Ever see people that are just messy? You know, the people with stacks of paper on their desk? Everything looks like a disaster but they are cool as a cucumber. They may be cool but things are brewing a disaster. Now don’t be fooled, there are plenty of people with clean desks but their management system is just plain nasty. Overdue tasks, unattached documents, you name it you can’t find it, but their desk is paper free. The challenge is when we allow clutter and disorganization in to your agency it can become a way of life.
These messy people question why they can’t keep up with suspense or filing or email. I tell them because it has become a culture of disorganization. Now some of you may be reading this thinking… “Kelly, but you don’t know my agency.” I don’t and there are times where snow days, the flu and Summer vacations make it difficult to stay on track. But those are SOME TIMES. We can’t live in a “some times” culture. The reality is some people are messy and just don’t hold themselves accountable to a higher level of organization.
As a leader you need to look in the mirror. Do you hold your team accountable to organization? Or do you fall victim to their excuses. For efficient agencies organization is crucial. Why? Your team spends so much time following up, asking each other and searching for clarity on accounts that that may be the exact reason your team is backlogged. Every 2 minutes spent working on an account that is not up to date costs the agency greatly. If it’s 10 minutes per day that’s one full week per year. Are you OK with that?
So how do you start the clean up? Well it’s Spring time. Let’s get the office into Spring Cleaning mode. This means incentivizing people to come in on a Saturday or staying late with these goals in mind:
- Under 50 emails in their inbox (preferably under 10) and everything is ATTACHED in the management systems
- Suspense are current and not just bumped out but completed and closed
- Desk is paper free… yes paper free. Everything is scanned, attached and shredded
You know how when you Spring Clean your home you feel refreshed and organized? Imagine bringing that to your office? When you get a clean start you get a new opportunity to stay on track. The biggest benefit is the decrease in stress on your team. The feeling of constantly being behind is a terrible feeling. The challenge is overcoming it and getting ahead. When you can clear the backlog your next challenge is keeping on track.
So once you Spring Clean what’s next? Let’s be honest, it would be very easy within 1 week for the clutter to come back. But we don’t want that! You as a leader need to be on top of making sure the messy rooms don’t come back. So here is what you need to do, remember you can’t manage what you can’t measure and you have to inspect what you expect:
- Run overdue activity reports, the goal is they should be at 0 by Friday at 5pm
- Emails. Log in and see the condition of their email. If there are over 50, put them in quiet time to get it under control
- Paper on the desk, take it off and have an intern or processing person go through it and scan it in.
You may be thinking you would rather bleach your own bathroom right about now. But the idea that papers just sit on someone’s desk is crazy! You can’t operate a ridiculously amazing customer experience that way. Remember the benefits: less stress (in the long run), better customer experience, and more time for each person on the team since they aren’t searching.
If you are worried your team won’t take the message of Spring Cleaning so well, maybe one of our training days on organization may be right up your ally! Ask us about our Spring Cleaning Specials.
