Somewhere in the midst of New Year’s resolutions, tax time, and spring cleaning lies our desire for organization. It comes as no surprise that being unorganized adds unnecessary stress while robbing us of valuable time. In fact, the average American spends one year of their life looking for lost or misplaced items at home and in the office. So take a little time to get your organization organized!
Define your business goals
Begin your organization by defining your business (or organization) goals. Once your goals have been defined, they can be organized by projects, tasks, opportunities, etc… Each goal will undoubtedly require manpower, tools, funds, and time. The sooner you break your goals down, the sooner you can delegate, the sooner your employees can organize their individual responsibilities. Employees will work more efficiently when they have been given the tools they need to be successful.
Try a planning meeting where all the key players can throw ideas around to be considered. Give everyone their own personalized dry erase board and custom sticky notes to jump-start the brainstorming.
Schedule
Make a schedule and stick to it. Set daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Keeping a schedule can be very gratifying for you and others who depend on you. If you make it a habit to check your email (and reply to emails) at the same time every day or post updates at the same time every week, it will keep people from asking you for information because they already know when to expect it.
Get Your Brand On desk calendars, personalized planners, and branded watches for optimal scheduling.
Keep your promises
Keep commitments to your customers, suppliers, and employees. Deliver goods as promised, pay invoices on time, and set realistic deadlines for your employees. Once you get in the habit of paying things late and missing deadlines, you’ll find yourself in a vicious routine of robbing Peter to pay Paul; which inevitably accrues late fees and can even ruin business relationships. Staying organized and punctual is a sign of trustworthiness- and business relationships are built on trust.
Nothing says timeliness quite like custom clocks!
Structure
Whether you’re the CEO of a corporation, own a small business, manage a small team, or run a non-profit organization, structure is the foundation. And structure will cease to exist without proper organization. A well-structured organization has well-defined roles and expectations and it starts at the top. Want your employees and board members to be organized, be organized. Do you expect them to be on time? Then be punctual yourself. There’s a reason every first-grader in America is hyper and whiney and tired during a long break from school; they’re lacking structure. The same is true for adults. Organization, expectations, deadlines, and structure are necessary for efficiency and employee morale.
Although we can’t make employees be timely and organized, we can recognize them when they are. Consider recognizing them for their punctuality at an annual meeting with awards or personalized gifts. Not only does this encourage others to strive for organization, but the recipients will more than likely be flashing their winnings (sporting your brand) on social media and to their friends and family. Everyone wins. Don’t have an annual meeting? Consider a company store full of logoed merchandise for employees to purchase or choose with earned points, etc…
Organize your office
Cut the clutter. Taking a little time to organize things you use every day will save you time in the future. At the risk of sounding pessimistic, imagine if you were to take an unplanned leave of absence; would your employees and coworkers be able to find things in your absence?
It’s equally important to organize what you’re no longer using. Be sure to properly close projects that have been completed or are no longer relevant. Bundle it up, get it off your desk, and file it away.
Get your organization in order with desk organizers and cell phone stands for desktops.
It’s in the bag
And if you’re the type who can’t help but take your work home with you either physically, mentally or both…designate a bag for transferring work from home to the office to meetings, and back again. Keep it clean, keep it organized, keep it for “work stuff” only. Stay organized by keeping a USB thumb drive and power bank charger in the bag. Bought tissues for your work office over the weekend? Put them in the bag. Need to take that coffee cup home from work for proper cleaning? Put it in the bag. And bags aren’t just for women- backpacks and laptop bags are perfect companions for keeping male professionals organized.
So what are you waiting for? Get Your Brand On Organization today!
