Despite the rockin' and rollin' of an earthquake, the huffin' and puffin' of Hurricane Irene, and the "toasting" of my office computer, I'm finally posting this blog!
While most workers have better educational and job-related skills than ever, they are sadly lacking the most vital skill of all for the information age – performance management. It’s possible to classify office professionals into one of five distinct levels … Where are you?
Level One: Time-Challenged Worker. Their computer and their work space tell the whole story. Their desk and / or their computer desktop are littered with half-finished projects and documents too “urgent” to file – reminders or action items they desperately don’t want to forget.
They may have a paper calendar around somewhere and when they think of it, may even jot down events like appointments and birthdays. Similarly, they may use their Outlook calendar when they think of it. But the truth is they keep most of their schedule in their head because “hey, who’s got time to write anything down or enter it into the computer?”
Nonetheless, the trusted memory isn’t doing much for their reputation. They miss deadlines, double-book meetings, arrive late for meetings or forget about them altogether, and spend 30 to 45 minutes a day just searching for items on their desk, computer desktop, or email Inbox.
Level Two: The Note Takers. For the most part, people at this level claim to rely on the lined paper / spiral notepad that they lug to every meeting like Linus’ blanket.
But when push comes to shove, anything goes – hieroglyphics on scraps of paper, on backs of envelopes, napkins, and, of course, on the veritable forest of sticky notes strewn east, west and sideways across their cubicle.
They do have more organizational experience compared to Level One colleagues. They’ve probably taken a time management course and are familiar with the principles of goal-setting, preparing to-do lists, and how to prioritize.
Unfortunately, they believe since they’ve taken the course, they can cross that off their list: “Been there, done that. I’ve graduated…time to get down to real work.”
(To be continued)
