A Messy Office Hurts your Productivity
Do you hunt for a pen every time
you put one down? Is the search for documents a half-day event? Is your
paper filed chronologically - working your way down the pile to 'one
week ago' and unable to pull out 'four months ago' for fear of a paper
flood catastrophe?
Every
office deals with an excess of paper and whether large or small, your
business is suffering when you aren't operating in an organized space.
So, how do you clear the clutter and gain control?
SPACE IS ESSENTIAL
The biggest problem with staying organized in an office is that people
set up a system and don't give themselves enough room to grow.
If you have spent the better part of a day cleaning out a drawer and
replacing the items in organized, labeled files, but you can't squeeze
a single extra sheet of paper you've wasted your time and the unfiled
papers will grow again.
Be certain to have at least a quarter to a third (more if possible) of
growing room when implementing a system. You may need to change over at
some point, but having some extra space will encourage you to keep up
with the organizing.
This also goes for items such as architectural drawings or other products or documents you may accumulate.
Set aside time to purge unnecessary documents. Not only will this
provide more space but will save you time that would otherwise be
wasted looking through worthless paperwork.
SIMPLE FILING SYSTEM
Do not make your system too complicated or it will be hard to follow
through. Color coding can be the easiest if you do not have too many
categories. This is effective for systems which only require 'Income',
'Expense', 'Projects', 'Correspondence' or something similar.
For filing of large groups of clients, projects or invoices, use a
single drawer for each group of related files. A tall filing cabinet
can even be divided into alphabetical or chronological systems.
For items you refer to daily or even hourly you might consider a
posting board near your desk. This is a great idea for phone number
lists, 'To Do' lists and appointment calendars.
MAINTENANCE
A filing system is only as good as the upkeep. You may find it easier
to have a small system of files located on or near your desk and daily
or weekly transfer the items into their permanent home.
This also works for items which you need close at hand such as current project information or price lists etc.
STYLE OF FILING
Consider if you can realistically maintain a filing system. Perhaps
labeled boxes would suit you better (especially if you tend to pile
papers). The key is to find something you will feel comfortable
maintaining. If papers are sorted and occasionally purged, your system
will work.
EVERYTHING NEEDS A HOME
Everything MUST be assigned a home. By giving each item a place you
will not loose pens, cellphones, glasses and so on. Don't crowd the
items or you will get frustrated. Recognize that all of your efforts
will help you run your business more efficiently, and thus
productively. Reward yourself for keeping the system working!
