A company’s success is largely dependent on the productivity of its employees. To maximize profit, companies would like to produce the best quality outputs using the least amount of resources—this is only achieved with efficient employees.
Thousands of articles are available online on how to improve productivity, and one way that a company can do so is through an organization. An organized workspace, schedule, workflow, and systems all contribute to heightened focus observed in employees. They are also able to collaborate well with their fellow employees. On a personal note, an organized employee will gain the confidence to do work tasks and finish them on time. In short, employees are able to work at their best on an individual and collaborative level when they work in an organized fashion.
There are multiple times that employees are required to deliver various tasks simultaneously. Juggling everything at the same time means one has to be organized to minimize errors and not forget anything. In the bigger picture, when you develop an organized habit today, you are able to carve a successful career path for yourself.
For example, since you work efficiently, the chances are high that you will have more time to pursue your passions and do fun activities outside of work. In the process, you also help your company achieve success because of your efficient work performance. Because you are an efficient employee, you may be up for a promotion or a raise. You also avoid the possibility of being disturbed because of work after you log out at the end of the day. To say it simply, you have reached the perfect work-life balance that so many employees aspire to have.
An employee also tends to be more sluggish as the day passes by. An organized mind and workspace allow workers to maintain the groove while they are working and sustain up until it’s the time to log out. It will help you tick off tasks on your to-do list even if your motivation is running low.
You save yourself the hassle of looking for missing things especially when it’s crunch time and you’re hurrying to meet a deadline. Communication with your superiors and colleagues is also easier. It’s no hassle at all to make updates to the whole team about the progress of a project that you are heading. You are able to provide a clear and detailed progress report that your superiors, clients, and colleagues need. You also exemplify a great focus that prevents stress and anxiety to build up in your mind and body.
How can you be organized in the workplace? We share some tips on how you can make your workspace and systems organized as much as possible.
1. Follow a time block schedule.
Think about how your day will go. Have a schedule in mind on what you will do every hour or two of the day. These time blocks must be treated as hours of concentration, meaning you won’t do anything else during this assigned time other than work. Afterward, you can take a 5-10 minute rest so that your mind can rest for a bit and come back recharged to work. But even if this should be followed strictly to work, there are some external factors that happen from time to time which you must be willing to adjust to.
For more organization, make a schedule for the day with time blocks marked by different color codes.
2. Make use of your email calendar.
We do not use digital tools as much as we can to help us be more efficient at work. Since everything has become so accessible now, thanks to technology, it would be a disservice to yourself and your company if you do not maximize the benefits you can get from it. Even when you’re traveling or out of the office, you can easily use the email calendar to give you scheduled alerts about tasks while you are on-the-go. The only way you can juggle multiple things effectively is by tracking down all the meetings and deadlines in your calendar with set time alarms. Trust us that it’ll be much closer to reality or cast in stone when you begin to write it down.
3. Make notes of everything.
Even though humans are amazing, we are still not perfect. We still commit mistakes and forget things which is why we do precautionary measures for these to happen less or not at all. Make a habit out of writing everything down, especially instructions so that you won’t forget them over time. In a meeting, even though someone is assigned to do the minutes, be proactive by taking down your own notes. You might forget important dates so write them down. If you have many things to attend to, write them down from topmost to least priority.
4. Follow a standard template when it comes to your daily processes.
Usually, you’ll be given a task of the same nature with the content just changing. To be more efficient, follow or save a template for every specific use you can think of. When the time comes that you need them, you just have to pull up your Documents folder and open the file to follow its template. For more recurring tasks, you can have a checklist of what you need so you don’t forget about anything the next time you have to do it again. And since you aren’t starting entirely from scratch, you will find it easier to fulfill this project.
5. Invest in using the right tools.
In this day and age of modern technology and innovations, there are so many tools that you can use to make sure that organization is maintained in your workspace. For instance, you can lessen clutter and follow more efficient systems when you use ergonomic furniture from a trusted brand such as FlexiSpot. There are also online tools for project management that will help the whole team keep their schedule on track. These apps include Trello or Slack.