Posted by Howe Q. Wallace on Wednesday, January 10th, 2018
I’m changing offices after 17 years.
Emptying my drawers. Purging file cabinets. Examining bookcases.
Moving reminds you of the importance of “leaning” up your work environment and gives you an opportunity to do so.
Let me confess: when it comes to my office, I don’t practice what I preach regarding lean.
As I cleaned up, I found things that were no longer useful. Cassette tapes. Obsolete plugs. Things that once seemed “collectible” that now seem like junk.
I had whole file cabinets I had not opened in 17 years. All those files were dumped.
I had books read once that will never be read. I’ll give them to a new home, but many of them can be downloaded to a smartphone for free. To keep books so you can refer to them again if necessary is an ancient notion.
It went on and on. Duplicates. Pencils. Boxes of staples but no stapler. My trash cans overflow.
I recommend a cleansing of your work area. The wasted material is there. Underutilized resources abound. Things that clog operations are stashed.
I sent out a dumpster full of stuff. I’m still glowing from the satisfaction.
Since 2005, he has been sharing his thoughts on the organization, leadership, and communication in an online daily note to teammates called Daily with HQ.