Do you need to manage a small group of people?

It could be an internal company project, a laboratory assignment for school, or a yearly community fair.

You may think you can just give people bits of work to do, and that’s it.

You are managing them…aren’t you?

Organizing people is vastly different from organizing a group of inanimate objects.

It entails several uncontrollable, changing, and sometimes elusive, elements you may not have considered.

In this post, I offer a handful of practical pointers to keep in mind the next time you find yourself a managerial position.

By no means is this list exhaustive. At the very least, it should give you a good place from which to start.

Create well-defined projects and tasks.

Unless have a list of singular tasks in hand, you’ll most likely need to “break down” a large project into a series of smaller projects, and possibly, tasks. These smaller items should be as straightforward and simple as possible. Not sure where to begin? Break down a large project into several smaller projects.

So, if you were planning a surprise party with a bunch of friends, you might create projects that involve decorations, music, refreshments, invitations, and so on. You’d then break down those projects into smaller tasks, such as “brainstorming decoration ideas”,”finalizing decoration ideas”, “shopping for decorations” and the like.

Assign specific tasks to individuals.

Maximize your workforce and avoid confusion by giving people unique tasks. This ensures someone won’t perform the same task or job as someone else. Take note: you may need time to divide up the work into manageable chunks. Try creating an assignment list complete with tasks, and the names of individuals responsible for completing the tasks.

Confirm work is being completed in a timely fashion.

This tip is slightly related to tip number one. You’ll have to check if tasks have been completed early, on time, or after the deadline.

For example, if you have different components to a project, say, 10 individual pieces, you’ll need to make sure those 10 pieces are not only being worked on, but being worked on at the right pace. You may find it helpful to have mini check-ins with people to make sure work is humming along.

Confirm tasks have been completed.

Get out your checklist, it’s time to make sure all project parts are finished. Did people complete the work you assigned to them? Has everyone turned in their work? If not, what’s missing? You’ll eventually piece together individual contributions to finalize a project, but not before you….

Confirm tasks have been completed in a satisfactory manner.

Sure, a task may be complete, but it may be far from finished. As a manager, it’s your job to ensure work has not only been completed, but is a match to any work requirements, codes, or criteria.

There could be glaring faults, mistakes, or you might find yourself staring face to face with a pile of shoddy work. Yes, this may take some time, but catching any errors, flaws, or inconsistencies now, will be far better than catching them in a month’s time.

How about you? Have you ever had to manage people at work, school, or a community or volunteer event? How did it go? What important lessons did you learn? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!