Organizing Yourself, Your Office and the Work Routine
It has been a week since you began your new position and you are probably beginning to think about the week-end. Like many of us, you will be taking work home. Most technical or managerial positions, if you want to be successful, wish a great deal of extra effort during the first phase of getting to know your new structures, communications, people, and activities.
Time and reflection are needed in order to get your thoughts organized and head cleared before arrival back to work on Monday. Hopefully, it has been a good week. You have learned much about your new organization. Much more must be learned and absorbed. Each new sense has probably led to supplementary questions. This is not a bad thing! If you are not increasing in questions to be asked, problems to decide and things to learn, you may not have taken a position that will help you grow personally and professionally!
The orientation training, maybe a touch on safety, huge time spend on complicated benefits packages, considerable office rules, etc., so much that you cannot remember much, as it is just a blur for now. Hopefully you will remember when your first pay check is to arrive. This too is normal. We expect population to preserve a great deal of information based on one brief encounter. The human "Learning Curve" always comes into play with training. Unless there is some form of refresher, humans will only speak information that is routinely practiced and used.
Before the week is finished, we have some schedule items to cover. You should be developing a recipe to buildings your activities and time. This buildings will help keep you focused on the considerable considerable tasks and ensure that they are prioritized and organized. Start by writing down all the tasks, assignments, and known issues. This uncomplicated operation will aid in reducing the overwhelming emotions that can invent and freeze your operation planning. The thinking anguish of "What have I gotten myself into!" is good controlled when you write things down.
Start the sorting out of your office and files. This operation is taught by most time administration gurus as a stress reducing and efficiency technique. The small success of naturally clearing out unnecessary clutter and having an executive process begin can be comforting if nothing else. Get things in order! As we referenced in Day 2, this will be an ongoing affair. Nathan remembered a time when he was under high stress. His desk looked like a battlefield with him hiding behind a semi-circular mound of files and paper. After a time administration course, he spent a Saturday cleaning, filing, and trashing his office. All things had a home and could be found. He didn't perceive that colleagues in the office had noted his "work habits". population discern that they had plan he had quit seeing the office so neat and organized! population do observe!
If you wish to be seen as an organized, focused person, then, guess what, you have to be organized and focused. Not to the extreme, constant organizing and revising is the opposite of appearing busy straight through an unorganized area. Whether may indicate a person that is hiding behind both debris and clutter or an efficiency shield with nothing truly getting done, only a front being presented. Have you seen a financial or lawyers office? These offices tend to clutter to the walls with much paper.
One of the most prominent things is to make use of a daily planner, Microsoft Outlook (Tm), or other devices to keep notes, set priorities, and speak your schedule, calls/messages and calendar. This is an art in itself. seeing the balance in the middle of a structured day and the need for flexibility is essential. Nathan uses Outlook for calendar, contacts and projects along with a uncomplicated compound book to narrative phone calls, observations, etc. I used Lotus Notes for meeting declaration and scheduling. One recipe that was taught to me by one of my mentors was to take a sheet of paper and naturally fold it into 8 sections. This would be your note pad for the day, cheap, and easy to pocket and file. It works quite well if you have to keep hands free most of the time.
You need to use a recipe that you feel comfortable with. The organization may already dictate the recipe that you are to use. You may prefer a very formal seeing binder or software or anything works for you. Cell phones, iPods, Pdas, etc., all are beginning to offer applications that make memos and notes, etc. Easy to invent as well as sync to a computer.
Why do this? As you begin to invent your organizational "Your Brand", the meetings, return phone calls, response to questions and other actions are of particular significance in the early days of your job. "Can you be relied on" is on the minds of your colleagues and those that are relying on your expertise.
Organize Your Office With The information That You Need For Your Job.
As you invent your office, begin the organizing and review of all current and known data that may be connected with your job. This is both in hardcopy and in any electronic versions. Your computer files should be as organized as your paper files. What is the considerable information you must have and document to do your job on a daily basis? As example in the protection arena, this could be the discrete risk administration and protection programs, meetings, loss analyses, insurance loss runs (workers' compensation, auto liability, general liability, and asset claims history), accident investigations, and near miss reports. Each specialty requires exact data, potential control data, financial records, human resources, security, etc. Organizer gurus say if it can't be found, it is no longer knowledge or information, just clutter!
Ask if you can get on any distribution lists and if you have passage to online databases for information exact to your job and discipline. These internal reports will contribute insights on where to go for underlying issues and problem areas.
Data Is Like Driving a Car Using data is like driving a car while seeing into a rearview mirror. However, to begin the work of eliminating repeating types of problems, data pathology is an considerable function. The data when properly analyzed provides targeted areas to implement the problem solving and control process. The data can show where "low hanging fruit" is for a few early successes as well as devising long term solutions to hard core issues.
In most cases, you will need a multi-period history of data to begin any type of trending. "Point in Time" data (comparing one time to another) may be exciting but not helpful evaluate the data and how it has been presented. Is it in an understandable form that provides information for administration and employees? Does it review a clear photograph of the patterns and behaviors over time of the organization? Can you begin to set priorities with the current data? If your analyzing skills are limited, study out Six Sigma Black Belt techniques that can be used invent and analyze data. Data driven decisions and the potential to translate the data into brief reports and presentations is a must learn skill.
Organizing your day - Continue getting out and about
As discussed in Day 4, spend time each day out where the operation is occurring, where the work is being done, no matter the role that you play in an organization. All of this acquired data and information is only theory until you can match it with what is happening. Talk to as many population as you can, request questions and listening intently. Constant networking is considerable and the only way to network is to naturally make the effort to get nearby and talk to all levels of the organization.
You may have to begin to advise remedial actions or intervene when you see exact uncontrolled problem situations. This is why you took the time to get your purpose, mission, responsibilities and authority clear. The first times you have to intervene into an issue will wish tack and a bit of diplomacy. Remember that the politics are separate in each situation and you have to adjust accordingly. Jumping down someone's throat, a demeaning approach, being overbearing will shut down hereafter communications. Set a tone that is professional, listen to the "why" a situation exist, elaborate the issue and make sure that a team approach is desired.
Make the effort to be viewed as a knowledgeable team player and problem solver, not an obstacle. If the observed issue cannot be resolved quickly, work with the area administration in seeing alternatives.
Day 5 Summary As you organize, begin to align and match your observations with the data and assessments completed. Continue to make sure your manager knows what you are doing! Take time to review upward to your administration and in all directions to those you work and associate. Organizing isn't a one shot effort, work at it daily.
Establishing buildings to Daily Activities, Day 5