Ten Top Tips for Getting Organized at the Office

Take 4 minutes to watch th video below where Christa Wagner, a professional organizer, shares her top tips for getting and staying organized.  Then plan your business Thursday as your personal “organize the desk day.” 

In summary, her main tips are:

1. Dress your desk for success – have all office supplies needed on hand and reduce distractions
2. Plan your next  week and assess the prior week successes
3. Open your mail daily
4. Setup a desktop action file
5. Send fewer emails so you get fewer emails and let go of email-itis
6. Prioritize when you put your rocks (events) on the calendar
7. Create a stop-doing list
8. Put things away after you use them
9. Clear your desk at the end of each day
10. Schedule an office-wide organizing day for the company

What, No Email?

I was listening to a podcast recently when one of the podcasters mentioned a new approach to improving communication and productivity. It seems there are a few individuals, many of them tech savvy, who are deciding to take advantage of the latest technologies to reduce their reliance on the old standard, email. In fact, some of them are going email free. With the emphasis on “Inbox Zero” and other methods for managing the daily barrage of email, it was interesting to hear that some folks have decided they could improve their effectiveness and thus their productivity by eliminating one of the hardest tools to manage. With the tools now available, it’s possible to communicate with the right people when and how you want to without resorting to email at all. With my recent research into better ways to manage my own projects and tasks, this process of reducing my email usage is very intriguing.

I decided to explore the possibilities. Could someone really lessen their reliance on email?

I began by creating a list of topics we typically communicate via email.

Here are some topics usually communicated through email.

• Instructions on projects and tasks
• Directions to events and locations
• Greetings to new team members
• Follow up to requests
• Collaboration on projects and tasks
• Access to documents and files (through attachments)
• Access to pictures and videos (through attachments)
• Links to web-based information and articles
• Links to virtual conference calls and meetings

Not an exhaustive list but enough to think through the next step.

Next, I thought about the places we usually access email. A few years ago, we needed to be at a computer to work with our email. We also needed to be near a phone line to make phone calls. Now with smart phones and tablet computers, it’s possible to access the above information anytime and anywhere. I, for example, routinely carry both my smart phone and tablet computer all the time providing access to multiple methods of communication anywhere I go.

I then made a list of the alternative methods of communication in use today. With the advent of Web 2.0, our communications methods have evolved dramatically. This evolution is allowing us to push email to the background.

In no specific order, these products include:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Facebook and Google+
• Instant Messaging
• Text Messages
• Blogging
• SharePoint

After reviewing my list of technologies, I matched them with the above topics. I found that communicating instructions, directions, greetings, and follow-up could easily be done via Twitter, Instant Messaging, and Text Messages. Collaboration could be done with SharePoint, Twitter, and Instant Messaging. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ could handle a variety of topics including daily communication, file sharing, pictures, videos, and links. Even in corporate America, tools such as SharePoint and Yammer, could provide the same communication possibilities. Finally, products such as Skype and GoToMeeting can be used to communicate via both voice and video. All in all, I could indeed use a multitude of new technologies to communicate with my world and not have to use email.

I did discover one reason I won’t be moving completely away from email anytime soon.

People.

All of the new technologies require that the people you want or need to communicate with, are using the same technologies. In my world, and in many corporations, this is not yet a universal thing. But stay tuned, it’s coming.

Is There Still Room for a Well Composed Email in Today's Fast Paced World?

In a world of instant messaging, text messages, multi-media text messages, facebook status updates, and 140 character tweets, is there still room for a well composed, well thought out email?

While I use each of these newer communication vehicles daily, I still find the need to put together a concise, on-point email that clearly conveys my message. The other night I had an interaction with a colleague that got me thinking about the process I use when I have an important communication, email is the chosen method, and I want to insure my point is clear. Knowing that this process has been proven to work time and time again, I thought I would share it with you.

While wrapping up some last minute to-dos, a co-worker stopped by my desk to see if I would be leaving soon. I replied that I was working on this one email and it would be a while longer before I would be able to leave, She wondered why it would take so long, She wanted to know why I couldn’t just throw some thoughts together and be done with it. I replied that I had a process that I followed whenever I had important email communication, especially when it was going to executives as this one was. This process helps me make sure my message is clear, concise, and to the point. I told her I would share my process with her later.

Here is my process.

I follow these steps each time I have a critical communication, especially in email.

