Ever felt that your team is overwhelmed, when on paper they shouldn’t be?
This is actually super common.
Rob James, operations director at Footprint Digital, has been tackling this issue in his agency – and he’s come up with an interesting solution.
Before, overwhelm was causing anxiety and stress: “I’ve had somebody who was pretty anxious every month saying they had too much work.”
It also meant that team members thought certain tools like time tracking would be used against them.
“They thought it was just going to be another stick to beat them over the head with, like being micromanaged,” he says.
So, what happened?
Rob evolved the agency’s way of allocating time to reduce feelings of overwhelm among the team. They broke down their time into four specific categories or ‘buckets’:
- Revenue: Time dedicated to client work that directly earns money for the business.
- Strategic: Time spent on sales and activities that improve the business, like refining processes.
- Education: Time for personal development and educating others, whether attending or speaking at events.
- Admin: Time for tasks like emailing and reporting, covering all other duties not in the categories above.
They then made these allocations visually interactive so the team was better able to see where they should be spending their time.
The exact split varies based on the team member’s role and level of expertise. But broadly, this approach to time allocation means that team members have enough time to fulfil their primary responsibilities – while also allowing for growth and development.
Rob says this has helped his team understand what is expected of them, and led to a greater sense of security and reduced feelings of overwhelm.
“By doing this, you kind of instil a level of psychological safety where people don’t panic,” says Rob.
Join this session to hear how Rob reduced overwhelm and stress in his agency – and how you can do the same.