Have you ever tried to baste a turkey without a turkey baster? Or changed the oil in your car without a wrench? I’d be willing to bet you haven’t, because those are the tools you need to get those jobs done. You could, hypothetically, use a serving spoon to ladle the juices over your Thanksgiving turkey, and you could just twist that oil pan bolt really, really hard with your fingers until it comes loose.
But why would you do that? Why make your work needlessly harder for yourself when there are tools available to get the job done easier and faster?
In the corporate world, we obviously aren’t roasting turkeys or changing motor oil. That said, there are tools available to us that help things run smoothly and increase productivity within our organizations.
For example, at Spark! we use Basecamp for project management. We organize projects, assign and complete specific to-dos in an internal space that tracks progress and makes scheduling a breeze. We can give updates to specific tasks, make comments, and collaborate more effectively on projects.
Basecamp isn’t the only option. There are dozens of project management tools out there that serve the same purpose. In our work with various partners, we sometimes use Basecamp to organize work, and sometimes we use other tools that better meet the needs of our collaborators.
Regardless what the tool is, when we norm around using something together, it seems that internal communications can become more streamlined and productivity can skyrocket. Sometimes tools add needed structure to current operations to help teams make steady progress toward achieving big goals.
- Basecamp for organizing our projects, teams, schedules, and to do lists.
- Canva for quick design elements.
- Google Workspace for collaboration.
- Grammarly for double checking our grammar.
- Hootsuite for scheduling social media posts.
- Zoom for virtual meetings.
There are a lot of tools to choose from when it comes to making your day-to-day more collaborative and productive. Some tools might work better for you and your team than others. Finding the right tool(s) for you and your team might take a little trial and error and understanding what individuals, and the team, needs to be successful.
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