By Alfredo Atanacio, co-founder UassistME.CO / Inc. 30 Under 30 2012 / AGLN Fellow.
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Organizational skills allow you to efficiently and effectively use your resources. Whether you are a boss or an employee, having the right organizational skills will help you succeed. However, what exactly are the organizational skills that you must have in the workplace? Based on what my team and I have learned with our more than 12 years of experience managing teams for more than 300 clients in the United States, these are some of the top organizational skills for the workplace.
1. Goal Setting
Goals serve as a guide for the things that you need and must achieve. You must learn how to make goals so that you have a clear path of what to do. Also, goals can help keep you motivated. Every time you achieve something, you get a sense of fulfillment. When you set goals, make sure you follow the S.M.A.R.T. principle. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.
2. Planning Skills
Sure, having goals is nice, but those goals will not come into reality if you don’t have planning skills. Planning skills involve having a well-thought-out plan on how you are going to achieve your goals.
To develop your planning skills, you can start by creating a list of things that you must achieve within a day. Doing this allows you to be more organized and avoid forgetting tasks.
On top of that, you also have to learn how to think about the future. Although nobody knows what will happen, you can make use of data to anticipate scenarios. With that data, you can craft plans on how to take advantage of the situations to make them more favorable for the organization’s objectives.
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3. Time Management Skills
Have you ever felt like there is not enough time in a day to complete all your work tasks? Well, you are not alone, and the reason for this is probably because you lack time management skills. You can improve your time management skills in many ways. For example, you can start with your most challenging tasks early in the day, be done with those first, and then cruise along doing the rest of the less complex tasks, maximizing your time and energy. I would also recommend tackling tasks in a day based on priority.
4. Scheduling
Scheduling might sound like an easy skill to achieve. However, it is quite a struggle for many because even if they have a solid schedule, they can fail to implement it or follow it. I would recommend being realistic when you schedule your day and not overbook your calendar so that you can get to all of your tasks if not most of them. At the same time, you need to learn how to mitigate distractions. This way, you can execute your tasks at your scheduled time.
5. Delegation
If you are someone who is in a high position, it is easy for you to be overwhelmed with all the tasks assigned to you. However, you need to realize that you are in a position to delegate those tasks to your assistants — but you should know how to do it properly.
When you delegate tasks to others, make sure you’re communicating the instructions clearly and that you’re also communicating the desired outcome or purpose. The task you are delegating must also fit a particular person’s skill set. This is also why it is important to know your staff and what they can do.
By learning how to delegate tasks to others, you will have less stress. This way, you can focus more on other aspects of your project to help increase its chances of success and mitigate mistakes.
6. Resource Allocation
Resource allocation is very similar to delegation. However, the difference is that instead of assigning tasks to people, it’s the process of assigning and managing assets.
You can improve your resource allocation by learning how to prioritize and strategize. Also, make sure that you allocate resources in such a way that it will provide the most benefit to the company’s goals.
Final Thoughts
Organizational skills are very important. Without them, you are bound to struggle in your workplace. Even if you are a first-time manager, it is important to acquire these skills early on. But, don’t worry, nobody can achieve these skills overnight. It takes practice, patience and self-control. What’s important is that you try your best, and you will eventually get the hang of it.
