The 2022 version of “did you get the memo?”
Thirty years ago, I started my career as a high school teacher, back in the day when memos were printed and placed in physical mailboxes (our paychecks showed up there, too). It was easy to lose or misplace a piece of paper, and as a result, miss out on key information. One of my colleagues was notoriously proud of her organizational system, which included several large piles of papers, books, and notebooks in her office. She confidently claimed, “It looks messy, but I know where exactly everything is.”
One day I stopped by to ask her if she was going to the faculty meeting. “What meeting?” she asked. “The one mentioned in the memo we received last week.” Without missing a beat, she said, “I didn’t get that memo.” We went to the faculty meeting, and days later, she was organizing her already-well-organized stack and found the supposedly never-received memo. Her organizational system (or maybe her memory) failed her.
Organization looks different than it did in the early 1990s. The vast majority of our files are electronic, and “memos” now arrive in the form of emails, texts, and chats. We send and receive messages at a crazy rate, and there is no way we remember all of them.
When I was in college, I was proud of being able to remember lots of details and deadlines. I had a calendar to remind me of homework due dates, but I could largely rely on my memory. I wonder whether I would reflect on my college experience in a similar way if I had attended 30 years later. A survey of college students revealed they “may be addicted to their cell phones,” spending an average of 94.6 minutes texting per day, 48.5 minutes sending emails, 38.6 minutes checking Facebook, 34.4 minutes surfing the web, and 26.9 minutes listening to music (2021 stats).
Keep in mind, when I was in college, the only activity from that list that I could enjoy would be listening to music, but with a CD player, not a smart phone. None of the other activities existed. (Note: Email existed, but it was rudimentary, and because few people had personal computers, we had to go to the computer lab on campus, often in the basement of an old building, to log in and access email. I found it so annoying I had a tough time imagining email ever being popular!)
My point in mentioning this is not to criticize college students, the use of technology, or anyone else who may be addicted to their phone. The purpose is to highlight that gone are the days of a couple paper memos sharing the most essential information we need to know. We now have hundreds of messages coming and going each day, via our phones, our computers, our Ring doorbell notifications, and countless other technological platforms, and we need a way to organize it all.
In reality, the “I didn’t get the memo” feeling is still something we experience. (Cue the scene from Office Space.)
So how do we organize such a massive amount of information? How do we ensure we receive and process necessary information? Here are a few thoughts...
Failure will happen. Each of us is sending and receiving such large quantities of information, there will be something that gets by us. That should not be an excuse for a poor organizational system, but particularly for the perfectionists out there, perfection is not a realistic goal. Instead, we need a system that is reliable, where communication failure is rare. If your failure rate is affecting your effectiveness (including the stress levels of those around you), it is time for a tune-up of your organizational system.
Make it work for you. The system needs to make sense to us. This might be an obvious statement, but sometimes we read popular, mass market books with the latest system or idea, or we get sucked in by the professional looking organizational system we can purchase on Amazon. While these approaches may work for you as-is, I encourage you to tweak and adjust as you need to make it work for you. I have established my own organizational system for planning and projects, and while I am happy to share it, I also encourage others to learn from it and then make it their own as well.
Make it make sense for others. This is especially true related to document storage. We now have shared files, folders, and drives. Others are accessing many of the files we use, and the organization needs to make sense for each user. Your “it may seem messy, but I know where everything is” approach will be frustrating for others. In addition, it is likely you will not be in your current position for the rest of your life. You will change roles or change organizations, and your files will be left for someone else. I thought I was organized until I tried to prepare my files for my successor. Ugh. As it turns out, I had a filing system that morphed many times and across multiple platforms over my 18 years there, and getting it all organized took much longer than I expected.
Organize your email. “Approximately 92% of employees show elevated blood pressure and heart rate when handling emails at work” (source). While the author did not provide a lot of context for this statistic, the finding is consistent with my anecdotal experience and the findings of other researchers. Ron Friedman, psychologist and author, shared this with Business Insider:
“The reason it can feel overwhelming to find lots of emails in your work inbox is that each message represents another demand on your time and another decision you have to make. Even deciphering a generic announcement about the office coffee maker requires effort, which leaves less energy for work that matters.”
All I can say in response is “You nailed it, Dr. Ron!”
As a result, we need a way of organizing email (what to file, what to delete, what to keep in the inbox) and rules on how and when we engage in email (during or after work hours, limited times during the day). There are varying approaches, but I fall into the camp of creating a few folders for important emails, saving emails as pdfs in my normal filing system, limiting email to 3 times a day (first thing, after lunch, end of day), and sending emails during work hours, even if I wrote it after hours. Create your approach, implement it, and then adjust it until it works for you.
Set aside time for organizational catch-up. Over the course of the week, things will get disorganized. Our inboxes are cluttered, items pile up on our desks, some items need to be added to our calendars, and post-it notes need to be addressed. For me, Friday afternoon is my time to get organized. I straighten my desk, clean up my inbox, revise my planning list for the following week, go through my texts and messages to make sure I have addressed them, get rid of post-it notes, and review my calendar. Depending on the week, this is a 5 to 30 minute task that is worth every single second.
As I have shared in the past, you cannot manage others unless you can manage yourself. Organizing your communications is an essential aspect of self-management. Do not underestimate the value you will gain from spending time on organization. Carve out 15 minutes this week to reflect on one of your systems and determine some adjustments. You will be glad you did.
pc: Stephen Phillips at Hostreviews.co.uk via Unsplash
