Course Outcomes

This organizational skills course will:

  • Help participants understand their relationship with things and their reasons for holding on to items they don’t really need.
  • Describe the value of editing and curating during the process of organizing.
  • Provide a framework for determining what is and what is not important.
  • Suggest systems for keeping information orderly and easy to find, both in the physical world and online.

Course Overview

A cluttered desk, messy files, or worse still, no files at all, are symptoms of a larger problem – disorganization. In the workplace, an inability to stay organized can affect a professional reputation and the opinions people hold of us. This workshop takes a deep dive into organizational skills and the skills required to edit and curate the things with which we surround ourselves. The program tackles the relationship people have with things and examines how our ability to manage information and belongings can enhance or detract from a strong workplace reputation. Additionally, the course explores skills for managing virtual clutter and creating and sticking to an organization plan and system.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • List barriers to successful organization.
  • Describe how their ability to manage information and belongings can enhance or detract from their workplace credibility.
  • Articulate their relationship with “stuff.”
  • Explain strategies for reducing clutter.
  • Develop an action plan for reducing clutter.
  • Explain the benefits and drawbacks of various calendar and organization systems.
  • Understand methods for managing email, voicemail, and other office systems.
  • Begin implementing goals created during the session.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Get It Together: Or Why Did Things Fall Apart?

In this introductory discussion, participants will identify their organizational pitfalls, explore the benefits of being organized, discuss the attachment people can have to things, and understand the process of adopting new habits. Next, they will discuss their personal challenges with organization and confirm the agenda for the day. 
 

Reputation Anyone?: Organization and Image Management

It’s often been said that a disorganized space is evidence of a disorganized mind – something few people want to be known for at work. This seminar segment explores how organizational skills and public opinion interrelate. First, group members will work through an activity where they evaluate workspaces. Next, they will take part in an exercise where they target how they wish others to view them and their work. 
 

There’s Too Much Junk in Your Trunk: Cleaning out Personal Space

When they’re not managed, piles of paperwork, files, pictures, notes, and miscellaneous other “stuff” can grow faster than office gossip in the cafeteria. This part of the course introduces participants to techniques for editing for the purpose of choosing what’s important removing junk, stuff, things, treasures, and other doodads that can clutter a workspace.  
 

Virtual Clutter Control: Your Computer Is Worse Than Your Desk

There are over 10,000 messages in your unread email. Worse still, you use your inbox as a storage system of sorts. The rest of your computer isn’t much better. Files are everywhere: on the desktop, in document folders, and living in various storage spaces in the cloud. And of course, there are unneeded duplicates and multiple versions of the same documents. The computer seems to just byte – until now. This part of the course looks at organizing online. During this seminar segment, participants will learn techniques for organizing online and how to match paper and electronic files for easy retrieval. 
 

Pick One, Use One: Calendars, Lists, Personal Organizers

There are a lot of tools available for organizing information, and some are certainly better than others. No matter which you choose, making a choice and sticking to a system is essential. In this portion of the program, participants will learn how to stay on top of appointments, keep track of contacts, manage expenses, and other critical information. Through a series of activities, we will determine what should be tracked, and we will explore a range of available options. 
 

Tackling Office Tools: Managing Email and Voicemail

Expert organizers know how to effectively use office communication. They aren’t slaves to email, voicemail, or other tools actually designed to enhance communication. This part of the course looks at best practices for managing email and voicemail. It offers tips and tricks for working with folders, filters, templates, and automated messages.  
 

Scaling Back: Tactics for Managing Home Time Better

Sometimes work feels like a vacation, especially when home is more stressful than the office. In this course component, participants will look at practical ways to balance work and home, techniques for reducing home chores, and ways to streamline activities. 
 

Don’t Just Sit There:  Start Doing Something Now

This program concludes with participants creating personal action plans for getting organized and staying that way.
 

At this program’s completion, participants will have a plan for better organizing physical and virtual spaces. This course can be modified to accommodate traditional and non-traditional work environments (e.g. those where participants do not work in an office setting).