S3 Reading and Assignments

SESSION 3 – OFFICE EFFICIENCY – READING MATERIAL

Being Proactive in a Reactive World

Being proactive in a reactive world … Have you ever heard these words? Our world seems to hurl things at us faster than we can think. Life sometimes seems to be an unending cacophony of simultaneous demands:

“Answer Harry’s e-mail message”; “Return Emma’s call”; “Kim wants that report right now”; “Jamie needs to see you A.S.A.P.”; How do you handle all of these demands on yourself (and your psyche?) How do you act proactively to take control of your life when you have to react to so many demands coming from all sides?

The first thing you need to do is to create an atmosphere of efficiency — eliminate obstacles that can keep you from working at the peak of your abilities. You need to set up a working environment that gives you a positive, confident outlook, facilitates your workflow, and puts you in charge of setting priorities.

Efficiency has two components, physical and psychological. The techniques you are learning in this program will maximize both your physical efficiency as well as your mental and psychological efficiency.

The psychology behind your office environment:
Your new workflow-processing techniques will encourage you to form positive habits. You will quickly see your performance improve, and your positive feelings will encourage you to repeat the techniques — because they work! Soon you will have developed a new pattern of working behavior.

You’re hoping to change the way you work. You want to work smarter. You want to increase your productivity and…reduce your stress.

Spatial layout is important to how you work. Understand, though, that we are not talking about interior design. Spatial layout is looking at the placement of the desk relative to the doorway and other people who may work in the same room; seeing where the computer, guest chairs, and other furniture are located; and then determining whether or not all elements are in their most appropriate and efficient places.

However you feel about your current office space, the absolute, number one criterion about its layout must be that it supports you in working effectively and…creatively.

Most office set-ups do not meet this test. The desk may face the doorway, and traffic in the corridor causes distraction. If you face the doorway — especially an open doorway — it is a lot more likely that someone who’s just passing by will stick his or her head in and start an idle or unproductive conversation.

The best position for your desk is against a wall so that when you are sitting down to work, you are actually facing away from any outside distraction. Your file cabinet and bookcase should also be against a wall. This will open your room and give you much-needed open space. You may well gain enough space to add a small conference table and chairs.

Many people, at first, resist the idea of facing their desk against a wall, away from the doorway. They might be concerned that someone will come into the room from behind and startle them. Or they may worry that facing away from the door gives the impression they are trying to avoid others. However, from my many years of supporting my clients increases in productivity, and significant reduction in stress, the successful efforts to increase their working efficiency, I am convinced that facing away from the doorway is essential to achieving total concentration and full focus. When you face away from the door, your focus and concentration increase immensely and your distractions drop dramatically. People passing by your door see that you are busy, and fewer of them are going to drop in simply to “shoot the breeze”. This in no way means you are creating a barrier to those who need to see you about important matters. When people have a reason to see you, nothing in your office layout will deter them.

Attractive and Efficient – The physical ‘makeover’ of your desk, which we have been discussing, is important because it creates an immediate environment that is, and should always remain, an attractive space. This is where you can do your best work. Now how do you make it an efficient space?

The first answer to that question is: By keeping your desk clear of piles, files and stacks. In other words free of clutter and distractions.

NOTE: This is not to be confused with neat or tidy. This process is about producing incredibly heightened levels of focus, concentration and creativity.

The second, and equally important, answer is: By understanding that the primary purpose of your desktop is to work on one — and only one — project at a time. Yes, especially in the midst of a typically crazy day!

The third answer is: By keeping your desktop free of all baskets, trays, and standing file folders. Keep in mind the mantra: “Have tray, will fill”. The rule now is: “No trays on my desk”. The only apparent exception to this rule is the Virtual In-Tray, and it is not really an exception because there is no physical tray involved.

Clear 180 degrees of view

By ‘180’, I mean the 180 degrees of your sightline from periphery-to-periphery as you sit facing your desk. A ‘Clear 180’ means there is nothing within that sightline that distracts you from your work. All you see are materials relating to the task on which you are currently working, plus your telephone, your appointment calendar or PDA, and positive items that you enjoy having within your view, such as pictures of your family, your pets, your favorite ski resort, ‘widgets’ that your kids made for you in pre-school, etc.

