Organized?

Are you organized? What does organized look like and why is it important? Some might say that what looks like a mess to most people is organized to them. Some say that the piles of paper stacked on top of their desk is how they know where everything is. Have you ever been in the office with one of these “organized” people and asked them for a document? For somebody who claims to be organized, it’s pretty entertaining to watch them shuffle around, comment under their breath, realize they have no clue where the document is and ask if they can get it to you later. It turns out that their definition of organization is slightly different than mine and Merriam-Webster’s for that matter.

One of Merriam-Webster’s definitions of organized is “having things arranged in a neat and effective way.” The key word in this definition is effective. By not being able to locate items, forgetting to complete tasks, missing deadlines, not being prepared for meetings minimizes your effectiveness. Merriam-Webster’s definition of effective is “producing a result that is wanted: having an intended effect.” As a leader, do you not want to achieve results that are wanted?

So how do we get organized? When it comes to your office, get rid of the items you don’t need. Go through your files and file them. Identify categories and place like items into these categories. Get rid of the clutter on your desk. Take the time each day to place documents in the files you have created. Taking this time will save you a lot of time when you need something. It is always impressive when someone asks you for something and you know right where it is. It also reduces your anxiety when you need something in a hurry.

When it comes to your meeting notes identify one notepad. I see so many leaders in multiple meetings and each time they have a different pad. Then when they need to refer to their meeting notes they can’t remember which pad they used. Use one method for taking notes so you never have to wonder where your notes may be.

It is also very important to have one method for keeping track of tasks/action items/to do’s; whatever you want to call them. I transfer all of my action items from my meeting notepad into my Outlook Tasks. If anyone asks me for an action item while I’m out and about, I enter it directly into my Outlook Tasks via my smart phone. If for some odd reason I had to make a note of an action item elsewhere I make sure to enter into my task list as soon as I can. I then set up my Outlook to open to my Day Preview page and what do you know—there are all my tasks. I take it one step further and identify each task as high, normal, or low priority and ask the system to automatically sort them when I open my Outlook. You can even set due dates and reminders so the system prompts you when something is coming up or is due. This method has been very beneficial to me so I strongly urge you to find a system that works for you and use it!

All of these steps aid you in being effective as a leader. It helps you meet your commitments, reduces your anxiety, increases your efficiency in managing your action items, and ultimately helps you achieve wanted results.

Some final questions for a leader…do you come to work with sloppy clothes on—half tucked, wrinkled, not matching? Do you brush your teeth and hair before coming to work? Hopefully the answers are no and yes to these questions respectively. And the reason is because you want to create a professional perception of yourself. So why would you not do the same with regards to how you manage yourself?

Performance Reviews

Every organization has them, every department completes them, and every leader reviews them with their employees. So that probably means you have a highly driven, motivated, and performing organization or department? No, why not?

Performance reviews for some reason or another have become that one more task you have to do before the year is out. They usually are left to the last minute, quickly filled out based on the most recent negative memory, painfully shared with the employee who questions most of it, you do the best to defend your analysis, they walk out disappointed, and you’re relived it’s over! Does this sound familiar? The good news is you’re not alone. This is very typical in majority of organizations. And knowing that it is very typical, you should be excited because this is an opportunity to set your organization apart from your competitors.

If you simply change your perception of performance reviews and incorporate them into your daily operations, your team will know exactly where they stand as there will be no surprises, you won’t have to scramble at the end of the year trying to remember what your employees performance really was, and you can tie your company objectives directly to your employees performance.

All you have to do is determine a way to communicate quickly, candidly, and consistently with your team regarding their performance. The magic formula is not how you do it, but that you do it. I have learned it is much easier to discuss difficult situations when they are current and fresh in everyone’s mind versus letting them pile up until the end of the year and backing up the dump truck and unloading on your team. The other aspect of communicating current events is that the chances you track and communicate positive aspects increases. The performance review is (or at least once was) designed to develop and increase performance driving your organization to higher levels of success—meaning you also identify what they are doing great!

My approach is very simple. During the end of the year performance review I along with my team member identify 4-6 goals to focus on for the upcoming year. These goals are of course tied into improving their performance and their department’s performance. They should one way or another drive your departments or organizations objectives. Then for all my direct reports, I conduct a 30-Day review. This may seem daunting to some of you and you may feel there’s no way you have time for this. I would venture to say you can’t afford not to take the time. Don’t make these harder than they are. Simply have a pad somewhere in your desk or now days on your smart phone and when you observe something positive or needing development jot it down. If you are disciplined about doing this, completing the actual 30-Day review will be a breeze since you will already have your content. I quickly transfer my notes into three categories: Strengths, Improvements Needed, and Significant Observations. Based on that month’s performance I issue a performance rating which matches the annual performance scoring. Total time for each 30-Day is approximately 10 minutes to fill out, and another 10 minutes to issue for a total time of 20 minutes each month. Well worth it!

Half way through the year, I pull out the actual goals for the year and go over them to see how the team members are tracking on accomplishing them. Your goal should never be to catch your team not meeting their goals at the end of the year. Your goal should always be to help them achieve them—otherwise where is the development and improved performance? As the end of the year approaches, my annual performance reviews are pretty much done. I simply pull out the 12 30-Day reviews along with the mid-year goal review and look over their progress for the year, average out their monthly scores and my annual review is done. There are no surprises, nothing I have to defend as it already has been discussed, and we have a true account of their annual performance—not just the performance of 2-3 months which is typically what a leader will be able to remember.

Invest the time in conducting your annual performance reviews each month! Your organization will benefit from the on-going development and as a result it will set you apart from your competitors. If you commit to on-going reviews your team will be developing and improving or you will have the documentation to help them move on. In either case, you, your team members, and organization benefit.