Unfinished Business

On average a British office worker will have around thirty seven hours of unfinished work sat on top of the office desk in piles of paper, faxes and bulging email inboxes. Often they are the jobs that we all love to hate that keep being shoved to the back of the queue for other pleasanter jobs. It can also be the case that you spend most of the day fire fighting and some of the more strategic tasks that can make life easier in the long run get sidelined as you react to phone calls and emails.

If you are seen by your boss to drowning under a mountain of email and have desk that is covered corner to corner in paper and documents they will assume that you are simply busy. However what should be considered is whether the employee needs help with time management and prioritisation. Bad organisation skills and the inability to delegate can lead to even senior managers putting off more important tasks to react to day-to-day crises.

If you know that you suffer from mounds of paper consider how you can address your time management. Look carefully at the types of papers you have stacked on your desk. Make some simple files – ‘To Do’, ‘To Read’ and ‘To File’. Split the papers into these different files. You’ll find that much of the clutter is down to delayed decisions. You can organise yourself straight away by putting incoming papers and emails into these three files. Next, look at prioritising tasks and delegating where possible to others. This new approach will make clutter a thing of the past.