Practical Tips for Government Office Managers Juggling Multiple Responsibilities

Office managers in busy government departments are familiar with juggling multiple tasks every day. Between being the point person for ongoing projects, meeting coordination, preparing reports, training staff, and answering various inquiries and communications, you must expertly prioritize tasks while navigating bureaucratic processes. 

Let’s look at how utilizing Asana and Trello can simplify project management, assist with proactively planning key initiatives, and make developing crisis management plans and protocols easier. 

Simplify Project Management 

Transportation and public works government departments are hectic by nature. But Asana and Trello allow you easily to schedule, prioritize, and track projects, which is necessary when you’re managing multiple projects that involve large teams across several departments.

For example, if your office is implementing a city-wide infrastructure upgrade, these tools can help:

• Visually organize the entire project in a collaborative workspace. Each component of the project, including road repairs, water system upgrades, and installing new streetlights, is added in one place.

• Create and assign sub-projects with deadlines. For example, surveying road damage would have an earlier deadline than contracting the construction company to make repairs. 

• Keep the lines of communication open. Team members can add documents, ask questions, and provide updates to their assigned tasks, keeping the communication centralized.

• Track the project’s progress by timeline or deadlines, ensuring each phase of the project is realistically mapped out.

• Report on budget and resources so stakeholders stay informed with progress reports that show spending and manpower.

Strategically Plan Out Key Initiatives

With the day-to-day hustle and bustle of government departments, it can be difficult to keep key initiatives top of mind, especially when they span a long timeline and have multiple dependencies. 

Fortunately, Trello and Asana can help you proactively plan and execute key initiatives. Consider the goal of creating community engagement programs: 

1. Create a board in Trello or a workspace in Asana that is titled “Community Engagement.”

2. Use Trello lists or Asana tasks to add each piece of the initiative. For example: Town Hall Meetings, Feedback Forums, Education Campaigns, Newsletters, Emails, etc…

3. Add all necessary information. In Trello, use cards to provide context; in Asana, use subtasks. 

4. Assign due dates and staff to each list, card, task, and subtask. Attach documents, include links, and tag teams for maximum efficiency.

5. Easily track and modify the initiatives with automatic alerts and reminders that help keep you and your team on task with the next priority!

Develop Crisis Management Plans and Protocols

As the saying goes, plan for the worst and hope for the best. Office managers know this is true if they’ve ever been in charge during an unforeseen crisis. Asana and Trello can make stressful situations less overwhelming with their crisis management and protocol capabilities.

Here’s how to use Asana and Trello to create crisis management workflows:

1. Identify every crisis situation you need to be prepared for. Work with your supervisor to make sure you’ve thought of all of them!

2. Create a workspace in Asana or board in Trello titled “Crisis Management Plans.”

3. Group types of situations with lists or tasks. For example, Natural Disasters, Biological Hazards, Technology Issues, Accidental Events.

4. Include the specific crises as cards or subtasks. For example, the Natural Disaster’s Trello list could have cards for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, snow, etc…

5. Add the steps that must be taken for each crisis situation. Attach documents, create checklists, type in important contacts, and include protocol documentation.

Once you’ve proactively set up these workflows, the next time you get an alert that a weather-related crisis is going into effect, you can locate the Natural Disaster list or task, scroll down the correct card or subtask, and ensure all policies are quickly followed!

Want to learn more about how to centralize your role, increase productivity, and save time? Check out our on-demand webinar on the subject.

Watch Here!