Organizational Skills: Beyond the To-Do List
By Kathy Martucci, PMP:
In every interview, there’s invariably a question about our organizational skills. Let’s take a minute to think about how we’ve answered this question in the past. I’ll bet most of us said we use to-do lists, follow-up tools, and email folders. This is our competitive edge over the other candidates? Seriously?
Actually, being organized is much more than being on top of our tasks, paper clutter and emails. Although these facets of organization are a step in the right direction, it is our entire approach to arranging our schedules, workload, and personal and professional interactions that create the control necessary to define and meet our goals and the goals of our organizations.
“Control” is a word often associated with micro-management, with building an empire or having so much pride in authorship that it gets in the way of meeting strategic goals. For our purposes, I would like to redefine control as a proactive attitude and a proactive approach to the job at hand.
A proactive manager takes responsibility for themselves and their team. They are in control of how they use their time and how and when they perform certain tasks. They make things happen rather than letting things happen to them.
A reactive manager empowers others or circumstances to control them. They are victims of constant interruptions, are more prone to being controlled by crises and the unexpected events of the day that invariably come up. Reactive people are controlled by what others think and how they are treated by others.
Let’s replace to-do lists, follow up tools and logical or paper folders with three new and different ideas. Maybe the next time we’re asked about our organizational skills, we could expound on the following. As organized and proactive managers we:
• See issues as opportunities: the issue is there’s never enough time to do everything. Use this observation to see that there’s enough time to identify, prioritize and do the important things.
• Work on things we can do something about: be real about your abilities and sphere of influence. Identify the things you can control and the things you have to live with.
• Encourage a change in thinking, then promote change in actions: the proactive manager never allows a great idea to languish and die from inactivity.
Beats the heck out of a To-Do list. Are you willing to give it a try?
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