Office workers waste an average of 40% of their workday. Not because they aren’t smart, but because they were never taught organizing skills to cope with the increasing workloads and demands, Wall Street Journal Report
27% said they feel disorganized at work, and of those, 91 percent said they would be more effective and efficient if their workspace was better organized.
96% of office workers are frustrated by their company’s information management, Harte-Hanks. CLICK HERE for more statistics.
So how can you and your team retrieve some time that would be wasted this week?
RESEARCH THE NEWEST TOOLS: It’s estimated that a manager loses 1 hour/day to disorder, costing the business up to $4,000/yr if earning $35,000/yr or $8,125/yr at $65,000. From tools that are free like Google docs to sophisticated organization and data mining tools, there are lots of choices becoming available each year that can help you organize, store, and retrieve information quickly and easily by your team members.
BE CLEAR: 280 hours (7 weeks) per year are lost by workers seeking clarification due to poor communication.
Ask your team to repeat back to you what they heard you say when delegating an item so that you both can be sure that the information was passed along in a way that was clear and concise.
START PLANNING: Your month, your week, your days ahead of time. For every hour of planning, 3 to 4 hours are saved from redundancy, waiting for information, not being prepared and poorly managed tasks
DON’T MULTITASK: People who multi-task decrease their productivity by 20-40% and are less efficient than those who focus on one project at a time. Time lost switching among tasks increases the complexity of the tasks, University of Michigan Study
Competition is fierce in today’s marketplace. To be able to scale your department and yourself, learning the skills to organize, prioritize, and design your time is critical. Having the right tools and processes and knowing how and when to use them could give you time to think. As a leader, your most important task is using your highest level thinking to develop, motivate and engage your team right out of needing you. (Total shock, I know! The best leaders are always training their replacement so they can move onto different positions or on to a beach somewhere.)
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