A Checklist for Organized Executives

I could begin this article by providing a checklist of organizing techniques for you to incorporate into your daily work routine. The goal would be to become and remain organized, improve your time management and reduce your stress while increasing your productivity. This checklist could include items such as managing incoming information, keeping the desktop free of clutter, creating a user-friendly filing system, etc. And I suspect there are many other organizing and time management consultants out there who could provide something similar. But I want to share a different type of list with you.

It's a list with a bigger picture. It's got more to do with preparing yourself to move forward than with taking immediate 'action steps'. In fact, it's about the groundwork you need to lay in order to have the action steps work.

Reality check

Are you organized? Are you an effective time manager? Ask yourself. Then ask others. If you are a supervisor, you are a role model and your actions are studied by others. You might not have asked for this particular role, but your staff or team is watching and wondering how they can be just like you? or not anything like you. Same is true of your peers. How often do I hear, 'If you think my desk is bad, let's go for a walk and I'll show you Ted's.' So take a reality check and be honest.

Skills check

Do you have the skills necessary to become organized? Contrary to popular belief, an organized person is not genetically pre-disposed to this condition. Getting organized is a learned skill. Some of us had great role models, some had poor role models and some had no role models. Some of us are organized in one area but not in another. Whatever your situation, there is plenty of information out there on ideas of how to improve your skills and plenty of help to guide and support you to success.

Emotional intelligence check

Daniel Goleman coined this phrase and spawned a revolution. Without emotional intelligence the rest seems somewhat moot. Ask yourself some tough questions about what you need to do to be more successful and less stressed. Chances are that getting organized and becoming a more effective manager of your time might crop up as areas of importance.

What will you do about it?

Copyright 2005 Cynthia Kyriazis. All rights reserved.

Cynthia Kyriazis is an organizing and time management consultant, trainer, speaker, coach and author with over 20 years management experience in multi-unit corporations. Organize it, a division of Productivity Partners, Inc. is an organizational training firm she founded in 1995 and has been serving Fortune 500 clients ever since. Cynthia works with business and their employees to help improve performance and realize productivity gains.

Cynthia has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kansas City Star and the Legal Intelligencer. She currently serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), member of the Kansas City of the International Society for Performance Improvement ? (ISPI-KC) and consultant to the American Coaching Association.

---

Coaching Can Get The Boss In Shape

Who tells the boss that they can improve their management... Read More

Three Business Lessons From The US Postal Service

There was a buzz in the air recently about the... Read More

Resistance - How to Handle It

Do you ever meet with resistance from other people -... Read More

A Comprehensive Sarbanes Oxley Act Summary

Individual and corporate security stand in the center of the... Read More

The Seven Cs: Partnership Danger Signs - The 4th C: Cumulative Money Problems

A series of articles exploring the seven critical areas that... Read More

Conflict at 36,000 ft

This was supposed to be one of those sleepy flights... Read More

Successful Managing Through Delegation

Managers should avoid the tendency to constantly delegate to the... Read More

Management - Mary Poppins Style!

Mary Poppins describes a style of management which has for... Read More

Planning a Productive Retreat

What value is there in leadership or team-building retreats? Just... Read More

The Measurement of Manager Training

THE MEASUREMENT OF TRAINING: Evaluation is one of the most... Read More

Are Your Meetings Smart?

Soon after I finished a brief seminar on how to... Read More

Bar Charts Brought to Life: Index of Interactive Information for HTML and PDF

Bar Charts and the Information ChallengeWhether one is an unknown... Read More

7 Tips for Growing Your Business You Do Not Want to Ignore: Business Strategies To Easily Implement

Growing companies must always be ready for the next challenge.... Read More

Hiring Your First Business Personal Assistant: Some Guidelines for Successful Hiring

Hiring the first personal business assistant is an exciting time... Read More

Retaining An Expert -- What Every Business Owner Needs To Know

As an entrepreneur, hiring an expert can be one of... Read More

Keep Your Good Workers by Building Good Leaders

A recent report from the American Hospital Association's Commission on... Read More

Recycling, Reverse Logistics and?..Candy

The candy box is a container for all your favourite... Read More

What Makes a Good Appraisal Interview?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD APPRAISAL INTERVIEW?Here is a tip for... Read More

Optimizing Your Cash Flow With Proper Accounts Receivable Management

Businesses miss on growth opportunities and even close their doors... Read More

The 5 Things Great Managers Sense about their People, Every Day

Using all of your senses, to help you test how... Read More

The Myth of the Management Team

Every business has problems. That is why the average life... Read More

One Bad Apple

One Bad Apple I know what... Read More

When Business Becomes A Battlefield

"We have to be careful it's like a minefield out... Read More

5 Awesome Actions of Highly Creative Leaders!

How many times have you wondered why you are unable... Read More

Designing Your Healthy Administration - A Management Overview

Management or Leadership?Simply stated, management ensures that things get done,... Read More

When Change Is In the Wind...Heads Up!

In these days of takeovers and mergers, of downsizings and... Read More

Knowledge Management - Capturing And Structuring Knowledge Into Reusable Assets

Many organizations have an approach for identifying and recording lessons... Read More

The Paradox of Job Enrichment

Ellen was a clerk working for a large insurance company.... Read More

Making a Decision to Outsource: Driving Factors

Most executives view offshore outsourcing most of all as a... Read More

Rapport - How to Build it with Your Team

I've often heard managers say - "My door is always... Read More

Solving the Problem Solving Problem

The meeting started like a hundred others before. There were... Read More

Out of Control?

There are papers on the floor, across the desk and... Read More

The Dark Side of Help Desk SLAs

You just signed a Help Desk Service Level Agreement (SLA)... Read More