Remember how we discussed “Clutter”? You want to keep your life uncluttered now, right?
Begin by assigning duties to everyone involved. This includes your home, work, and home business.
If you have children, spouse, significant other, roommate, coworkers, or employees, you need to develop ground rules for everyone.
Don’t just start delegating right off the bat though. If you do, you’ll be sure to meet plenty of resistance.
Build up to the assignments. Begin by letting everyone know, without placing any blame, what the current situation is and how everyone is needed to help maintain the status quo or to make it better. Make sure they know that you are as much to blame as any of them. It is the collective procrastination of all that has created the situation you’re in.
Request suggestions from the them, they are your team. In other words, brainstorm. Write it all out, preferably on something they will all be able to visualize as you go along.
Be sure to write everything down that they bring up. You can always start crossing off suggestions as the group agrees to eliminate them.
Create another document that lists the name of everyone involved. During the brainstorming session, guide others to “volunteer” for certain duties. Be sure to equally and fairly divide up the tasks based upon their age (If they’re children) or their ability.
Be aware of duties that are very time consuming or quite labor intensive. You may want to break these duties down into smaller tasks. This will help the team member see that they are not expected to complete it all in one day or one weekend. It also can give them a sense of progress when they are able to cross off items as they move along.
The team will come out of this meeting feeling as if they have been a part of the decision, that they actually accomplished something, and with a sense of responsibility.
Post the assignments where they are seen by everyone. Empower everyone to be accountable for the success of the goal(s).
Be sure to communicate your feedback to the team in a positive way. Cheer them on in their successes. Don’t blame, yell, or scold. If someone is falling short of their agreement, ask them why. Then work with them on how to get back on track.