1. Review the issue or topic that requires a response
⁃ Quick reply possible? Respond and move on
⁃ More thought required? Follow this process
2. Determine whether originating an email or responding to one
⁃ If originating, have a clear understanding of what to communicate and why
⁃ If responding, have a clear understanding of what is being requested or communicated to you
⁃ If any questions or concerns exist, reach out with a set of clarifying questions before replying to original email
3. Review all related emails and other documents for relevant information
4. Copy relevant information into the body of a blank email and create on screen repository
5. Create a list of key topics to be covered (outline them if necessary)
6. Write the first draft (don't worry about structure, flow, or look and feel)
7. Pull relevant information from on screen repository as needed to make or highlight points
8. Take a break. Let the ideas germinate in your mind
9. Review draft and begin rewrite process now paying attention to flow, structure, look and conciseness
10. Complete revision and begin editing process
11. Read one last time, and in critical situations, have co-worker, peer, or boss read before sending
12. Hit send and move on

Yes, this process has several steps and takes a little more time to complete. However, I have found that when I follow the process I gain more time later by not having to clarify, explain, or otherwise spend time going back and forth on an issue. Try it. And let me know, in the comments, if you have a process you use with your communication.

Should you send clean business emails?

The answer should always be YES. Why? To look professional and to avoid confusion, always send the cleanest email possible. Below are a few simple ideas for sending and replying to emails that are standard to any email tool.

Did you ever wonder why you can not delete stuff out of messages someone has sent you? Yes, it is in your in box but that doesn't mean you can edit it. The reason is you were not the originator of the message - therefore you do not own the text. If you want to edit it before sending it though - see next 2 questions.

Did you ever want to get rid of excess text in messages you forward or reply to? In most email tools, you can do this once you become the owner of the text. To become the owner, simply choose to forward or reply to the email with the text from the original message in your email body (not as an attachment). Then move to the body of the new email before sending, select (highlight) the text to remove, then hit the DELETE key on the keyboard to remove it. Be sure you check what is highlighted before you delete because the originator may have sent all of the test as a block or image so the system may automatically selected everything instead of only the portion you thought you selected.

Did you ever want to move text around in a message you are forwarding or replying to? In most email tools, you can do this once you become the owner of the text. To become the owner, simply choose to forward or reply to the email with the text from the original message in your email body (not as an attachment). Then move to the body of the new email before sending, select (highlight) the text to move or copy, then use Cut (Ctrl+X) or Copy (Ctrl+C) to collect the text from current location, move to the new location for text and Paste (Ctrl+V) it into place. I suggest suing the shortcut keys since most Windows-based programs will recognize these keys even if the copy/paste icons will not work.

Did you ever send an email with a misspelled word? To prevent this, check HELP documentation to see if your email tool has the option to automatically check spelling before sending each email. If it does, then set this feature on. Please note this feature does slow down the mail process especially since it will consider acronyms and some slang as misspelling. However, having the feature turned on will prevent most spelling errors. If you don't like the automatic spell check, you can always follow the steps to turn it on to turn it off again.

Please add your own clean email suggestions or email etiquette ideas as a comment on this post. Other articles you may want to check out for speeding up email processes include: Organize Email System for Better Time Management and Get Emails Out Faster Using Group Names as Addresses.

Even More Input

Last month, in my post “No More Input”, I reviewed some techniques and tools my colleagues and I use for dealing with the vast amount of information available today. This month I want to go over a few more areas we discussed.

Here are some additional things we discussed.

Email Newsletters:
Subscribe to email newsletters. Email Newsletters, one of the older uses of technology, have been a business staple for years. Pre-dating blogs, newsletters have proven to be a key business staple because they are an easy way to get ideas and information to a lot of people at once. Once you subscribe to some, make sure you establish some rules in your email mailbox to manage the influx. You can create a rule that automatically pushes the incoming newsletter to a separate folder where you can read it at your leisure without filling up your inbox. When you first subscribe, remember to check your SPAM folder to make sure your SPAM filter lets it pass through.

LinkedIn:
Sign up for a free account on LinkedIn and learn how to fully use it. Reach out to people in your network for input and to share ideas. Remember to share first then ask. Use the search feature to find answers to questions. Find Groups that match your interests and join them. This will allow you to use the other members as filters for new ideas and insights. Finally, take advantage of the Reading List feature. It’s a great way to find relevant books without having to read them all.

Facebook:
If you have an account on facebook, here’s a tip for using it to help manage your information flow. For most of us, facebook is a site we use to stay connected with family and friends. But with the millions of people on the site every day, many businesses are starting to use the site to communicate with their customers through fan pages and groups. Connect with relevant individuals or companies by joining their fan page. For example, I joined the Fast Company magazine page and get daily updates with lots of great ideas and insights.

Twitter:
Use Twitter’s search tool to cut through the chatter and get right to what you want. For example, search on leadership to find people sharing ideas on that topic. When you find interesting people to follow, check out who they are following too. Finally, use Twitter to stay in touch with things in real time. For example, recently I was unable to attend a conference. I used the Twitter search tool to find people who were at the conference and was able to gain insights from their tweets.
***  For more detailed information on using Twitter, read Shirley Lee’s great posts here and here.

I hope these additional ideas prove useful to you and they help you manage the input.

Please add any additional thoughts in the comments.

Tweet as reference  http://bit.ly/9AD3PS