3 Ways to Work at Your Highest Potential

Keeping tabs on all of the moving pieces during any construction project has project managers getting pulled in many directions. But there is one thing in common for the most successful project managers: they have a tried and true method for working on the most important high-level tasks. These proactive methods are proven to minimize the time spent on dealing with so-called emergencies and putting out fires. After all, a reactive project management style can be all-consuming causing the loss of hours, days, and even weeks of unproductive time. Here are some tips on working at your highest potential.

Make Your Administrative Assistant a Key Player

• Managing your business and personal calendar

• Booking travel arrangements (flights, hotels, mileage, etc.)

• Assembling expense reports

• Managing incoming calls and voicemails

• Following up on overdue items (internally and externally)

• Tracking the return contracts, change orders, etc.

• Creating presentations, documents, and markups

• Compiling meeting minutes

Tip: Develop a method for predictability and efficiency. Implement one or any of the tools discussed in “7 Tools to Improve Project Management and Save Time” to assign and keep tabs on tasks that you’ve handed over to your administrative assistant.

“A good executive assistant is like an air traffic controller for your life.” -Michael Hyatt, Author

Communicate Proactively with Your Clients

Sure you could send an email, but you never know how long it could sit in their inbox. Or you could give them a call, but what happens when it goes to voicemail? It’s important to keep your clients engaged with concise and effective communication. Make sure they are always in the know by sharing regular project updates, preemptively answering questions, and posting progress photos (or videos) all in a central location. Consider construction industry software as your hub for progress updates.

Proactively posting progress updates is a great engagement method but it also saves you and your company time. Gloria Mark, Professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California - Irvine, has researched work interruptions and found that a person loses more than 23 minutes of time every time they are interrupted from their work. How many times are you interrupted during a typical week to answer questions about project progress? 5 times? 10 times? If it takes 23 minutes to get back on task after every interruption, you’re losing several hours of valuable time each week. Leveraging proactive project progress updates can help you resolve this issue.

Gauge Customer Satisfaction Along the Way

Providing proactive progress updates drives a high level of engagement from all of the decision makers within your client’s organization. This high level of engagement will provide you with a unique opportunity to proactively gather real-time feedback from all those same decision makers within your client’s organization. Real-time client feedback is so important but rarely gathered in a calculated manner in the construction industry. A software platform like RivetWire can effectively gather real-time data for you. Information is power - use real-time feedback to make better decisions, improve operations, and ensure client satisfaction. Be proactive about listening to your client’s thoughts and ensure that every client is always satisfied.

Execute on these simple tips to work at your highest potential. One last thing to remember: communicate and collaborate.