I remember a conversation that went something on the lines of ”You can't do management and operational tasks at the same time.” Of course, I disagreed.
My argument was armed with the conviction that with hard work and perseverance, you can push yourself to do both. All it takes is discipline, a good schedule, knowing how to keep yourself productive.
I was wrong. Well not 100% wrong, but wrong enough that I had to sit down and write this post.
When you are doing operational tasks you need to focus on details. If possible you should avoid multitasking. Things like reviewing copy, writing, and preparing a brief. These require a level of attention that doesn't go well with multitasking.
Management is different. It requires a bird's eye view of operational tasks, knowledge on the method each person uses and of course the business strategy.
There are two obstacles here. One is the loss of perspective when your daily, weekly or monthly plan is filled with tasks at an operational level. The other is that we forget to box-in time to focus only in top level tasks.
Most people I know, like me, pulled their weight from the operational level up. We know what needs to be done and how to do it with little or no supervision. This however has the reverse effect, we find it hard to break free from operational tasks.
Getting Involved
The solution is pretty straightforward, we do what we can to save time for top level analysis of what we are doing and how it contributes to business goals.
Next up, make sure everyone gets to participate. You never know what talent you are missing by not having everyone in the loop about what is going on.
There are a number of ways to do it. You can have daily or weekly meetings to give everyone an overview of what is going on. The important thing here is sharing information with everyone.
This however is not my field. Ana Silva blogs at ”The art of life and work” and shares a great deal of knowledge and tips to make organisations more human and efficient.
Header Photo by Troy McCullough
