the manager track the progress of a project. They also provide some time management incentive. You can visually see how much has been done, and how much still needs to be completed.
If you read our series on technology for your small business, then you’ve already heard our suggestions for keeping employees connected. This can be a huge timesaver in the project management process. Holding a meeting to discuss details is time consuming. Everyone has to stop what they’re doing and make their way to the meeting site. There’s generally some chit chat and other niceties that take time as well. Even a quick phone call isn’t so quick when you add in the interruption factor and the time it takes both parties to get back to the task they were working on when the phone rang. E-mail, texts and even hangouts can all be answered at a more convenient time, resulting in less overall downtime. Plus, again this will provide written copies of what was discussed. Just having that to refer back to can eliminate the some of the questions likely to crop up during the course of a project.
Of course, a lot of the success of a project hinges on the manager having a clear idea of what needs to be done and how it should be done. This goes back to process mapping. Thanks to process mapping you’ll know what areas need to be addressed and have a pretty good idea of what needs to be done to improve them. This will allow you to communicate effectively with your employees so that they can produce the desired results.
All You Need are Clear Directions and the Right Easy Online Inventory System
One area of your business that you can always count on to produce the right results is Stockpile easy online inventory system. With Stockpile you’ll always know what items you have on hand and where they are at any given time. Easily run reports whenever and wherever you’d like. Setup is quick and easy so once you decide to try Stockpile, you’ll be up and running in no time. This will give you lots of extra time to manage those other projects on your to-do list. Get Stockpile today!
