Your team is overwhelmed by increased workloads. How can you provide support during organizational changes?

Talk to your team members one-on-one to see how the extra work is affecting them. Listen to their concerns and get their feedback. Use what you learn to figure out the biggest problems and fix them quickly. Showing that you understand and care about their challenges will help build trust and support them better during the changes.

One thing I’ve found helpful is maintaining open lines of communication. Regular check-ins ensure team members feel heard and valued, enabling you to address concerns promptly. Actually, I disagree with the notion that pushing through increased workloads without additional support is sustainable. This approach often leads to burnout and diminished productivity. An example I have seen is implementing flexible work arrangements during peak periods. This strategy not only alleviates stress but also fosters a more resilient and adaptable team. Understanding the impact of increased workloads through open dialogue and targeted support can significantly enhance team well-being and productivity during times of change.

To truly support your team, it’s essential to understand how the increased workload impacts them. Take the time to have open and honest conversations to learn about their struggles and concerns. Doing this shows that you genuinely care about their experience and value their input. Understanding these specific stressors allows you to offer more targeted support, helping to address the most pressing issues and prevent burnout effectively.

In my experience, supporting a team during organizational changes starts with understanding their challenges. Engaging with staff to identify stress points and providing clear communication and resources is crucial. Offering targeted training and encouraging collaboration can significantly boost morale. By prioritizing these actions, leaders can ease transitions and maintain high performance and well-being during times of change.

In the world of construction, things can get messy. This happens more than we'd like it to. But here are a few ways around it from my experience. 1-Acknowledge the Situation: Start by validating the team's concerns of being overwhelmed. Make it clear that you understand the challenges they are facing and you'r in it together. 2-Prioritize Tasks: Not everything is a priority or an emergency. Use time wisely and delegate the work accordingly. Know teams strengths and weaknesses. 3-Provide Clear Guidance: Communicate clearly. When things get hectic and overwhelming individuals tend to lose focus. Daily, set up quick briefings and clarify everyone knows their responsibilities. Be open and supportive if help is needed.

As Leaders, we must support our teams with efforts to prioritize strategies, initiatives and tasks, based on importance and urgency. This includes identifying activities that may not be necessary and that can be dropped. We must build the trust, relationship and open communication, so that team members feel comfortable and safe to point out that a certain task that they have had among their pending activities, is no longer important or necessary and that it can be deprioritized, dismissed, postponed or archived. Given team members the ability to drop tasks that are no longer important or necessary is a very empowering and energizing exercise. It allows team members to free space and to reprioritize what is really important and urgent.

Remember to engage the team in asking ... Given the changes, what do we need to stop, start, and continue doing? What are we doing that no longer supports the new direction?

Setting priorities is lining up the tasks for the team. Sometimes, we want to work on multiple tasks, or try the multitasking myth, but gets overwhelm by work. You can use methods such as Eisenhower Matrix or Priority Matrix to line up the task for the team. When you line up the priorities, then you will discover what is the actual pace of the team. Sometimes, we want to go fast that we don't take into account other factors of completing quality work.

Eisenhower Matrix the heck out of the workload. Teach you team to do the same. Get people to ask questions about the the urgency and importance of things. If everything is urgent and important is anything really? Stop reacting and learn to respond. Find your own zen.

One thing I've found helpful is to set clear priorities. Understanding the challenges allows you to guide your team in focusing on the most critical tasks. This alignment with organizational goals reduces the sense of being overwhelmed by narrowing their efforts to what truly matters. Actually, I disagree with the idea that adding more resources is always the solution. Sometimes, it's about optimizing existing workflows and ensuring clarity in responsibilities. An example I have seen is a team that implemented weekly check-ins to reassess priorities. This approach allowed them to stay agile and adapt to changes without feeling overloaded.

Share the workload by assigning tasks based on each team member’s strengths and skills. Make sure everyone knows what they’re responsible for and check in regularly to see how they’re doing. Trust your team to handle their tasks, but be available to help if needed. This way, everyone feels supported and the work gets done more efficiently.

