TL;DR
A corporate officer at a company with almost 100 years of history had become its archival dumping zone, and his office showed it. Kathi was flown in to clear it while he traveled. The lesson for anyone wearing several hats: keep every project in a file drawer, pull out one at a time, file it before you pull out the next, and work with no piles in sight.
A messy office always decreases your productivity. This case study is probably a lot more cluttered than your office but it is an example of what can happen when we become too busy to keep up with our piles.
What happens when one officer becomes the company archive?
This is an office of one of my corporate clients. He is a successful corporate officer but he also wears another hat which has turned into a challenge. This is a corporation with almost 100 years of history and he has become the chief archival dumping zone.
Check out his office shortly after I was flown in to help him get organized.
This was a super fun project because it had a lot of moving parts and the officer himself was constantly on the road and not able to do much during this process until the end.
Here is almost the end result:
Why do so many employees end up overwhelmed?
Corporations tend to downsize and then downsize again and many employees end up wearing multiple hats.
When this happens, I find that many employees become overwhelmed and unable to keep up with their newly expanded workload. They are not sure what projects to prioritize and what to set aside and schedule as the next project.
What is the one habit that keeps projects moving?
One thing that I know is true is this: In order to see your way forward with clarity, it helps to have little to no distractions. So this means no piles or unfinished projects laying around. If you have multiple projects, keep them in a file drawer and pull each one out individually as you work on them.
When you are ready to move onto the next project, fold up and file the first one and move forward by pulling out the next one.
Try it for a week and see what you think!
More from Kathi’s client work: Organizing Clients and Customer Contacts and Organizing Work in Multiple Locations. Wearing too many hats in your own company? That is exactly what a Business Logjam Session untangles.
Keep reading
- Organizing Clients and Customer ContactsOne contact list and a next step for every client.
- Organizing Work in Multiple LocationsHow to stay organized when work follows you from place to place.
- The Hidden Cost of Clutter: Why Eliminating Paper Piles is Essential for Business Success and Increased ProductivityWhat the piles cost in time, focus and reputation.
Frequently asked questions
How did a corporate office get this cluttered?
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The client is a successful corporate officer who also wears another hat: at a corporation with almost 100 years of history, he had become the chief archival dumping zone. Being constantly on the road meant the piles grew faster than he could deal with them.
Why do employees become overwhelmed after a downsizing?
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Corporations tend to downsize and then downsize again, so many employees end up wearing multiple hats. Many become overwhelmed and unable to keep up with the newly expanded workload, unsure which projects to prioritize and which to set aside and schedule next.
How do I work on several projects without the piles?
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Keep every project in a file drawer and pull each one out individually as you work on it. When you are ready to move to the next project, fold up and file the first one, then pull out the next. With little to no distractions you can see your way forward with clarity.
Does a messy office really lower productivity?
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Yes. A messy office always decreases your productivity. This case study is far more cluttered than most offices, but it shows what happens when we become too busy to keep up with our piles, and why clearing them is the first step to seeing the way forward with clarity.
Can an organizer work while the client is traveling?
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Yes. This project had a lot of moving parts and the officer was constantly on the road, so he was not able to do much during the process until the end. Kathi was flown in to work through the office, and the before and after videos show the result.
Originally published on Organized and Energized on January 27, 2020. Moved to addSpace and updated 2026-11-07.
