May 29, 2022
One thing that prevents businesses from being truly organized and ensuring their resources are being put to the best use is that they lose sight of detailed work.
Are documents being filed properly?
Are files named for easy access later?
Are paper documents accessible from a digital system?
Are these things maintained in a timely fashion?
Just to name a few headaches that pester business owners, which we take great pride in providing. In the time that we have been outsourcing business services, we’ve had the great opportunity to work with some amazing people. Of our best employees, we don’t mind bragging that many are still working with GLC and have grown in responsibility along the way. Others we’ve seen move on to accomplished positions in other businesses, and some we still gladly work with today.
Much of what GLC manages are the things that other business owners would rather know is well-maintained and thoroughly managed. We take away the hassle, energy, and time it takes to research, plan, compare, and evolve everything from a simple system to a whole department.
A lot of our employees handle task-oriented work. This has its benefits and downsides. If you’ve managed your workday by tasks before, they’re probably familiar to you. We know firsthand how employees that handle detailed, often repetitive tasks feel at the end of a really good day and at the end of a REALLY long day. We wanted to take this post to acknowledge some of the best and most challenging parts of working in a task-oriented position.
THE BEST
Opportunities for Flow
Flow makes us lose track of time. Flow makes us feel like masters of the day. Flow relaxes our minds and helps us recognize the chances for creative solutions in the most unexpected places. We all know the feeling of being in the zone, lost in our work. For many people, it leads to increased happiness at work and a feeling of success in other areas of life.
Working consistently in a series of tasks that you have been well trained for opens you up to achieving that flow. Mind, muscle, and memory take over and you are able to work with both clarity and ease.
Being Expected to Monotask
Trying to multitask is a proven way to make your workload last longer while also making your time spent less efficient. Having a position that is focused on specific tasks means that you are often able to isolate one task at a time, moving on to the next task only when the job at hand is completed. It can be a struggle to focus on one task without distractions. Knowing your priorities and expectations keeps stress to a minimum as you are able to focus your energy and attention on one thing at a time.
Knowing Your Role
We take great care to thoroughly train employees. We find that when people have the opportunity to understand all parts of the job thoroughly, they are more satisfied overall. We want employees to understand the purpose behind each task. Not only does this lead to greater confidence on the job, but it offers the freedom to make meaningful suggestions to improve or update the process.
We believe the measures our management team takes for employees to understand their jobs and execute tasks with confidence is one of the reasons that employee retention at GLC is so much higher than our competitors. However, we still recognize that no job is a perfect picture of calm flow all the time. Let’s recognize some of the harder parts of a task-oriented job.
THE WORST
Losing Sight of the Big Picture
Over time you might find yourself asking “Why am I doing this?” If you really don’t understand the purpose of a task, that’s worth asking your manager for clarification. If you find in asking yourself that question that you’ve lost sight of company goals or company culture, or your own personal goals for success, we want to be able to help with that. Knowing the big picture is a contributor to work satisfaction, and it’s important to keep that insight.
Becoming bored
Some days you achieve a flow in your tasks and the workday zooms by. Other days, you need an extra cup of coffee just to keep your fingers tapping at the keyboard. As you learn to do your job well there will be times when it feels repetitive. In task-oriented jobs, as in all jobs, finding intrinsic motivation may be helpful.
Forgetting How Important You Really Are
Teams function because of the incredible individuals contributing to them. We hope GLC employees won’t forget that. We hope you’ll remember that you have value and the job you do has value. We see you, and the work that you do. We hope our commitment to complement culture adequately reflects that personally.
Have you worked in a task-oriented job? What things would you add to this list? Good and bad. Tell us on Facebook and LinkedIn.