Page 14 - 100 - HR Management Manual

So how can you manage to have a place for everything that comes in? How can you keep it off
of your desk until you are ready to COMPLETE it? Here is how:

Everything that comes in should go into a series of “collection buckets”. Everything should have
a place where it lives, even if you have to do something with it later. I almost every case things
that come into you fall into three categories. Here are the categories and what to do with each:

1. Trash: Many things simply need to be thrown away. Look at it. If you don’t need to do
anything with it and will not need it for reference later, throw it away. Throw it away
now.
2. Reference Material: These are things you don’t have to “do” anything with now. You
may need it in the future in order to complete something. This stuff simply needs to be
filed away in a SEPARATE area of reference materials (a separate drawer or file box or
something). It must be filed neatly away in an appropriately labeled place. You must be
able to find it quickly and easily when you need reference material on a certain subject.
a. Example: On a Wednesday when you are processing the mail you receive a
pamphlet from the AAHA on current pay rates for vet staff with demographics
for Texas. You file it in a neatly labeled hanging file that reads “Pay for Staff”. Its
filed in your reference material drawer alphabetically with other reference
material. When it’s time to hire that new staff member or complete and
evaluation you pull it out in less than a minute to review the pay scales.
3. Things you need to “DO” something with (even if it’s later):
a. Two-minute Rule: If you can complete whatever it is DO IT NOW! Get it done
and put it way now. You should not have to look at it again. This includes e-
mails.
b. Something you have to “DO” later: File it away in the properly labeled “bucket”
or file. Do not pile it up on your desk! People that piles of things they are
“working on” are not usually well organized. They need these piles to remind
them what they need to do later. These piles or need to remember things
clutter their mind…and their desk.

Make sure you have an automatic way to be reminded to work on it later at the
appropriate time (your daily calendar or tickler file – see below).

Example: Every day the receptionists bring you the mail and put it on your desk.
They do it and different times each day. You are always working on something
else at that time. You grab the stack immediately. You put it in the expandable
hanging file folder labeled “Mail to be opened”. Your tickler file has separate
index card or separate peace of paper labeled “process the mail 8:30 AM”. After
you process the mail each day (at 8:30 AM based on your daily calendar) this
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