10 Junho 2022
Even the most powerful public organizations start small, take the first steps, make the first mistakes, grow up and grow stronger and stronger with each new success.
This year, our organization, Geoclube Associação Juvenil turned 22 years old. During this time, the goals and composition of the team changed. Throughout these two decades of life, the Geoclube was a pioneer in the municipality of Gondomar in mobilizing and promoting youth mobility and active participation in society. At the same time, the organization gained strong experience, learned to cope with global challenges and work in uncertainty. We have grown and focused on working with the challenges of modernity and the development of professional and personal potential of young people.
And today we are ready to share proven tips and methods of work in the field of project management and what to look for when working with young people.
When planning the work of the organization, we must take into account three key features:
— we always work with different people
— we always work on different projects
— we always work in constantly changing circumstances.
And when working in constantly changing circumstances, it is important to have fixed CPM systems and databases in which experience and vision of work.
To capture movement in all areas of the organization: human resources, operational management, strategic management, financial, communications, time, results, stakeholders and work with them, logistics and even risks.
For coordinated work in the organization, it is important to determine the system of interconnected management tools that will be used by all team members without exception.
At the beginning, we recommend use simple, clear and accessible tools for most team members. For us it Google services
You can capture and monitor the movement and execution of tasks through the Google Accounts system and web services. Our organization has a special licence to use Google services and this allows us to have corporate mail, advanced features and quickly take advantage of all Google products
✨ So you can save basic policies, strategies, team structure and contacts, databases, tables with current projects and tasks on a common Google Drive.
Based on this, create your own Google calendar that will allow you to synchronize the time for joint activities and meetings of all team members and the ability to immediately hold meetings in Google Meet.
✨ Google Calendar. All your meetings must be in one place if You use Google Calendar for appointing the meeting it gives You opportunity to plan offline and online meeting in one space with different people You only need to know their mail.
If you understand that the organization already has several projects and a large team of 5 people, it is worth thinking about to add additionally start CRM system, it can be a Trello, Asana, Notion or other management systems comfortable for you.
✨ Task manager like Notion. One unify system, where You create your own database, your own workflow. Here all your projects tracked and docs traced.
For creative brainstorms, form vision and generate new ideas if you work both online and offline use Miro.
✨ Miro - digital whiteboard for team brainstorms, ideas and schemes.
To work with the design of social networking banners, videos are convenient to use Canva. Here you can co-create a design to save your work and even master design skills. You can also use the mobile version of the application to quickly create visuals for social networks.
✨ Canva - free online editor with many features and effects, easy to work with
For personal recovery, we advise each team member to have personal services or applications that will remind you of personal time that everyone can use for your own or group recovery.
✨ Personal trainer like fitness trekker. This will help to adjust your own biological rhythms to the work schedule.
And then we offer to get acquainted with the intern of the organization Joana, who will tell us more about working with communications and the tools which she uses in her work
1. What is essential in the work of a communication manager?
I believe it is essential to keep up with the trends, tastes and needs of your target audience, above all. Communication is a constantly changing area, and if we don't keep up to date and keep up with the tools used for communication, then we won't be good professionals. In my opinion, it is also essential to be creative, and contrary to what you might think, creativity is not something that comes naturally, but requires hours and hours of research and a lot of study. It is essential to get inspiration from other cultures and people, to read, to watch movies, to get to know the world.
Being a communication manager also requires method and organization. Creating a communication plan is about setting deadlines and meeting them; it's about finding the best way to organize and present information: it's about guiding the team and making them row in the same direction.
2. What is the most important thing in teamwork?
I believe that in teamwork, it is important to be empathetic and to know how to listen to each other. To accept that the other person may have different perspectives from mine, without that necessarily meaning that they are more right or wrong. It is also important to assume that if we succeed, we all succeed, and if we fail, we all fail. If we all contributed to different parts of a job or task, then we all had our share of responsibility for it.
3. What is the most difficult part of your job?
The hardest part of my job is knowing whether I'm doing things right or wrong. There is not really a course for me to become a youth worker, and my field of studies has nothing to do with European project management. In that sense, I often feel that I don't have enough theoretical background to perform my tasks and I don't feel so confident in doing them. This sailing by sight still doesn't make me 100% comfortable with what I do.
4. Which digital tools you use in your job most often and why?
The main digital tools I use are Trello and Excel. Trello I use mostly as a form of personal organization of my work. Every day I organize my tasks there and monitor the status of them. This way I make sure I don't miss any deadlines! Excel is my favourite tool to organize and present information in a succinct and methodical way.
5.On what would you recommend to pay attention to those who are just starting to work in communications?
Research, research, research. See what has already been done, seek inspiration from those who know, and get out into the world. Only by getting out of the house, seeing what is happening out there and what people want and desire can we build an effective communication. We must not forget that this area is made by people for people, and if we are always in the same bubble we will never understand what is going on in the world and what the needs of others are. Also, be open-minded. Communication is about taking risks, about challenging norms, about stepping out of your comfort zone. It is also about hard work, method and discipline. I may be the best communicator in the world, but if I don't know how to meet deadlines and organize my tasks, I will surely fail.
We hope this material will inspire your organizations or initiative groups to build teamwork systems from the beginning and, over time, only gain experience and devote time to team activities that will help each team member develop as a professional.