The cycle of managing my team

Delegating is not the easiest task in the world. No one is a born leader. There are too many nuances to the topic and few come from talent alone. I realized this once again this weekend at the soccer game coaching my 10-year-old son’s team. As a player and even years later, I didn’t fully understand what a coach brought to the game. Now I finally see it. He is a leader who has learned to “read” the game. He sees plays before the players do and can consequently direct his team.

The manager of a company must have a similar skill. The team is often so wrapped up in the details that they often don’t have the more global perspective that ties things together and can anticipate steps to be taken.

Contents [hide]

1 Create a structure
2 Define a process
3 Set a task (next step)
4 Follow-up
5 Turn task into routine

Create a structure

I have learned several things these past 12-18 months. To start, you need a structure so that things can go more smoothly. In our case, it has been the implementation of Jira cameroon phone number library and Confluence. We have identified it as one of the best things we have done in 2023. It has allowed us to make a qualitative and quantitative leap in terms of tasks that we have been able to complete.

Define a process

Then you need a process. We have decided to work in top content distribution channels such as social media sprints. Every two weeks each of us has to account for what we have done. If we do not comply with what was previously promised, it must be explained. It is a process that is repeated every two weeks. Right now we are implementing new purchasing and shipping processes. I notice that there is resistance because we fans data have always done things in a certain way and now we are going to do it more slowly (because of having a process to follow).

Set a task (next step)

Another thing we always need is a next step. In the past and we continue to do so, we always say something but there are no consequences. “We should…”, “it would be a good idea…”, “I have to…”, etc. These are all sentence starters that indicate some kind of action. In our case, I now jump in and ask “do we have a task for that?” or “please have a meeting for that topic.”

Follow-up

A meeting is a form of follow-up, but in my case I always have to ask again. This morning, an issue came up that I have to follow up on. There is a product that we cannot buy in large quantities at once, but can only buy in units of 2-10 on Ebay and Wallapop. It is a recurring task and we have set it as such. In theory, I should not have to follow up on it, but I am almost sure that when I ask the question in our update we will have stopped doing it.

Turning a task into a routine

When we have that situation, I ask myself what we are doing wrong. We have made a decision to do something but then we don’t do it. There are communication channels beyond just with me. Sometimes the team makes decisions without taking me into account. They do it because they don’t consider it important. What does it take to make a task like, for example, recurrent purchases of a product into a routine? And I’m not talking about carrying out a routine for two weeks, but rather doing it all year round without exception. I don’t yet have the answer other than being very annoying, giving slaps and insisting. I will learn to do it better.