Many of us have found ourselves on understaffed and overworked teams or have found ourselves leading such teams. And as a result, we frequently end up feeling overwhelmed and stuck in the loop of a seemingly infinite workload, leading to a lack of engagement which in turn leads to increased attrition and further worsening of workload. This is more frequent in early-age startups where most of the processes, strategies, and teams are evolving very rapidly.
There are a few steps that we can take to help manage such situations better which I have tried to present here:
Make sure everyone knows what they’re doing and why
The vision is necessary to keep motivation high, but if there’s no clear idea of how that translates into results, people can become frustrated with their work and lose interest in moving forward.
Does this burst of extra effort lead to learning, growth and or any other benefits to the team member putting in that extra effort? If yes, the team member needs to know to about it to understand why to put that extra push.
Lead by example
Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty and dive into the trenches with your team. You may have to show your team that you are in the same boat as them and that you will do all that is necessary to get things done.
Keep communication lines open
Your team should be able to tell you what they’re working on and how they’re progressing. Also, any pent-up emotions may be released before any burnt-out employee decides to quit or becomes disengaged.
Look for new ways to streamline and automate your workflows
There is a high probability that there are several tasks performed by the team which can be easily automated to a large extent but the team deprioritised the automation activity. If you can pull off some of these automation tasks, it can save a lot of cumulative time.
Get comfortable saying “no”
You should also be aware that saying “no” doesn’t have to come across as unhelpful or mean-spirited; a properly communicated “no” can go a long way to move the expectations of stakeholders to realistic levels.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other teams or outsource, if necessary.
Can a graphic designer in the marketing team help the HR team design some communications? Can a front office executive help in the completion of some documentation in his/her spare time? Can the customer service team help organise an event for the marketing team? These are some examples of such scenarios where support from other teams can be explored. If other teams are not available for help, outsourcing some activities may help, depending upon the duration of the projected bandwidth crunch.
Keep a Plan-B ready in case of the unavailability of any team member
If one team member is unavailable, it can cause a domino effect on other team members who need to cover the gaps. This leads to more work and high turnover rates, and frustration among everyone involved in the project.
The team leader should be ready with the list of processes/activities that will have to be immediately deprioritised in case of any such additional sudden unplanned bandwidth gaps.
Avoid perfectionism
The 80-20 rule is a great way to think about your time management when bandwidth is scarce. If you try to hit near 100% efficiency/output in most of your deliverables, it might suck up too much of the scarce and precious bandwidth and you might end up with a couple of very well-executed items and a pile of unfinished projects.
Understanding issues that caused the team to be understaffed in the first place to plan the future better
Once you have collected these pieces of information, it will be easier for you to plan ways to avoid the situation in the future. Remember, if the team does not believe that the understaffing/overwork situation is temporary and the same root cause reappears, the motivation levels of the team may dwindle rapidly.
(The author is Mr. Dhruv Shandil, Senior HR Manager, K12 Techno Services Pvt. Ltd. and the views expressed in this article are his own)
