The effective way of managing workload
Scenario
One of the main responsibilities of being a leader is managing the workload. If the workload piles up, then the management team will go to the leader to ask what has happened.
The Challenge
Leaders do not have time to delegate tasks throughout the day, everyday, each week. We have other tasks that we have been assigned. However, we do need to make sure that our team members complete tasks in a timely manner. We need to forecast upcoming planned holidays amongst team members and balance this with assigning tasks to relevant team members to ensure the workload is managed effectively.
The Turning Point
One thing I rely on and have found extremely effective is creating a weekly Rota, where we distribute workload across planned time slots across the week.
Workflow
Review Team Capacity: Check team schedules for upcoming holidays, absences, and existing workload to understand who is available and how much capacity each member has.
Gather Task List: Collect all tasks due for the upcoming week — including deadlines, priorities, and required skills.
Allocate Tasks: Allocate tasks based on urgency and complexity (e.g., high, medium, low priority) to streamline assignment.
Create Weekly Rota: Design a rota that allocates tasks across the week, ensuring even distribution of workload and consideration of leave schedules.
Communicate Rota to Team: Share the rota at the start of the week so everyone understands their responsibilities and deadlines.
Monitor Progress: Check in each day to ensure tasks are progressing as planned. Make adjustments if someone is overloaded or additional work arises.
Impact
Stronger team ownership and time management.
Enhanced ability for leaders to focus on strategic tasks.
Reduced last-minute stress from unexpected absences.
Improved accountability and transparency within the team.