Let’s think again about the reasons for having no trays on your desk. Besides the fact that trays are one of the ‘Black Holes’ of information which suck in documents, memos, letters, and other materials that you need to work on or find readily, they are also an eyesore and a distraction. You don’t want them anywhere in your ‘180’ where they can grab your attention away from the job you’re attending.

So, too, with any other objects that might disturb your focus. The important principle about your ‘180’ is to give it a positive, reinforcing air. As you develop your new working habits, you will want to keep clutter and unwanted objects out of your space. You want this space — the area you are looking at whenever you are at your desk — to contain items that promote positive experiences for you. That way, you can truly focus in on the work at hand.

Your computer does not belong on your desk!!! Your computer belongs on your computer return. The return is a square or rectangular table connected to your desk at the left or right, forming an ‘L’ shape. Ideally, the return is either deep enough to hold your monitor and keyboard, or has a sliding tray underneath for your keyboard.

The computer return is a terrific piece of furniture. It gives you a horizontal surface that is reserved strictly for your computer, off to the side of your desk, and out of your ‘180’.

If your furnishings don’t include a computer return, your computer should be placed as far from the center of your desktop’s ‘180’ as possible, or may go on your credenza, assuming you have one. Make sure the credenza is at the right height and has enough leg room that you can work comfortably and ergonomically.

You might consider asking your company to procure a computer return for you. After all, good office furniture is not a luxury; it’s an aid to your working efficiency, and it’s good for your physical, mental and emotional health. It’s in your company’s best interest to have you working at your optimum.

Papers and files that are not involving your immediate work do not belong on your desk. They need to be out of your immediate sight line. You want to keep your eyes on the task that is of your immediate concern. Any other work materials within view will pull your attention away from the project you need to be focusing on. Your concentration will be broken. You’ll be distracted by the other work on your desk. This will repeat itself over and over.

NOTE: On a subconscious level, every paper or folder on your desk will be flying up at you like radiation.

But what about ‘multi-tasking’? Years ago, the term ‘multi-tasking’ didn’t exist; today you see and hear it everywhere in the business world. The assumption is that an employee who can ‘multi-task’ is more productive than one who cannot. Employment ads and notices call for applicants skilled at multi-tasking. Managers tell team workers they must be able to multi-task. Most people I train have a belief that they are able to do this, and it is necessary in getting their work done.

Some years ago, there was an interesting commercial on television: A man standing at a whiteboard had a marker in each hand. In his left hand he was redrawing the Mona Lisa from memory, and with his right hand he was, simultaneously, writing an intricate mathematical equation. If you can draw the Mona Lisa while writing a complicated math equation, you can multi-task. I, however, am humble enough to admit I cannot do that. Simply stated, we cannot multi-task. This is especially dangerous when our decisions involve people, projects, revenue (gained or lost), productivity and reputation.

The challenge is to deal with information so that you can manage it in a way that avoids having to multi-task, or, more accurately, avoids the attempt to multi-task. This means giving your full attention to one task at a time. Do it in a timely fashion, and then tackle the next-priority item on your Turtle stack. And just watch your level of productivity markedly increase, and your level of mistakes, errors and omissions drastically decrease.

NOTE: This program’s name is LIVING CHAOS FREE, the operative term is ‘Chaos’. Please know that this methodology, such as working on one project at a time, works in the midst of one of your typically chaos-filled days.

SESSION 3 – OFFICE EFFICIENCY – ASSIGNMENT

Step One: YOUR DESK

1. Place your desk facing a wall or window, if possible. In other words, with your back to the door. I know that this may seem strange, however you will be amazed to see an immense increase in your focus and concentration as well as experiencing distractions drop to, virtually, zero.
2. Place your file cabinet and bookcase against a wall.
3. Place your credenza or work table behind your ‘180’.

Step Two: CLEAR ‘180’

1. Remove any work items from your desk’s surface that distract you from the work you are dealing with at present. Remember by the term ‘180’ we mean 180 degrees of your sightline from periphery to periphery.
2. Review Session #2 Assignment which explains what items are appropriate to have on your desk surface.

Step Three: COMPUTER PLACEMENT

Place your computer on your desk’s return. While this may be viewed as crazy, especially due to most of us being on the computer a vast majority of the day, once you have done this, you will be thrilled with the added concentration and focus as well as overall improvement in efficiency.

If you do not have room for a return or a credenza then you will have to keep your computer on your desk. BUT it should be placed at the farthest side of your desk to allow you to maintain as much of a ‘Clear 180’ as possible.