Get organised

Most things work out better when you bring an organised approach to it, thinking through how to assemble and deploy the best resources you can to get the best results. Be sure to organise on several levels;

Organise your thoughts: Get your ideas and thought on paper, sift through them and determine which ones are most useful. This helps you avoid a situation where there’s too much going on in your head which can be distracting.

Organise your skills: Define which skills and competencies you need to get the job done; which ones you personally have and which ones you need to find from others. Also determine which skills are core, without which the task won’t be done at all to the minimum standard and which skills will take it to a high standard and add value.

Organise your energy: Do the task when you can bring the highest energy to it. Don’t try and do a hard assignment that requires a lot of clear thinking when you are tired. Also avoid things that sap your energy. Make sure you have on your team those who have the commitment and staying power to see things through.

Organise to combat challenges: Your starting point should always be that there will be problems and plan how you’ll tackle them. Don’t get surprised by problems and roadblocks you meet.

Organise for impact: There’s always a reason or a purpose for what you’re doing. Don’t assume it. Don’t plunge straight into something without taking some time to think about it. Clarify it to yourself, with whoever has asked you to do it and communicate it clearly to everybody else working with you on it. Once you’re clear what the impact is you can confident align all the above to achieve it.

Now take action: What can you do to improve your organizational skills? n