The challenge of the division of labour in a team
Sooner or later, every company faces the question of how to optimise the distribution of tasks among employees. The division of labour is a key issue, especially in companies with a growing number of employees, where efficient coordination is required but at the same time there is not the personnel capacity to directly assign an entire team to a project. So how can the work in the team be divided up in such a way that efficiency and productivity are maximised?
Distribute project knowledge across several shoulders
Our IT department attaches great importance to distributing knowledge in projects among several team members. At least two employees should be integrated into a project to ensure a stable foundation.
‘On the one hand, of course, it's about being able to achieve more together by helping and learning from each other’. However, sharing knowledge not only increases the efficiency of the project process, but also ensures that projects can continue seamlessly if an employee is absent. The value of this strategy is particularly evident in cases of illness: ‘If a team member is absent due to illness, there is always at least one other person who can drive the project forward. Otherwise, you quickly face a serious problem if someone is absent.’
Practical aspects such as access to important systems and passwords also play an important role here ‘It can also simply be a matter of a missing password. ‘If the employee is unavailable and there is no access to an important system, this can hinder work considerably.’
Specialisation in one project
Despite the importance of knowledge distribution, our IT department also advocates specialising in individual projects. ‘It's ideal if everyone knows a little bit about everything, but in reality this is often not feasible. After all, in-depth expertise only develops over time - and it is this specialised knowledge that is necessary for complex projects.’
Another advantage of specialisation is efficiency: ‘If you try to have an insight into all projects at the same time, you quickly forget the details of the first project as soon as you get to the fourth. Of course you can familiarise yourself, but that always takes time. An employee who is intensively involved is simply more efficient.’
The constant development of projects also speaks in favour of a certain degree of specialisation: ‘Even if an employee worked on a project a while ago, the project may have changed so much in the meantime that the old knowledge is hardly relevant anymore.’
The middle way: one or two projects per person and regular dialogue
Our IT team has found that a balanced approach works best. ‘For us, it has proven useful for each employee to be involved in one or two projects for which they bear the main responsibility.’ At the same time, regular dialogue with colleagues working on other projects remains essential. ‘We check in on other projects from time to time to maintain an overview and stay on topic.’
Marketing and sales: specialisation and regular collaboration
Specialisation with cross-checking
In our marketing department, the division of labour is even more clearly organised, which is mainly due to the smaller team size. ‘We have specialised in different areas: Firstly, sales, then copywriting and content, graphics and analysis, as well as technical implementation as an interface to the IT department.’ Basically, the work is done in such a way that everyone is responsible for their own tasks, but another person has insight into them. ‘If questions or ambiguities arise, we can look at it together. At the end, we check each other's results and make adjustments if necessary.’
This system has proven to be extremely effective: ‘It allows everyone to do what they do best, while support is always available because another employee has an insight into the work.’
Collaborative work for creative and conceptual processes
There are also tasks for which working in a team or in teams of two has proven to be particularly effective. ‘Creative processes, such as brainstorming for a new campaign, or conceptual work, such as setting up the website, we do together.’ In such cases, it is possible to benefit from the collaboration and the different perspectives of the team members. There is also a weekly meeting in which everyone takes part ‘So that we don't lose sight of what the others are doing and can coordinate our activities with each other.’