Imagine instead of your five- or 10-person fundraising team, there’s just one person responsible for the fundraising. Oh, and that person is also in charge of the marketing. And maybe throw in a few other duties, as well.

Many organizations don’t have to imagine such a scenario. For small-staff organizations, that’s a reality.

We work with hundreds and hundreds of small-staff association executives, and we’ve heard from them how important it is to be as productive as possible, how important it is for them to be able to streamline their duties, how difficult it can be to manage their memberships with just a handful of employees.

Often, smaller local organizations have just 10 or fewer staff members, and some organizations have just one or two full-time staffers! Although this negates many of the issues that can occur with too many silos, another important issue can arise: there just aren’t enough hours in the day! And now everyone’s constantly being told that they have to start using social media or they’ll lose members. Something’s gotta give!

So, to increase productivity and make the most of your precious hours during the day, here are a few tips to streamline your workday.

1. Schedule a time for e-mail. We can get sucked into answering tons of e-mails and, before we know it, we’ve lost hours of our workday. By scheduling a time for checking our e-mail — for instance, just before lunch — we can avoid the timesuck that often comes with answering important messages. If you wait until just before lunch to check it, you’ll be more anxious to get to your midday break, and, likely, get through the e-mails more quickly.

2. Don’t have a pointless meeting, and don’t let them last for hours on end. How many times have you left a two-hour long meeting only to say, “what just happened?” Meetings are often just a formality, and we could often get the same things accomplished over just e-mail. Don’t have a meeting unless it’s truly necessary.

3. Use an egg timer or online stopwatch. These tools give us tangible deadlines for important tasks, and often we stay more focused when we set a finite time for projects. Additionally, those tangible deadlines are usually the ones we actually adhere to. Whether you set it for yourself or it comes from your boss, deadlines keep us on our toes.

4. Make a to-do list. Research has shown again and again that people who create lists are happier and healthier. Plus, there’s nothing like the feeling of crossing a task off your to-do list. (Full disclosure: I sometimes retroactively add tasks to my list just so I can cross them off. Anal retentive much?) Lists help us prioritize our days, weeks and months.

5. Stop multitasking! Our shiny new iPhones may be able to effortlessly switch from task to task, but that doesn’t mean our brains can do it. Again, research continues to prove that multitasking absolutely kills our productivity. We flit from task to task without really accomplishing anything. So set a timer, get to it and then cross the item off your list.

6. Learn how to say no. Many of us have this inane idea that we have to please everyone, all the time, or we’re failures … which of course, is absolutely ridiculous. If someone asks you to do something (that doesn’t have an immediate deadline) and you just don’t have time for it that day, realize that saying no, delegating or outsourcing it is perfectly acceptable.

And remember, no matter how many or how few staff members you have, we all need time to recharge and have a life outside of work. Whether it’s grabbing a mid-week pedicure, exercising a few times a week, catching up with an old friend for dinner or curling up with the latest from your Netflix queue, don’t forget to take (at least) a few hours each week to breathe.

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Merry Christmas Eve! Have you finished your holiday shopping yet? If you’ve procrastinated a bit, maybe these tips will help you out!

“There’s not enough hours in the day.”

If I had a nickel for every time I heard my mom say this while I was growing up, I would probably be pretty wealthy.

We all know that sometimes, 24 hours just isn’t enough time to get everything done – and I’m not just talking about work. Family, friends, exercise, sleep … who has time for a truly healthy balance? Throw in a killer commute (if applicable) and that’s a recipe for burnout.

Those of you at small-staff associations are probably already more aware than most of the difficulties of time management. When more responsibilities fall to you because of a smaller staff, it’s crucial to prioritize, prioritize, prioritize.

1. If you’re having trouble accomplishing all your tasks within deadline or a reasonable amount of time, keep an activity log for a few days (or even a week). There’s nothing wrong with reading blogs and checking the latest on YouTube here and there, but it can become detrimental to your productivity after awhile.
2. Once you identify your distractions, try setting a few goals. Stay focused on work for 45 minutes and then check out the news or your favorite Web site. If you force yourself to work, work, work all day, every day, the quality of your work could suffer. (Of course, some days do demand this.)
3. Like I said before, prioritizing is key. Make a to-do list. Research has proven that people who keep lists are healthier and happier. (I love the feeling of crossing off an important task!) Classify your duties as Urgent, Important and Habitual. Obviously if a deadline is looming, it makes sense to focus on that task before all others. But regardless of deadlines, stay focused.
4. Which brings me to this point … stop multitasking! I’m guilty of this too (aren’t we all?), but research has also proven that multitasking kills productivity. When your brain floats back and forth between different tasks, your concentration falters (clearly) and memory retention decreases.
5. Get rid of distractions. I like to turn my Tweetdeck notifications off, change my Gchat status to “Busy” and hide my cell phone deep in my bag. If I can’t hear it vibrate, I won’t be as tempted to check it.
6. Finally, be realistic. No one is superman or superwoman – no matter how hard they try. Sometimes, you just need a good night’s sleep. A well-balanced work schedule is essential to not getting frazzled and burned out.

Make time in your busy week for yourself. For example, I go to yoga at least once a week. But it could be as simple as scheduling a lunch date with an old friend or catching up on an old episode or two of “Lost.” No matter how many “hats” you wear in your association, each one will fit better if you devote even a little bit of time to yourself. Happy Productivity!

(Image via CarbonNYC on Flickr)