While there should be room for personal expression as well as varying work styles, it’s also true that good organization skills benefit everyone. An organized office provides the following measurable benefits:
- Lower stress levels
- Greater efficiency and productivity
- Improved moral and sense of well being
As a leader in your organization, you can encourage members of your team to get and stay organized by offering training and custom office supplies to meet individual needs. If your sales manager needs pink file folders to help encourage her to use them instead of letting papers pile up on the corner of her desk, who are you to judge?
Here are four organizational tips guaranteed to help anyone kick the clutter:
Like Goes with Like
Store items together that go together. Printing supplies like paper and toner go together. Coffee making supplies like coffees, creamers, and filters go together. Storing like with like makes most office tasks more efficient.
A Place for Everything
Did your grandma used to tell you that “a place for everything and everything in its place?” She knew that the key to organization is that everything must have a home – someplace where it belongs. Give everything in your office a place. It doesn’t need to be out of sight – maybe your stapler needs to be at your right hand on the desk because you use it multiple times a day. But that’s it’s place.
The second part of the adage – everything in its place – is equally as important. Make it a habit to return items to their place. Don’t stick things in the nearest cabinet or lay items thoughtlessly down anywhere; no organizational system is powerful enough to keep you organized if you don’t use it. If you don’t have time to put something where it belongs the first time, what makes you think you have time to clean up after all that misplaced stuff collects and becomes a problem?
Pick a place for everything and then always – always – return it there. Then, you’ll always, always, know where to find it.
Pick Favorites
Since you’re now committed to always putting things where they belong, it only makes sense to pick those places strategically. Chances are, you only use 20% of your stuff every day; the other 80% is used sparingly. Here’s your most powerful organization secret: the 20% you use regularly needs to get the best spots. If you’re pulling out a specific reference notebook every day, that notebook should not be stored inside the cabinet at the back – you’ll never put it away. Its home needs to be front and center in a spot where you can grab it and stow it in seconds. Put your favorite stuff within easy reach and store the rest out of the way.
Leave Room
Stuff expands and you need to plan for that. An organization system that leaves no wiggle room or flexibility quickly becomes obsolete. Leave room to grow.
Now, go on and get organized.
