Managing your Work Environment

In business every detail counts and ultimately translates to greater efficiency, productivity and ultimately profit, whilst making the job more enjoyable.

What can I do about improving my work space environment?

Below is a prepared checklist of common time bandits for you to reflect on and identify.

What is a Time Bandit?

  • Anything that decreases your productivity and effectiveness.
  • Anything that causes you to shift your focus away from what your number one priority is.

    Common Time Bandits can be;
  • Not starting the day with a list of priorities
  • Drop in visitors
  • The telephone
  • Email disruptions
  • Too many meetings
  • Badly managed meetings
  • Waiting time/travel time
  • Confused responsibilities/authorities
  • Lack of standards and progress reports
  • Unclear communication


How to better organise your workspace

“On average people spend 45 minutes every day looking for lost papers or documents”
(Time Magazine)

Only 20% of the files or pieces of paper in your workspace produce 80% of the results you want to achieve.  Identify the key 20% of activities that are most important (producing 80% of the results) and make sure you prioritise them.

Identify your Time Bandits and what you can do to minimise or eliminate them.

Look at and consider if you can improve on;

  • Design of your desk layout
  • Have in and out trays
  • Robust filing system
  • Paper vs Electronic filing system
  • File backups
  • Email filing
  • When you have actioned the “piece of paper” dispose of it

Ultimately the responsibility rests with you, what we can assure you of is that if you look to manage and improve your immediate work environment, the payback will be spectacular.

If you want to dig further into how to improve, please contact a Prime Strategies Advisor for a comprehensive review.