Reorganise Your Office For Greater Productivity

March 27, 2017

There’s a strange phenomenon seen in a lot of small businesses. A bright and ambitious entrepreneur will start a company from their home, manage remote workers for a while, and stick to impressive efficiency standards. Then, as soon as they move their venture into a physical office, things fall apart. If you’ve recently taken your business into a new office, and you’re spending more time looking for things than working, here are some helpful tips to reorganise the place for greater productivity…
Have a Purge
In the fast-paced chaos of a disorganised workplace, it can feel extremely overwhelming, and hard to know where to begin. Well, help is at hand! The first thing you should do when trying to re-organise any given office space is to have a big purge. Take stock of everything in the workspace, and get rid of anything unnecessary which is getting in the way of day-to-day operations. Go through all the stacks of papers, and throw out any duplicates you have. Open all the drawers and filing cabinets and throw away anything that you know hasn’t been used in a few months. Once you’ve removed everything that you don’t need, it will give you a clearer mindset for organising everything that’s left over. You can read more about this on Forbes.
Create a Filing System
In a lot of cases, the main thing holding back a small business from staying organised and productive is the sheer amount of documentation they’re having to deal with. There’s no right or wrong way to develop a filing system for your business. It generally depends on the business’ priorities, how tasks are completed, and whether you’re subscribed to any recurring services from companies like Xeretec. Whether you alphabetise your files, organise it by client, by project, or any other category, make sure you come up with a firm filing system that works for your business. A master index of all your file names which you have regular access to will help you avoid creating any duplicates and making life difficult for yourself later. It will also stop any vacations being interrupted by employees who can’t find a certain file! Keep all your most recent documents at the front of the file, and go over your record-retention policy to make sure there’s no risk of deleting anything important.
Focus on your Desktop
Just like the office at large, if your desk is cluttered and disorganised, it will make it harder for you to think straight and focus on the task at hand. Purge your desk, leaving only the things that you need for your day-to-day work, which you can keep within easy reach. With today’s technology, you probably don’t need that cup full of pens and pencils or a bottle of correction fluid. For most business owners, a phone, computer, a few pens, a notepad and a stapler should be enough to suffice. As the head of your workforce, the way you work is going to have a profound impact on everyone else, so don’t neglect this step!
Follow these tips, and you’ll quickly achieve a more organised and productive office.

Mark Asquith

That British podcast guy, Mark is co-founder of Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast host. A Harvard, TEDx, Podcast Movement and Podfest speaker (amongst many more!), he's a wildly approachable Brit and Star Wars/DC Comics geek.

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