Managing a team of people is always a challenge, many different personalities mixing together under one roof, it can be fantastic or at times can give you a headache. Having children is not much different, I have three boys, and manage their expectations and behaviour on a daily basis.
Having children has taught me Compassion, Time Management, Negotiating skills, Conflict Management, Multi-tasking and overall life skills, which I have easily converted into a working environment. When it comes to managing deadlines, children, just like our colleagues can be very creative with their excuses or, "reasons" for not delivering their project on time.
Typical excuses from my children:
I'm too tried
I can't walk that far
My hands aren't working
I cut my finger and need a band-aid
It's too dark
The sun is too shiny
My tummy is full up to here (pointing to his forehead)
My friend John said that I didn't have to do it
I'd like to decide what happens to me today
Teddy needs a cuddle so I must help him
Excuses I've received from Team Members
I ate bad sushi and have food poisoning
The Boiler has broken waiting for a repairman to turn up
What project?
I just have too many things on my plate right now
I'm waiting for Dave to get back to me
I've emailed them, they haven't got back to me
The Naughty Step
When it comes to social media, you need to be on time and deliver, otherwise, you've missed the trend or the moment. I like to use a variety of tools to help me with my time management and keep track of other teams members progress, so here are my Top Four Digital Tools to manage childlike colleagues.
I put my children on the naughty step, but that's not applicable in the office (although wouldn't it be handy if it was).
ONE: Canva
This free platform allows you to create super cool downloadable images for all your digital needs. There are templates available for pre-determing the size you need, from Twitter, Facebook, blogging, e-books, the list go's on including creating your own customise size. You can share your images, edit and keep an eye on what your team is up to. Find out more about Canva.
TWO: Hootsuite
This is a social media scheduling tool, you will be able to review, edit, approve and schedule post for your main social media channels, very helpful.
THREE: Slack
A genius online collaborative tool which every digital team should get their hands on, it's free and it's very easy to manage projects, content and the rest of your team.
FOUR: Skype or Sametime
Email or instant messaging sometimes just doesn't cut it, you need to have that face to (digital) face conversation with a colleague then Skype or Sametime are the perfect solution when your team is spread out.