One thing I've found helpful is effective delegation. By assigning tasks according to individual strengths and capacities, we can manage increased workloads efficiently. This not only ensures tasks are completed on time but also empowers team members, boosting their confidence and engagement. Actually, I disagree with the notion that micromanagement is necessary during organizational changes. Trusting your team and providing autonomy can lead to better outcomes and a more resilient workforce. An example I have seen is during a major company restructure, where empowering team leads to make decisions significantly reduced stress and improved productivity.

Delegation helps manage workloads more effectively. By assigning tasks aligned with each person's strengths and capacity, we can ensure that work is done efficiently. It’s not just about lightening your load; it's about giving our team members the chance to shine. This sense of ownership and responsibility can significantly boost their confidence and engagement, especially during periods of change.

2 parts: have an open line for your team and have an open line to management. An open line for your team allows the team to be transparent with how they feel and also the workload they are having. At times, it's not that we aren't sensitive to this, but it's also about someone raising the help needed. To encourage the team to raise the help needed starts from them knowing they can have an open and honest communication with you. This works also in an open line to management. Management won't know if we don't raise the help needed. Apart from waiting from management to have an open line, we can start by creating the line. Hold regular meetings with management to voice out concerns from you and the team.

One thing I've found helpful is maintaining open communication channels. Transparency during times of change builds trust and security within your team. Actually, I disagree with keeping team members in the dark. Uncertainty breeds anxiety and can hinder productivity. An example I have seen is a company that held regular town hall meetings to discuss upcoming changes. This approach not only clarified expectations but also empowered employees to ask questions and share concerns. In times of increased workloads, communication becomes even more crucial.

Clear and honest communication is crucial, significantly when our organization is changing. Keeping everyone updated on new developments and decisions affecting their work is essential. By being transparent, we can build trust within the team, helping each person feel secure in their role and not blindsided by changes that could impact them.

Give your team the option to adjust their work hours or work remotely if possible. Understand that everyone handles stress differently, and a little flexibility can go a long way in helping them manage their workload. Encourage taking breaks and time off when needed to prevent burnout. This approach shows that you care about their well-being and can help keep morale high during busy times.

Flexibility is a must for a team feeling overwhelmed by their workload. Offering a hybrid approach is one way to help your team members better manage their work-life balance. By doing this, you show that you genuinely care about their well-being, which can boost both productivity and job satisfaction - without a doubt!

One thing I've found helpful is offering flexibility. Flexibility can be a lifeline for an overwhelmed team. Consider providing remote work options or adjustable hours to help manage workloads and enhance work-life balance. This demonstrates commitment to well-being, boosting productivity and job satisfaction. Actually, I disagree with overlooking individual needs. Each team member faces unique challenges; understanding these fosters effective support strategies. An example I have seen is a tech firm adjusting deadlines post-merger, easing workload pressure. Such adaptations acknowledge team needs, fostering resilience and positivity amid change.

As a leader, it is my job to meet the organization's and my team's needs. In doing so, I'll ask reflective questions about what the organization and my team want. Often, the organization wants the outcome (the work done), and the team wants less stress and an excellent work-life balance. Therefore, I will tell the team all the tasks that need to be completed and garner their interest. Then, I will ask about their interests and who wants to carry the heavier load with their interests, therefore relinquishing the other workload responsibilities. The team will agree upon this system until all tasks are assigned. The leader should then develop a system to manage.

The aftermath of a reorganization is tough especially when your team is overloaded with more work. Move quickly! Your team needs to know that they have your support. Begin by meeting with each team member individually and in a group. Get a clear understanding of what is needed. This could be additional training, revised processes, and tools. Now that you have your list, prioritize the needs and get started. Once your team starts to see the changes, not only will they realize you care but they'll be more productive.

As a leader who has had to navigate significant organizational change (on more than one occassion), I have learned how important it is to lean in with your team and provide them support all the way through the change process. In a previous role, as a principal supervisor, our district was undergoing severe budget cuts. Many of those cuts directly impacted the staffing at our school sites. To support the principals through the process, I did 3 things: *secured temporary staffing at the sites to ease the transition *provided training and support so that the principals could begin to plan new structures and systems *purchased an administrative software to automate some of the work that had been managed manually before.