Last week, we discussed 2 principles for winning back time.  This week, we will hit a couple of others. 

Streamline Comms 

Communication tools are like tool boxes—easy to fill, but hard to keep tidy. And if you’re not careful, what starts as a helpful collaboration platform becomes a graveyard of old Teams channels, forgotten Slack groups, and bloated email threads nobody reads. The result? Missed messages, duplicated effort, and a daily feeling of “Where did I see that again?” 

Start by cleaning house. 
Yes, it’s a bit of digital housekeeping, but it’s worth the effort. Archive or delete outdated Teams channels, Slack threads, and shared folders that no longer serve a purpose. This decluttering helps your current communication channels feel clearer and more focused—and it reduces confusion for new hires who aren’t sure what’s current and what’s legacy. Those three files you’re hanging onto in an old channel? Move them to a central document hub with proper naming conventions so everyone knows where to look. 

Next, set smarter communication rules. 
If you’re drowning in email, chances are you don’t have archiving and flagging rules working in your favor. Set up Outlook rules to automatically file and flag important messages. Teach your team to do the same. A few well-thought-out rules can drastically cut down the time you spend hunting for that one critical email buried under a pile of “FYI” messages. 

Then bring in some automation.
Microsoft 365, especially through Teams, has several built-in tools that are simple enough to get started with but powerful enough to make a dent in your daily workflow. The Teams Workflows app is a good example—it lets you create basic automations like recurring task reminders, document approvals, or client check-in prompts. Even if you’re just experimenting with templates, you’re building confidence in automating routine communication processes. And that adds up. 

Other tools can help too. 
We like Todoist, a user-friendly planning and task management app that works well across teams and helps keep everyone on the same page. It’s especially great if you’re managing projects with a lot of moving parts and different contributors. That said, many Microsoft 365 tools—like Planner, To Do, and Lists—can serve the same purpose with tight integration into your email and Teams environment. The key is to pick a system and stick to it. Scattered tools lead to scattered people. 

Bottom line: Streamlining communication isn’t about silencing everything. It’s about making the signal clearer, the tools easier to use, and the information easier to find. And that makes for faster decisions, less frustration, and fewer “just checking in again on this” messages. 

Task Batching 

Let’s talk about that 3PM crash. 

You know the one—when your brain just quits. You’ve been busy all day, but nothing’s quite finished. The proposal’s half-done, you sent three support emails, answered six interruptions, booked four meetings, and now you’re staring at a blinking cursor wondering what just happened to your entire morning. 

Spoiler: It’s not you. It’s your workflow. 

The Problem Isn’t Your To-Do List—It’s How You’re Working It

Most small business owners and managers aren’t slacking off. Quite the opposite—you’re doing too much at once, and switching contexts a hundred times before lunch. 

One minute you’re handling a vendor email, next minute you’re approving payroll, then someone pops in needing your Wi-Fi password (again), and then you try to dive into strategic planning like your brain isn’t still thinking about that invoice from two days ago. 

Task batching is a fancy way of saying: Do similar things at the same time. 

That’s it. You group like tasks—emails, admin work, creative thinking, meetings—into dedicated time blocks. You stop jumping from mode to mode, and start protecting your focus. You stop letting Teams messages dictate your schedule.  

How to Start Batching (Without Overhauling Your Whole Life) 

Start small. You don’t need a color-coded calendar or a life coach to get this going. 

Step 1: Track your distractions.
For a day or two, just notice how often you switch tasks. Every time you shift from writing an email to taking a call to reviewing a document, you’re losing energy. It adds up. 

Step 2: Identify the “repeaters.”
Look at your calendar or to-do list. What types of tasks show up every week? Admin? Calls? Client check-ins? Marketing updates? These are your batchable categories. 

Step 3: Block your calendar.
Start setting aside specific times—even just 30 minutes—to knock out similar tasks. Mark it on your calendar, and defend it like you would a client meeting. Because really, it is. 

Common Batching Categories for SMBs 

Not sure where to start? Here are a few go-to batches we see work well for business owners and team leaders: 

Emails & Communications – Triage in the morning, clean up in the afternoon.
Admin Tasks – Invoicing, scheduling, timesheets. Best grouped together, especially on slower afternoons.
Meetings/Calls – Try to schedule back-to-back meetings on the same day instead of sprinkling them through the week.
Creative or Strategic Work – Carve out blocks for content, marketing, proposals, or planning. Protect these from distractions.
Client Work/Service Delivery – Group similar client tasks together to stay in the same headspace.
Team Check-Ins – Instead of constant Slack messages, batch internal updates into weekly syncs. 

When Batching Goes Sideways (And How to Fix It) 

Batching sounds great until a fire drill blows up your calendar. And that’s going to happen. 

The trick is to treat batching as your default mode, not a rigid rule. If an urgent issue comes up, you deal with it. But then you return to your focus block rather than spiraling off into multi-tasking land. 

Also: batching works better when your team’s on board. If you’re trying to batch and someone else is pinging you every 12 minutes on Teams for updates, it won’t stick. Communicate your new working style. Set some boundaries. Maybe even get your team batching too. 

Final Thought: Batching Buys You Back Brainpower 

At the end of the day, batching isn’t just about saving time. It’s about saving your mental energy for the work that actually matters. You don’t need to run faster—you need to switch gears less. 

Give it a try this week. Group a few tasks, block off some time, and see what it feels like to end the day with your brain still working. 

Less drama. More done.