Complete Article List:
- Building a Creative Business Culture
- Defining Yourself
- 4 ½ Stages of Organizational Success
- How to Fail Your Way to Success
- Six Life Lessons I Learned in Vegas
- Making Sense of Humour in the Workplace
- The Art of Professionalism: Learning the Right Way to Get Ahead
- The Secrets of Effective Decision-Making
- The Customer Rules:
Surviving & Thriving in the New Customer-Driven World - The Fascination of Sport
- Are You a Twenty Percenter?
- The Times They are a Changin'
An Investigation of Five Future Trends - The Business of Global Greening: How Technology and Business are Saving the Planet
- The Changing Face of Charity: How Businesses and Individuals are Redefining Philanthropy
- Web 2.0: Business in a Connected World
- Searching for a Needle of Knowledge in an Information Haystack (pdf format)
- The Power of Design (pdf format)
Articles
Four-and-a-half Stages of Organizational Success
By Steve Bannister
There, you've done it! Your office is cleaned, you have replied to all of your emails and your presentation set for next week is finished five days ahead of time. In addition, you now have plenty of time to spend with your family. Sound familiar? ...Give me a break!
A 2000 Integra Survey reported that 65% of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties and more than 10% described these as having major effects. In a 2001 survey, nearly 40% of workers described their office environment as "most like a real life survivor program." There is no doubt that numerous factors contribute to the stress of workers today, with one of these factors being lack of organizational skills.
In order for organizational skills to be successful they need to be viewed in a different way. There in no sense in forcing someone to read a detailed book or memorize a complicated procedure to simplifying their lives. The automatic response would be, "I'm too busy now, so how in the world am I going to find more time to learn how to get more organized?"
As with many ideas, the solution needs to be short, understandable and easy to remember. It has to strike an emotional chord in the user; a feeling of "Hey, I can do that!" The Organizational Matrix (see diagram) is designed to streamline your workload. It consists of four major components, namely For Now, For Later, For Ever, and Forget. These components are explained as follows:
FOR NOW
(High Urgency & High Importance)
These issues require immediate attention. They may include such things as major reports due tomorrow (or in an hour!), or essential phone calls and emails. They have to be seen to now, or else!
FOR LATER
(Medium Urgency & Medium Importance)
These issues do not require immediate attention but should be taken care of on a weekly or monthly basis. They may include such things as regular reporting and follow-up calls and emails.
FOREVER
(Low Urgency & High Importance)
These issues are usually held in high regard even though they occur infrequently. They may include such tangible things as important financial documents or such intangible things as building relationships with coworkers, superiors and customers.
FORGET
(Low Urgency & Low Importance)
These issues are irrelevant and only serve to waste your time. They may include such things as socializing too much at work, surfing the internet and answering non-urgent email.
Of course this just leaves the missing ½ of the 4 ½ Stages. The big question mark entitled, In Doubt (High Urgency & Low Importance) includes any outstanding issue, which has not been placed into either one of the other four sections. If there are a large number of issues in this section, then important decisions need to be made as to where to move them. Only constant and improved decision-making will begin the process of cleaning out this section and working towards a more fulfilling life.
It is easy to use the Organizational Matrix in a quick manner. Take emails as one example. "For Now" emails are left in the Inbox. "For Later" emails are electronically filed on your mail system. "Forever" emails are stored on an external memory device and also printed. "Forget" emails are obviously deleted. Finally, "In Doubt" emails are left in the Inbox until a decision is made to move them elsewhere. As with any use of the Organizational Matrix, the key to success is how quickly and efficiently decisions are made to move items out of the "In Doubt" section.
The Organizational Matrix may be used in other ways besides organizing an office and prioritizing work to be done. Relationships can also be viewed using the Matrix. For example, there are personal relationships which require a definite "For Now" attitude to foster communication and growth. These typically include spouses (or partners) and children. There are also other relationships which need less attention and would therefore be categorized as "For Later" relationships. Similar situations arise with "Forever" and "Forget" relationships. Dealing with the "In Doubt" relationships once again, as with the unorganized office environment, will alleviate much unwanted stress.
The 50% divorce rate in many cases is a direct result of one or both spouses not making decisions as to what to do with their "In Doubt" relationships, such as those with a mother, coworker, boss, former spouse, other friends etc.
It is important to remember that people don't usually make drastic changes. Using the Organizational Matrix is therefore not going to be the cure to all problems; no one idea, concept, or method ever is. What the Organizational Matrix can be is an essential part of a collection of invaluable tools used to create an overall successful and less stressed working environment.
For info on how you may get permission to use this article
on your web site please contact Steve directly.
