Help for Organizing Your Office

Question: Okay, I'm officially embarrassed. Last week I heard an employee make a joke about the chaotic state of our small office. She was right, of course, but maybe it's time to get organized. I'm sure we could be more productive around here, but organizing isn't my forte. Where can I get help?

Answer: Chris Perrow is a professional organizer who deals daily with the negative financial and emotional impact that office clutter has on small companies. With the change of seasons, she says, the urge to organize and start fresh in the office re-emerges. Yet despite the operating efficiencies that technology has brought to businesses large and small, the paper monster lives on.

Perrow is pumped as she helps a business owner in Silver Lake, OH re-acquaint herself with the surface of her desk. The small firm is in clean-out mode - elbow deep in overflowing file cabinets and electronic litter - and called on Perrow for advice.

According to Perrow, most business owners are on information overload, working long hours without thinking much about simple productivity issues of how and why things get done. "When they stop to analyze the situation, they often find much could be delegated, eliminated or done at a more efficient time," she says.

But without a system in place to keep things organized, chaos rules.

We are a data-drunk society. As business owners, we fear throwing out something we might need some day. And when we also lack filing skills - both paper and electronic - the result can be toxic to the bottom line. We no longer control information; it controls us.

Carol Halsey, an organizing coach based in Wilsonville, OR, suggests a five-step approach to dealing with office paperwork that she calls DRAFT, for Discard, Refer, Act, File and Table.

1. Discard - If it's something you'll never retrieve again, trash it don't file it. Your files should be a "resource holding tank," not a dead storage place. (Hint: Just throw it away!)
   
   
2. Refer - If someone else needs the information or can handle it for you, pass it along, pronto. Don't get caught in paper trail jail.
   
   
3. Act - If it requires action by you, do it now. It's inefficient to delay and handle the paper a second or third time.
   
   
4. File - If it's important and you will truly need it later, file it in a proper filing system that allows you to find things in a snap.
   
   
5. Table - If it's something you'll need in the near future (but not today), place it in a simple follow-up system for easy, quick access.

Better efficiency is something every business owner can achieve, says productivity pro Laura Stack, author of Leave the Office Earlier (Broadway Books, 2004). There will always be more things to do than time to do them, says Stack. The problem is time usage, not time shortage.

Stack's message is clear: Organize or perish. Axing clutter not only improves productivity and lowers stress, it's the key to creating more time for the things you want to do.

Here are more organizing resources and solutions that can help:

• The Professional Organizers Web Ring (POWR) is a gateway for helpful information on office organizing. Search the member directory to find a professional organizer in your area. You'll also find a section of articles on getting organized. Visit www.organizerswebring.com.
  
  
• The National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) is a membership group of 2,700 organizing consultants, trainers, authors and product manufacturers. The Web site's Automated Referral Program can help you find an organizing specialist in dozens of topics areas such as home, medical or legal offices. Visit the site at www.napo.net.
  
  
• Organize Your Office by Ronni Eisenberg, File...Don't Pile by Pat Dorff and the Office Clutter Cure by Don Aslett are three helpful and inexpensive books (under $10) available for immediate delivery at Amazon.com.
  
  
• PilestoFiles.com is organizing coach Carol Halsey's Web site where you will find helpful reports on organizing available for purchase. Her booklet "93 Organizing Tips to Simplify Your Work Day" ($6.75) promises to help you squeeze 14 hours of work into less than eight. Visit the site at www.pilestofiles.com.