Ok, jokes aside, we could arguably say that getting tasks completed on time and in a scalable way is what makes or breaks a team. Today, we’re going to discuss ways to meet your deadlines without internal chaos—consistently.
This blog post is based on a true story and is educated by the mistakes and solutions we make in our team. No team is perfect, we can only work to reduce mistakes, improve communication and increase productivity. We don’t strive for perfection; we strive for consistency and teamwork.
Bloom Growth™ is dedicated to supporting your team’s productivity and communication with our business tools for entrepreneurs. Here’s your guide to streamlining communication using our business tools we love and use on a regular basis.
1. Track To-do’s all in one place
When searching for tasks in three different places, it’s understandable some of them fall through the cracks. When you gather all your To-do’s, internal and external, into one place, you’ll have a streamlined, productive workflow.
If you keep lists of tasks in multiple places, talk to your team about how you manage projects. Offer the solution of streamlining your project communications by storing all your tasks in one place—this will ensure no tasks fall through the cracks.
With your Bloom subscription, you see all your tasks from all your meetings in one place. In your Weekly Meetings, you get a recap of past and future To-dos and a birds-eye view of your tasks in your Workspace to stay on top of your projects.
2. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.
Deadlines don’t have to be stressful. Instead, they start with a process; ask each of your team members how long it takes them to complete regular, recurring tasks. Then, make a process: if you know it takes three days to get copy approved and three days to design it, add that to your project plan. Give everyone time to create work they’re proud of while still delivering projects on time.
The process of planning due dates accurately and stress-free is a dance; navigating between each team member’s unique working schedule takes practice but will make a fulfilling work environment for everyone involved when you have your project planning down pat.
In your Bloom Growth™ software, you have several ways to keep your team accountable for deadlines. In your Weekly Meeting, there’s a dedicated agenda section for reviewing To-dos. Are any of your To-dos off track? Drop it down to the Issues section of your meeting to avoid tangents and keeping your team engaged.
3. Regular, recurring Weekly Meetings
Having a regular time your team meets will reduce confusion and stress. Knowing there’s a dedicated time to remove blockers, brainstorm solutions and keep projects moving forward will streamline communication in the team.
Also, knowing there is a dedicated time for communication to happen will help reduce clutter on messaging platforms and unnecessary meetings. During your regular meetings, you have a chance to review current metrics and check on the progress of current projects. Discussing deadlines before they arrive will keep everyone on track and help to get projects completed on time.
With your Bloom Growth™ subscription you have access to pre-made meeting templates to streamline communication throughout your entire organization. Need to get your entire team on the same page? Utilize our Weekly Meetings to get consistent, open communication throughout your team. Need to get aligned with one member of your team over a big project? Utilize our One on One Meetings with a premade agenda to clear the air and connect quickly.
4. Pre-made meeting agendas
Having a regular meeting time is one of many parts of the puzzle. Having a set, recurring agenda is the secret. When everyone shows up at the same time knowing what will be discussed in the meeting, team members can focus on tackling what’s important. Removing uncertainty will allow your team to open up, and build a sense of trust and consistency.
Part of our pre-made agendas is the Check-in section at the beginning of each Weekly Meeting. This section promotes honesty which is vital to streamlining communication.
With your Bloom subscription, you have access to several premade meeting agendas to plan content more easily and get to discussions quicker.
5. Timed meeting agendas
Another feature of our powerhouse meeting agenda is the timing detail. Our visual timing feature allows you to move through your agenda the way you want to, instead of getting distracted and derailed. Accessible in all of your Bloom meetings, you can visually see the time you set for yourself for each section.
Part of streamlining meetings is starting and ending on time. By respecting your peer’s time and sticking to the meeting agenda you created, you allow space for creativity and problem-solving.
6. Process documentation
Our silent hero. Documenting processes streamlines work for everyone involved. For example:
- Do you have a question people keep asking you over and over?
- Is there information you find yourself looking for over and over?
- Do you spend hours training new hires?
You can streamline all of these time-consuming events by documenting every detail of your processes. This will ensure your tasks are completed correctly and your teammates are only bothered as often as necessary.
Tips for good process documentation
- Process documentation and marketing plans can follow the same rule of thumb as the five big questions.
- Answer all the major process questions—when, where, why, who, how.
- Your processes don’t have to be pages long. Often, being concise is better for not overwhelming your audience.
- Try to use bullet points for listing steps in a task. The visual presentation of your work matters for how your reader will feel when referencing your work.
- Include all relevant links to the task so your reader doesn’t have to search for other resources.
- Storing all your processes in one, accessible place. Your team should not have to search for processes. This information’s only purpose is to be accessible.
7. Customizable workspaces
Having all your metrics ready and available in one place is a game changer. Instead of picking through metrics from several different platforms, optimize your workflows to have your data displayed in one space that’s accessible to your team clearly and concisely.
The Scorecard is a main component of the Bloom workspace. It’s a table that gathers the metrics of all team members and is part of the premade meeting agenda.
Here at Bloom Growth™, we bring data from places like HubSpot and Metabase into our Bloom Workspace to see all our metrics together at a glance. Streamlining our metrics allows us to get straight to brainstorming together and not jump from platform to platform in meetings.
8. Whiteboard features
Do you need a place to get creative and doodle out your brainstorming sessions with your team? Looking for out-of-the-box solutions is easier when you use unconventional ways to work.
We want you to try something out: for one week use a whiteboard—or virtual whiteboard if you’re doing this online—to draw out your plans and see them visually. Even using a flow chart to map out tasks or accountabilities can help with blindspot coverage.
With your Bloom subscription, you have access to our Whiteboard feature in all meetings. With a click of a button, you can transition from working through Issues verbally to visually.
Does this sound like your team?
Don’t know where to go for help
Tasks are owned by more than one person
Meetings often run long
I have too many meetings to function
We miss deadlines frequently
I feel stressed with so many deadlines
Use Bloom’s business tools for entrepreneurs to transform the communication and productivity in your team. Our software and features are built for every member of your team.