Succeeding in Big Projects: What a 5-year-old Can Teach Us about Organization and Delegation

In this blog post, I want to share a bit of a personal story in my experiences and lessons learned while moving this summer from our apartment into a new house. If you’ve moved before, you know that moving can be a huge undertaking. We moved from an apartment into a full house and even visualizing the new space and how to organize the move was already overwhelming to think about. However, by applying effective organization and delegation strategies, I was able to successfully move my family into our new house, with minimal fights overall (Win #1!). Although one of my superpowers is being organized, creating project plans, and managing the implementation of launches and projects, there were some key steps I took in this move that related very much to big business projects as well. 

It's not just about packing your belongings; it's about orchestrating the transition from one place to another. Surprisingly, the experience of leading my move team taught me valuable lessons about organization and delegation that shined some light on how I want to help guide you in your organizational and delegation strategies as well. 

Lesson #1: Having the right team members

When we are moving or building our business, we all know we need some key players, such as Movers, Virtual assistants, Accountants, etc. As we are living in another country and don’t have any family around, it was crucial for all members of our immediate family to help in this move, and that included my 5-year-old! It was important to review the members of my “team” to make sure I was coordinating their tasks in a way that really leveraged their strengths. 

For example, my 5-year-old cannot carry heavy boxes or fully make decisions on which books and toys to keep, however, he has a lot more energy and stamina than I do. So he was in charge of putting Sheets, towels, and clothes into suitcases. When we were moving some of the boxes ourselves into the new house, he was responsible for carrying all of the boxes that were not too heavy up to the 4th floor and helping to get more tape and markers to label the boxes. 

My husband is not necessarily the most organized, however is a great executor. So I pointed him in the direction of the kitchen and he had the whole thing packed in a couple of days. 

The same idea with the team in your business applies here. What are their strengths? What are the areas in which you can leverage their time, power, knowledge, etc. to make sure you are getting your tasks done? 

With big projects, remember that your team does not need to be permanent. For example, I do not keep the movers on a retainer contract. They come in, do the move for the day and leave. Ask yourself the question of what tasks in a big project could be satisfied by temporary help in your business. 

Lesson #2: Delegation at the lowest common denominator:

To effectively delegate all of the tasks that we needed to perform in the move, it was essential to break down the whole project (i.e. the larger goal) into smaller, manageable ones. Identify the similar tasks that need to be accomplished and assign them to each “team member” accordingly. 

For example, who is responsible for taping the boxes? Who is responsible for stacking the boxes? Who is responsible for making all of the graphics? Who is responsible for scheduling the launch emails? 

Taking this approach will ensure that everyone is clear about their responsibilities and can contribute effectively. 

Lesson #3: Organizing tasks for clarity:

The key to chaos and frustration is confusion. It is essential to make sure there is no room for misinterpretation in tasks and activities that you want your team to perform for you. How can you organize the tasks so they are understood by everyone on the team? How can you try to give everyone enough lead time to do their task when it supports them? During my move, I implemented a color-coding system for the boxes, indicating which floor each boxes and piece of furniture belonged to. This simple and critical step made it easier for the movers to understand where furniture and boxes needed to go, even though we didn't speak the same language! Similarly, in a large project or launch, what tools or methods could you set up to make sure everyone is on the same page at the beginning of a project? By creating this organization from the beginning, you will be able to save hours of time in reworking any tasks that need to be completed, as well as save heartache and frustration!

In the end, managing big projects or launches will also cause a bit of stress and can feel overwhelming, but by getting organized from the beginning and establishing good strategies for delegation, you can save yourself tons of heartache! From my experience leading my house move, I have further learned the importance of having the right team members, delegating tasks at the lowest common denominator, and organizing tasks for clarity. By implementing these lessons, you can also tackle any large project or launch! 

If you need help getting started with organization or delegation strategies, book a call with me here so we can find out the best way to get you what you need!