Good organizational skills are a requirement listed on many job adverts. But developing them can benefit your personal as well as professional life. Good organizational skills don’t come naturally to everyone, but the good news is that they can be improved with some effort.
What are Organisational Skills?
Organizational skills are competencies that you use to manage your daily life. They establish structure and order. Having them enables you to be more efficient and effective in your personal and professional life. This can increase your productivity and help you reach your goals.
They can be classified into physical organizational skills such as orderliness, record keeping, and filing. And reasoning organizational skills which include planning, time management, collaboration, and communication.
Why Organisational Skills are Important
Having employees with good organizational skills enable businesses to function properly. They increase productivity and target achievement and ultimately lead to success. Having good organizational skills means you are more likely to be rewarded and promoted than colleagues who are less organized. Businesses should encourage good organizational skills. Some do, like exhibition stand contractor Quadrant2Design supply staff with software and training courses that can help them.
They also benefit your personal life. Being organized reduces stress, improves sleep quality, frees up time to focus on other things, reduces depression and anxiety, and improves relationships. Stress takes a toll on us physically and emotionally so taking steps to reduce stress can only be beneficial.
How to Improve your Organisational Skills
Honing your organizational skills may take some time and practice, but they will eventually become part of your routine which should pay dividends in your work life. Here we cover some of the steps you can take to develop good organizational skills.
1. Clear the clutter
The first step in getting organized is to create a clear workspace. Assess what is on and around your desk, and what you actually need to complete the day’s tasks. Removing unnecessary items will reduce distractions and enable you to think more clearly.
2. Don’t fire-fight
Make sure you plan what you need to achieve in a day/week/month. If you don’t approach tasks in a proactive manner you will find you are just reacting to different scenarios. This ends up with fire-fighting rather than achieving. Planning ahead reduces stress and enables you to problem-solve in a rational way rather than being on your toes all the time.
3. Set goals
It’s important to set goals for what you want to achieve. These may be as simple as organizing your filing system. Or they may be longer-term career-orientated goals like getting a promotion. It’s beneficial to have tasks to work towards and target dates for when you hope to achieve them.
4. Plan your time
For each task that you want to achieve, plan how long it should take, and allocate that time to it. Having certain amounts of time to complete a task should help you to remain focused and avoid distractions. If you are more productive first thing in the morning, allocate this time to complete tasks. Or if you function better in the afternoons or evenings use this time productively.
5. Make lists
Have a to-do list with all the tasks you want to achieve. You may think of things at different times in the day so storing the list on your phone is a good idea so it is always to hand. Writing tasks down will free your mind from thinking about them constantly. You can move on to thinking about other things safe in the knowledge that you won’t forget them. Ticking items off a list also brings a sense of achievement that you have completed what you set out to do.
6. Prioritize each task
With your to-do list, rank tasks by priority. Place the most important, with upcoming deadlines, at the top so that you work through them first. This will ensure you complete tasks in the right order.
7. Organize your filing
This can be both paper and digital. There is nothing more frustrating than being asked to produce a document and not being able to find it. Create folders for different projects and subjects to ensure you can retrieve what you need quickly. If you receive a lot of emails have folders for different topics.
8. Avoid distractions
If you are trying to complete an important task don’t be afraid to close your door, turn your phone off and ignore your email. It’s all too easy to be distracted by colleagues, your phone, and endless emails. It’s a good idea to schedule periods in the day to respond to emails and then ignore them the rest of the time, otherwise, you can find you spend most of the day responding to emails.
9. Delegate
If your time is precious and there are others in your team who could complete certain tasks, make use of them. Delegating less important tasks will enable you to focus on the main ones. Delegation isn’t always easy, but it is a good skill to learn if you are busy.
10. Reward yourself
It’s important to reward yourself for completing the tasks you needed to do. This will give you the motivation to do them. Treating yourself to something you enjoy if you finish your to-do list will encourage you to be more productive every day.
Tools that can help
There are several apps that can help you get organized:
- Any.do – will help you stay organized in all aspects of your life, available online, as IOS or android app.
- Sunsama – synchs with your other calendars and you can share it with your team. Available as macOS, IOS, or Android.
- Trello – A project management tool that can be used to manage a team’s work. Available online or as IOS or Android app.
- Todoist – makes it easy to manage your task list, simple interface, and is easy to use. Available online or as IOS or Android app.
- Akiflow – an efficient online planner for teams and individuals. Available for Windows or macOS.
Good organizational skills are important as they increase productivity and reduce stress. Feeling disorganized and having to fire-fight on a daily basis will have a negative impact on your health and well-being. So developing good organizational skills should be a priority for anyone.