Filing
One of the easiest ways to add structure and organization to your workspace, files and more is to use color-coding. This typically applies more to paper files than digital files. However, many programs and task management tools allow you to add category colors so you can carry them over to your digital file management.
Let’s look at some good examples of SOP manual techniques … and some bad ones.
Most timesaving “secrets” are the best practices you’ve been hearing about since the advent of paper clips. The trick is, you have to try them out to discover whether they match your work style. And then you have to stick with them to gain the benefits. Here are three timesaving secrets recommended by administrative professionals:
If your office collaborates on documents and data, inside and outside the organization, you may encounter collaborators using different office suites who need to work on the same file. “So that data file might pass between MS Office, LibreOffice, iWork, WPS—the list goes on and on,” says TechRepublic’s Jack Wallen. Wallen offers some tips to help make your files easy to share.
Are work documents taking over your office? If your desk is covered, your filing cabinets are full and your email archive goes back for years, it may be time to ask yourself if holding on is hurting more than it’s helping.
Stop stacks of paper from standing between you and organizational bliss with these steps for taking your documents digital, from Teens in Tech’s editorial director, Emmanuel Banks.
Not all executives are content to have access to documents only on their smartphones, tablets or laptops. If you work for a boss who still depends heavily on paper and attends up to a dozen meetings a day, here’s an organizing solution for you.
Your boss has a “hands-on” work style that demands all files stay nearby. So how do you help a boss whose office is drowning in paper? Here are tips for organizing a paper-strewn office:
“My boss is inundated with business cards,” writes an admin reader. “Some are in Rolodexes, others are loose. But he doesn’t want to weed through and toss old ones. Any ideas on how to organize them?”
Your office probably relies on the integrity of its people and its computer systems to secure sensitive information. But is that enough? In an office where sensitive information is at risk, make the “rules of trust” more visible. Joe Larocca, an asset protection advisor, offered these tips on Retail’s Big Blog:
What exactly is a tickler file, and what’s the best way to use one? We liked the answer one administrative assistant, Bonnie, gave on our online forum, Admin Pro Forum.
Chip away at a paper pile by first flipping the stack upside down, so the oldest material is on top. It’s easier to toss out old things. Break down a large pile into one-inch piles. Attack the first one-inch pile by reviewing each piece and asking these four questions:
Layoffs, shortened workweeks, stressed-out workplaces … it all can lead to another byproduct of the recession: increasing workloads and work slippage. How are administrative professionals ensuring that, with stakes soaring higher than ever, no work falls through the cracks?
