The Crave

I bring this up here because I know people working in content often have overflowing plates. Our cups runneth over with projects and tasks that could carry us into the next lifetime (or five). A lot of us like to do a lot. What is it with that? Are we all pandering people-pleasers running around like little minions, too afraid to say no so we’re drowning in work? I don’t think so. I think a lot of us in creative jobs are just, excited to make things. We get a lot of ideas, and we love to run with other people’s ideas. We get joy from making things, and so we want to keep making more awesome things. I truly believe that it’s that simple for a lot of us. What that manager did really well in that conversation was this: “How can I help you with that?” It was the perfect question. And I have the answer. If you want to help an enthusiastic person with their workload, it’s not necessarily about telling them to say no, it’s about empowering them to properly manage their workload. That could either mean training them to manage it themselves, or it could mean enabling them by having someone else manage it for them. Help your team manage themselves

Scenario one is great for content marketers, content managers, and people who aren’t just creating, but also publishing, researching, thinking up ideas, and the like. Enable them with training and tools to manage their work more efficiently. To start with, get your team a project management tool — for the love of all things holy and good in this world — and make sure that there are clear priorities and timelines set in place. Structure, clear communication, and accountability are the keys to this scenario.

Or enable your team by providing project management for them

Scenario two is perfect for pure creators — your designers and copywriters. If you have an in-house team with these kinds of roles, please seriously consider getting a Content Operations role carved out in your team. Or make sure you have the time and energy to project manage for these folks. There are always exceptions, and if you have a creative person who is good at managing their own requests, stakeholders, projects, etc., then great! But if not, let them do what they’re good at (and what you hired them for) and let someone else who’s good at project management do that for them.

Either way, don't leave it to chance Are there people pleasers out there who need help learning to say no? Yes! Are there a lot of content creators out there who want to make a lot of great stuff and just need some help managing it all? 100% yes. Good project management helps solve for both because it provides a true foundation for saying yes to the right things and no (or later) to the things that can wait. Interested in this topic? Feel free to read this article I wrote — it also features some of my favorite process templates that you can grab and use for yourself!