Struggling to balance multiple social impact projects?

No one who wants to change the world has only one good idea. The ideas will always keep coming, and rather than becoming more practical, they will become bigger, bolder and more ambitious. The hardest lesson about achieving social impact is accepting when you can't be the one to do it. Ask yourself, how do those projects align with your overall mission? What are you capable of doing? If you rope in some extra people, how doable are those projects then? What would you actually like to do? Sometimes, prioritising the projects you are juggling is not enough. You may need to rehome some of them with other organisations. And that's fine. Social impact requires collaboration, and it's always bigger than one person.

Equilibrar múltiples proyectos de impacto social puede ser desafiante, pero establecer límites claros es esencial. A lo largo de mi carrera, he aprendido a priorizar y delegar tareas para mantener un equilibrio saludable. Por ejemplo, en mi trabajo con la Comunidad de Mujeres Líderes Latinoamericanas, implementé un sistema de horarios fijos y metas específicas para asegurarme de que cada proyecto recibiera la atención necesaria sin comprometer mi bienestar personal. Esta estrategia no solo me permitió manejar múltiples proyectos simultáneamente, sino también garantizar que cada uno tuviera un impacto significativo.

El trabajo en equipo es fundamental para gestionar múltiples proyectos de impacto social de manera efectiva. Mi experiencia de más de una década en PMI me ha enseñado el valor de colaborar con personas talentosas y diversas. Al liderar el proyecto 'Emprender La Rioja 2024', he aprendido a confiar en las habilidades y conocimientos de mi equipo, delegando tareas según las fortalezas individuales. Esta dinámica no solo mejora la eficiencia, sino que también fomenta un entorno de apoyo y creatividad, permitiendo que cada proyecto prospere gracias a los esfuerzos colectivos.

Regularly reviewing and adjusting your plans involves setting weekly and monthly intervals to evaluate your progress against goals, identifying bottlenecks, and reprioritizing tasks based on urgency and impact. Adjust deadlines and goals as necessary, seeking team and stakeholder feedback for additional insights. Implement changes through a clear action plan, monitoring their impact, and staying flexible to adapt to new challenges or opportunities. This continuous improvement cycle helps ensure efficient and effective management of multiple projects.

Engaging your stakeholders and leadership in every project journey is crucial, it can enhance their commitment and uncover opportunities across various projects. Develop KPI dashboards for each project and present the data in a headline format to make the content easier to digest and compare against expected milestones. Share and celebrate when schedules are being met; the impact of the trains being on time is minimized if there are no train schedules to share that news.

Each stakeholder's input is valuable to learn if a projects on track, so they should feel engaged and motivated to share updates and needs. Routine check-ins to gain status and needs from stakeholders can provide them that respect and you with data to determine how to adapt/adjust for circumstances, needs or other factors. Beyond the project's success, establishing and maintaining a stakeholder network may benefit the collective group - convening regular stakeholder sessions can level up their collective knowledge by sharing best practices, and can level up your organization as a community collaborator.