December through early January is always a busy time for us at Brock Health. This is when many of our clients have their business year-ends and so we receive an above average level of health claims. We’d thought we’d share with you our top three tips to stay on top of a heavy workload.
#1 – Do some advance planning
We are lucky that our busy periods are fairly predictable, so for us the best way to stay on top of a heavy workload is to do some advance planning to minimize non-essential tasks during this time.
We plan our big projects (e.g. website renewal, new payroll system launch etc.) for other times of the year. Our staff Christmas party becomes a ‘New Year’s Party’ in mid-January. Our year-end planning meeting takes place in November.
There is a lot of work that small businesses need to do that can done in advance – especially when it comes to marketing. Having a social media calendar has helped us to plan posts and gather ideas well in advance. For example, this blog post was written in the summer.
#2 – Have systems in place
Making sure you and your employees are confident in their workflows and procedure can really help minimize stress during busy times. Do you have a preferred type of system in place? Maybe checklists, project management software, or to-do lists, so that nothing gets missed even when you’re stressed.
#3 -Have a stress management plan
This is more of a personal preference. Everybody manages stress in different ways, but it is important to manage it in a healthy way, especially when you are busy. Do you take a bath at the end of the day? Listen to relaxing music? Drink tea at the office? Stick to your ‘relax routine’. Checking in with your employees to see how they are managing their workload and stress during peak periods is also important.
We can highly recommend short meditations to help you refocus and relax. We use the app Buddhify – they have a nice mix of long and short meditations. They are all themed so you can pick one for the right moment – at work, walking, falling asleep etc.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
No comments yet.