Nothing is more frustrating and time-consuming to be unable to find the documents you need, when you need them.
One of the most common workplace roadblocks is quickly finding files and documents. According to a Wakefield Research survey of 1,000 US office professionals, 54% of agreed that they spend more time searching for documents and files they need than responding to emails.
Even in an organized productive environment I hate switching between apps and programs to get work done, but add in a layer of disorganization, searching and bouncing around and that level of frustration can kill my productivity and creativity.
And that’s what is happening to your team too.
What if someone is out of the office or goes out for an extended leave, or (as my legal studies class professors said “if you were hit by a bus”) would anyone know where you left off? And where to find things?
If you are a marketing team creating content, without shared files that are organized properly you probaby have perfectly good content (images, video, data, documents and ideas) that exist but just not finable by your team if they aren’t shared and organized.
What if you were to have a lawsuit – could you easily find documents pertaining to a particular client or project?
We already have a fair amount of content overload and context switching in our daily lives, sprinkle in roadblocks to finding what you need in your workday and it frazzels a person’s mind.
While programs (GDrive) tend to have good native search – it still doesn’t relieve the need to “search” for something and decipher what it would be called or what another teammate may have named it. Then what?
This is where having standard processes helps free a team.
But many people hesitate or never get started because it sound overwhelming or impossible to figure out all the steps and the proper way to organize for a whole team of people with different opinions.
Make organization a top priority in your business and increase productivity, streamline communication and take control of your digital files.
So let’s begin with how to get started.
We’ll go over the following steps to help you create a file management system for your team.
- Setting a structure – year, event, project, or department Make it EASY
- Document it in a one-page sheet for Quick Reference
- Delete + Archive – get all the old stuff out of the way dump it in an archive folder.
- Set up one client or company folder using the system to run through the structure and setup. test it out, get a few members of the team to each try it on some of their folders.
- Organize – break up assignments – have team members responsible for their department, projects, clients reorganize their files. This is prctice and you can check in to see how everyone does and where the hangups might be.
- Document need to change anything in the QR guide? Do it and redistribute
- File Naming Conventions + Version Control (going forward)
- Maintenance – spot check and team chek-in is it working? (every quarter – have a person assigned to this task)
And remember even if your team is small or a team of one finding documents easily is important. Especially if you’re looking to grow.
Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:
- Download the Asana Starter Kit this is the system I use for my clients and my own business.
- 1:1 Strategy Session to get you unstuck. Whether you need help with the tech, strategy, systems or programs setup – set up a time to work through it with me.
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