I think that people get work management and project management confused. They interchange the two and don’t even realize they’re doing it. I believe that the distinct indication between the two is that work management deals with tasks and daily functions of the business, while project management strives to achieve goals and the big things you want to accomplish.
Project management has more intention and purpose behind it, while work management is just sort of “going through the motions”. Project management is thinking and acting like a CEO, a leader, a visionary, while work management is thinking and acting like an employee. Many people get confused somewhere in the middle which only keeps them stuck.
When any new business owner opens up, they’re struggling to just make it through each day and make sure all of the tasks get done. They have the mindset of “just work harder” and end up burning themselves out without having got much of anywhere.
When you put intention behind the things you do, goals and certain milestones you want to reach, the next step is to bring your team on board. When we simply tell people a task they need to get done and don’t actually include them on why this task is important and the role they are playing in the grander picture, we just end up task-managing and making sure the box is checked. There is no intention other than “the work needs to get done”.
When people are included in discussions and projects, it opens up the table for more ideas. These ideas don’t necessarily need to be implemented, but when someone sees that you are hearing them out and they feel a part of the team, they are going to put more intention into whatever it is they do. This is also a good way to determine where everyone’s strengths are so they can be put to better use and nurtured to up-level those skills. When your whole team is thriving, your business is too.
There is a time and a place when we need work management. But if we really want to see our business succeed and our dreams come true, a large part of your focus needs to be reserved for the project managing. Taking time each day to make sure goals are aligned with actions and that they are moving forward, not backward or plateaued. If you find yourself micro-managing people in a project, they might not be a good fit for the role you’ve assigned them. Your team should be made up of strong, self-motivated people so that you have the space to think, plan, and create.
One of my favorite tools for project management is an app called Asana. There are both free and paid versions, but you can view your projects in list or calendar form and further break them down and assign them to certain employees.
Another is Slack. It’s like a chatroom, but it keeps conversation threads segmented by individual person, project, topic, etc. It makes communication between different subjects and ideas separate, but still all in one place.
The last big tool that helps tremendously with organization and sharing is Dropbox. It stores all the files I need and can be easily shared or integrated with both Asana and Slack. Everybody has access to the same files and everybody is on the same page with what’s going on.
Set your goals, and your intentions behind them. Why are you working towards this? What is the desired end result? Once you have these clear and stated, communicate it out to the rest of your team. Once they know the intention and their role in the whole thing, all you have to do beyond that point is check in to make sure things are headed the right direction. No micro-managing, no busy work that distracts you from the real work. Just a business that seems to run itself, and time and space for you to continue to grow it.
Links mentioned in this weeks episode: Asana, Dropbox, Slack, Trello, Basecamp
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Episode 95 – 5 Reasons Why Processes Will Scale Your Business Faster
Episode 94 – Inventing the Future We Want
