If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re a thriving team leader or manager looking to up your productivity game. Right?
And that’s great. Because the one thing that we enjoy doing is sharing all sorts of tips and advice that help you become better at what you do.
It’s not a radical thing to state that “a manager is as good as his leadership skills and tools”, but it reflects the reality of being a team leader or manager quite accurately.
Tools for managers in today’s landscape
The modern work environment is filled with new software, apps, and proprietary programs designed to enhance your work.
However, you need to choose wisely. You don’t want to overdo it and end up with tons of apps on your computer. Being a manager requires being up to date with what your team is up to, how they perform, and communicating upon that.
Now, in a post-2020 landscape, you need to factor in working primarily in a work environment – you may want to consider a remote work policy. After that, you need to be able to gather all of the data and report to whomever you report to, right?
It’s not an easy job, that’s why we focused on finding the 7 essential tools for the modern-day manager that will help you thrive in your role.
In this list, we’ll take a deep dive into tools and apps that facilitate your management work in different areas: from project management and task management software all way up to hiring and scheduling tools.
Let’s dig in!
1) Team Compass – meet your new team management app
Do you need a robust and easy to use tool for weekly and daily task planning? Here you go. Team Compass allows you to easily assign tasks, plans and keep track of your team’s progress.
Thanks to its Newsfeed feature, your employees can stay in the loop of what everyone is working on, as well as give praise to others for their achievements, which is essential in maintaining a healthy level of employee engagement.
This makes Team Compass a great team management app, especially when you’re part of a remote team.
What’s more, after each week you’ll be prompted with a private 1:1 chat with every one of your reportees. This way you can discuss tasks, exchange feedback, and give praise for work done.
Sign up here for your free Team Compass trial.
2) Weekdone – goal management with the OKR methodology
Using the Objectives and Key Results methodology displayed within the software – managers and employees are encouraged to follow the clear structure and framework for setting more strategic, quarterly business goals that align with the company mission (objective).
Make informed decisions based on insights and quality overviews, communicate more efficiently, and keep focus on the most important tasks that drive goals forward.
Everyone from the CEO to individual employees will understand the big picture vision by aligning Team OKRs with the Company Objective, while also highlighting individuals’ personal contribution to driving it further with the use of weekly status reporting.
3) ProofHub – a key driver in managing projects & team collaboration
Managing projects along with team collaboration can be a challenging task, where you have to rely on different tools to complete your tasks. ProofHub is one such tool that eliminates the need to use multiple tools and help managers to organize all the project management functions in a centralized workspace.
With ProofHub managers can have the ultimate control over teams, projects, and resources easily. It removes additional workload and builds productive teams with the right team collaboration, task management, time tracking with Kanban boards, file integration, real-time communication through chat, and customized reports. All this so that managers can prioritize their tasks and improve their work efficiently.
4) Timely – time tracking for teams to stay on the same page.
Obviously, the term ‘time tracking’ may cause a knee-jerk reaction since it’s a tool often misinterpreted as employee surveillance or employee monitoring. However, every services business that offers hourly charged work needs to have a tool to keep track of how much time was spent.
Thanks to its easy integrations with well-known project management software, Timely should be considered as your go-to resource management app and productivity tool
Fueled by its AI-powered tracker, Timely users can fully focus on their work, while the app keeps track of their time and assigns it to relevant projects or tasks.
5) Whereby – conferencing without the hassle
Yes, 2020 was the year for Zoom as most of the digital world leaned on its app to manage conference calls, e-parties, and everything remote-styled. However, if you’re looking for a zoom alternative with a bit of less complexity, then Whereby is your go-to. Just open the website, get your conference link and share it with your counterparty and you’re good to go.
It’s easy, fast and it doesn’t require PIN access codes, special permissions, and the awkward waiting for the host to start the meeting.
6) Chanty – a new player in team communication
Now it’s time for a communication app. No, it’s not slack or MS teams, it’s a different tool.
Chanty gives team communication a boost thanks to its sleek layout and video call integration which helps a lot when you want to jump to a call directly from a chat. What’s more, Chanty has its own kanban board, which means you can go directly from a conversation with your colleague to full-blown project management mode.
Although there’s no groundbreaking technology or features here, we always feel that healthy competition is worth nurturing.
So, here’s Chanty if you’re looking for a Slack or MS teams alternative.
7) Noisli – focus and deep work
Everyone knows how crucial it is to maintain focus on your work throughout the day. And it definitely is true for managers, who usually are in the crossfire between different teams, and departments.
That’s why you should consider trying Noisli, an app to help you focus and get into a deep work state. It’s a simple web app that allows you to play all types of relaxing and focus-friendly background sounds and music.
8) Doodle – scheduling meetings without the hassle
Sending 10 e-mails to schedule a 30-minute meeting?
Crazy, right?
That’s why Doodle works wonders. Send one simple survey to gather all of the available time slots and let people decide.
Additionally, you can integrate it with your Slack channels for an even quicker scheduling experience.
9) Toggl Hire – fast, fair, and efficient hiring.
If you’re part of a small and quickly growing company, chances are that as a team manager, you will also need to handle the hiring part when the time comes. In that case, you need to be quick, yet precise enough to find the right person for your team.
That’s where Toggl Hire comes in – a set of customizable candidate screening tests that allow you to assess their fit for the exact role you need. You can either use one of the hundreds of previously used and verified tests or just create one of your own.
Limit the time you spend on early-stage screenings and find the person best suited for the job.
Wrapping it up – the tools for every modern-day manager and team leader
I thought of giving a piece of pseudo-inspirational quotes to wrap up this post, but I much rather just say that you should choose these tools to your own liking and what exact area of your team management responsibilities you want to improve.
I hope you find that one or more of these tools will help you with becoming a more effective manager!