Being at full capacity isn’t always a flex. It can often lead to mental exhaustion, lack of motivation, and burnout. All of which can make it even more challenging to show up in your small business. 😰
Our CEO, Layla, was in a similar position a few months ago. She had 50-60 hours assigned to her every week. With a back-to-back schedule, Layla wanted to reclaim her time and get to the bottom of it.
❓ What tasks were filling her work calendar?
❓ Was the team facing a similar barrier?
❓ What needed to be adjusted to reduce the workload?
Layla aimed to reduce her work to 20-30 hours per week. But before she could achieve that goal, she decided to conduct an audit to see where the team could better manage its time.
Grab your popcorn and check out our behind-the-scenes video chronicling Layla’s journey combatting capacity issues and creating a sustainable work-life balance. ⚖️
Readers, you can find the recap below!
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The Beginning: Layla at Full Capacity (00:22)
Layla’s to-do list felt extensive. Upon initial review, the pile of tasks wasn’t difficult per se, but they required a lot of time to complete.
Right away, Layla discovered she wasn’t the only one on her team with a full plate. Despite this, it didn’t seem like all their hard work was moving the needle:
👉 Improving our products
👉 Receiving more testimonials
👉 Gaining client insight
The main question on her mind: Was it necessary to do all of this?
It was time to go back to the drawing board and investigate. 🔍
📝 Brief exercise: Do you and your team feel like you have no time to spare? Take this opportunity to do some digging and see what’s contributing to your capacity issues.
How to Manage Your Time: Tasks and Time Reports (02:50)
Layla started her auditing journey by assessing the following:
✅ Her personal task list to confirm her suspicions.
✅ The time her colleagues have tracked so far.
She checked to see if anything stood out and immediately noticed high time-tracking data for emails and collaboration. These are areas that our team rarely focuses on.
The time for these tasks increased each quarter. In other words, something was structurally wrong with how we approached these tasks. 🚩
From there, Layla moved onto the routines area, which is where we typically focus 66% of our time. During this evaluation, Layla looked for the following:
🔎 Time estimates for each task. If the estimate was missing, she either added it or had a colleague update it.
🔎 Value of the routines. Layla requested team members to remove routine tasks that didn’t seem like the best use of our time.
🔎 Frequency of tasks. Layla modified routine tasks from a few times per week to once per week or month.
These minor updates helped reduce the team’s overall task list by approximately 20 hours per month! 🎉
💡 Pro tip: Many project management software, like ClickUp (👈 affiliate link), offer a time tracking feature. If your task management tool doesn’t have it, consider using a free time tracker from our list.
Communicating With the Team: Addressing Capacity Issues (06:00)
With this data in mind, Layla shared her concerns about capacity issues with project managers, team members, and team leads. Most of the discussions surrounded delegating and rearranging tasks:
👐 A team member stepped in to support Layla in multiple business areas, including customer work.
👐 Layla also reviewed ways to simplify the workflow on the marketing side.
By this point, Layla purged low-priority routines, discussed updates with the crew, and reviewed pipelines that could be adjusted to save time.
🎬 Want to see how we managed to save 45 minutes in our email pipeline? Enjoy our brainstorming session at timestamp (07:30).
Balancing Operations and Full Capacity (11:00)
On the operations side, Layla met with our Customer Experience Lead, Sam, about the logistics of these changes. In summary, the conversation focused on:
💬 Concerns about being at full capacity.
💬 Investing in meaningful value for the business.
💬 The result of lack of focus and impact of work.
💬 Potential bottlenecks in the pipeline.
Layla explored solutions to address these concerns, like focusing on hiring projects and redistributing routines.
Transparency and delegating were two major factors that helped initiate the change in pace. But there was one more secret ingredient that Layla utilized – effective SOPS! 🧂
📢 Workshop shoutout: If you want to start delegating tasks, but don’t have a clear roadmap for how to do things in your business, it’s time to create some standard operating procedures (SOPs). Check out our virtual SOP in a Day™ workshop on September 25, 2024, to get started!
Two Weeks Later: A Positive Status Update (18:26)
After a couple of weeks of adjustments, everything looked like it was trending in the right direction. Yay! 🎉
By this point, we had…
- Cut back on tasks on the team’s to-do lists.
- Reduced frequency of tasks in the routines area.
- Focused on alignment.
- Conducted 1:1 conversations, where we dove into the value of our work and how we can move toward our long-term goals.
As we delegated tasks, we had to acknowledge the skill gap problem, aka tasks that required deep and creative skills. For responsibilities in this area, we kickstarted the hiring process for specialized contractors.
📝 Note to reader: Need some guidance with hiring outside help? Look no further than our hiring post inspired by Leila Hormozi. You can also review our comprehensive onboarding process.
Three Weeks Later: Not at Full Capacity (21:44)
After three weeks, Layla witnessed something truly spectacular: Everyone on the team was ahead of schedule! Can we get a standing ovation, please? 👏
🙅♀️ There were no overdue tasks in sight.
🙅♀️ No one was overwhelmed with work.
While delegating was an initial concern, the results revealed that all team members had less on their plates and more room for upcoming projects.
Purging lower-priority tasks also gave Layla much more time and energy to reinvest in delegating projects and moving the business forward.
🧠 Keep in mind: The time required for the hiring process depends on several factors, such as initial assessments, contracts, onboarding, and test trials. Go to timestamp (24:16) to hear Layla’s thoughts on navigating the recruiting experience.
Tired of Capacity Issues? Take a Step Back and Reassess
Over the years, ProcessDriven has gone through many seasons of growth, overcoming overwhelm, examining capacity issues, and learning how to manage our time more effectively.
That feeling of being in crunch mode? We’ve been there before. If you’re at full capacity and struggling to catch your breath, that’s a sign to prioritize making time. ⌛
You can gain so much value from simply defining your routines and getting things off your plate. You can also encourage your team to reassess their focus so everyone is working towards the common good of the company.
Noticing other hiccups in your business? Identify bottlenecks in your operations with our free Systemization Snapshot™ audit, where you can review your team’s efficiency, documentation, and task execution.
Speaking of efficiency, you can simplify transitions like this by developing SOPs detailing how your business functions. If you…
✔ Need support updating your SOPs.
✔ Want to customize templates according to your business model.
✔ Want effective SOPs that will affect your daily operations.
✔ Receive real-time expert feedback on your operational procedures and processes.
Join our live 3-hour SOP in a Day™ workshop on September 25, 2024! Last year’s event was a blast, and we’re genuinely excited to help you get those SOPs into shape.
Good luck reclaiming your time, and enjoy the process!
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