At Way We Do, we’re all about helping our clients break down the complexities of what they do into clear, reliable, and repeatable instructions.
But what about those ‘odd bods’ of our working lives? The random or infrequent tasks like organizing a gift for a client, re-ordering business cards for one of your team, or kicking off the office spring cleaning?
We’ve got you covered, with our new Ad Hoc Tasks template. The template lets you create tasks for specific, one-off or irregular tasks, delegate all or part of the task, and set timeframes for its completion. I’ve created a 10-minute tutorial that takes you through creating an ad hoc task, and shows you how you can track any compounding impacts these types of tasks may have on your business.
Measure = Manage
As Michael Gerber says in E-Myth Revisited, what you can measure, you can manage. You go to a lot of effort to make sure your major business processes are captured and documented, implemented and refined. But a small and seemingly simple ad hoc task can have serious implications, either in its immediate or long-term effects.
With an ad hoc task checklist, you can close any task management loopholes and uphold your standards in every thing you do. You’ll also be able to measure – and therefore, manage – just how much these activities are costing you, both in productivity and dollar value. Looking at the data might give you insights into opportunities to re-assign tasks (perhaps an administration assistant can look after ordering business cards, rather than one of your sales managers?) Or you might see a consistent pattern emerging that suggests it’s time to create a new role and bring on a new team member to take care of it.
We’ve all experienced those days where we feel we’ve been busy all day, but don’t really know what we’ve done. Capturing these ad hoc tasks can help you see what’s really going on in the hidden recesses of those “I was busy but was I productive?” days, and help you re-prioritize so you “get the big rocks in” each and every day.
Tell us what you think
If you’d like to try the template for yourself, email us at support@waywedo.com and we’ll install it into your account. Watch our 10-minute tutorial for a quick How-To on managing and measuring your ad hoc tasks, and let us know what you think.
And of course, if need help identifying some early contenders for your business’ task list, we’re just a few keystrokes away (support@waywedo.com).
