The ability to get and stay organized is often overlooked as a skill for leaders. In fact, it tends to be connected with assistants of leaders instead of the leader themselves. And while I completely support the idea of finding people to surround yourself with that have skills you lack, there are many reasons why it’s important that you learn to be organized as a leader.

It’s not just something that you can delegate off to someone else. Being organized begins at the top and works its way down. Here are some ways that learning to be organized in your work and life can help you be a better leader.

Helps with time management

When you lack organization, it’s inevitable that you’re also going to lack proper time management skills. There are many examples of what this looks like in real life.

• When you’re leaving the house in the morning you can’t find your keys. You have to tear the house apart from top to bottom trying to find them. This puts you in a bad mood and causes you to be late for your morning meeting. If you simply had an organized system of where you kept your keys everyday, this would be eliminated.
• You have a huge stack of papers on your desk that haven’t been filed. You’re about to call a potential client, but you need to track down their folder first. You sift through the pile but can’t seem to find it. You have to spend extra time hunting it down and it quickly cuts into the time you have available to make the call.
• You’re working on a project and you have information for it all over the place. You have notes scribbled on a legal pad in your briefcase and others that are in Google Drive. It’s a struggle to remember what’s where so every time you try to work on it you waste precious time trying to track down the information.

Do you see how a lack of organization is robbing you of time on a daily basis? Or, if you’re not sure if this is a problem for you or not, try tracking your time for the next several days. Jot down how much time you spend on each activity and see if there are any areas that you’re wasting time due to a lack of organizational skills.

Allows you to prioritize

When you have your work organized, it allows you to prioritize where your time is best spent. Leaders that aren’t organized tend to spend more time having to react to problems or “put out fires” within the organization. It’s hard to see where your time is best spend when you can’t really see the overall big picture.

When you take time to get organized in your office, in your department, or in your business, it allows you to see where your attention is best spent. It also allows you to pinpoint areas that could be a problem before it becomes an emergency. If you’re not organized, this isn’t possible.

It keeps your team on the same page

if you’re not organized it becomes very hard to manage what your team is working on. This is not an efficient way to work. Getting your work organized allows you and your team to see what everyone is working on. This allows you to make sure you’re not doubling up effort in some areas while neglecting other areas. It also makes it easier than ever for you to really see what everyone on your team is working on so you can do a more efficient job of managing.

Proper organization in your team can also transform the customer experience for your organization. It can help you to provide a seamless customer journey for them from start to finish.

Reduces burnout

Everything is more difficult when you’re not organized. When you don’t know what the real big picture of your business, department or team looks like, it’s exhausting. You may spend a lot of time worrying about things that you might not need to worry about. Or, you may end up having to solve problems that could have easily been avoided.

If this goes on for long enough, you’re going to start to experience burnout. Your job may feel more overwhelming and daunting than it needs to and this will eventually steal the joy that you used to have in your work.

When you and your company are organized, you can easily have a clear picture of what things look like. You don’t waste as much time or money. You’re able to be proactive instead of reactive. This does a lot for helping to reduce and avoid burnout.

You can develop organizational skills

There are some people who are naturally great at being organized and there are others who struggle with it. The good news is that you can learn to be organized. There are many task management systems and software that can help you stay on track. The SPEARity app can help you prioritize your tasks and make sure that you’re constantly working towards your goals. And there are plenty of other apps and types of software that can help you stay organized in specific parts of your business.

If a lack of organization is getting in your way to really excel at being a strong leader in your organization, a SPEARity coach can help you develop the skills you need to make positive changes. Reach out today to explore how the SPEARity process can transform your organization and leadership skills.