Getting organized: It’s just a matter of style.

Susan Baum, PH.D. & Hank Nicols, M.SInternational Center for Talent

Developmentsubeebaum@yahoo.com

hjnicols@yahoo.com

Personality PrototypesBaum & Nicols, 2008

Practical Managers Learned Experts

Creative Problem Solver

People Persons

PRACTICAL MANAGER

• TIME KEEPER –• ORGANIZER –• LINEAR CONCRETE THINKER—

AFFINITY FOR DETAILS

When everything gets checked off the list

It’s a good day when

• Work (No surprises, things go as planned)• Faculty meeting (Agenda is followed and

handout provided with important info• Home (Work before play)• PLAN, PLAN, PLAN

PRACTICAL MANAGERhave a movie and a theme song.

PRACTICAL MANAGER

LEARNED EXPERT

• LINEAR, ABSTRACT THINKER • LOGICIAN• DEBATOR

It’s a good day when I can think, strategize

It’s a good day when• Work (Had a great debate on

an issue with a colleague)• Faculty meeting (Intellectual

discussion about learning or achievement or best practice based on research.

• Home (Time to read the paper, watch the news or the history channel or engage in a mental challenge)

• ARGUE, DEBATE, DISCUSS

LEARNED EXPERTHave a theme song and a movie too….

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER

• INVENTOR• ENTREPRENEUR • RISK TAKER• SPONTANEOUS CONCRETE THINKER

It’s a good day when I can do it my way

It’s a good day when• Work (It was fun. I

had lots of choices and options.)

• Faculty meeting (Fun activity with lots of creative problem solving and new initiatives considered).

• Home (No plan, leave options opened)

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVERhave a movie and a theme song….

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER

PEOPLE PERSONS

• AMBASSADOR• SENSITIVE, EMOTIONAL• CREATIVE ARTISTS• SPONTANEOUS, ABSTRACT THINKER

It’s a good day when I feel special and appreciated

It’s a good day when

• Work (When everyone agreed and were friendly)

• Faculty meeting (Time to chat with friends and have refreshments).

• Home (My spouse told me he loved me)

PEOPLE PERSONShave a movie and a theme song….

PEOPLE PERSONS

Linear vs. Spontaneous: Who is right?

Let’s get organized: Down with disorder movement

• Sales of home-organizing products, like accordion files and label makers and plastic tubs, keep going up and up, from $5.9 billion last year to a projected $7.6 billion by 2009, as do the revenues of companies that make closet organizing systems, an industry that is pulling in $3 billion a year, according to Closets magazine.

• This is why January is now Get Organized Month, thanks also to the efforts of the National Association of Professional Organizers, whose 4,000 clutter-busting members will be poised with clipboards and trash bags--ready to minister to the 10,000 clutter victims

We need an organized space to think and work.

Or do you embrace the anti anti-clutter movement?

(NY Times, 2009)

• This says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder

• It’s a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.

.

Writer’s havenEinstein’s oft-quoted remark, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?”

Creatives claim:• It takes time to organize • We need to have everything's in front of us. • Searching through the piles helps make connections • Organization is a form of procrastination • Creative thinkers are messy. Creative thinkers tend to have

messy desks. In January 2006, a study of hundreds of CEO's indicated that the highest scorers in innovation and risk-taking scored lowest on organizational and neatness skills. Creative people organize their desks intuitively to correspond with the way their minds organize information, and studies suggest that people with messy desks have great career potential.

• http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Williamson

Creative space

Where do you fall on the continuum?

• Can disorganized folks be productive?• What is organization anyway?• What skills do our kids need to be successful?

Getting Things Done originator David Allen is a man who practices what he preaches, especially when it comes to capturing his thoughts and "Oh yeah" moments. Two of the unique but fitting items on his desk are a label maker and a sand timer. The producers of the clip note that this was shot hastily, at the end of Allen's time commitment for an interview, but the essence of his David Allen Co. office comes through

Getting Things Done originator David Allen is a man who practices what he preaches, especially when it comes to capturing his thoughts and "Oh yeah" moments. Two of the unique but fitting items on his desk are a label maker and a sand timer. The producers of the clip note that this was shot hastily, at the end of Allen's time commitment for an interview, but the essence of his David Allen Co. office comes through

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ye

Linear organization tips

• Need for set routine

• Detailed directions• Time and place for

all things• Quiet place to

work

Practical Managers

• Specific directions—To do list—Check it off

• Routine to be followed

• Quiet place with materials in place

• Binder with compartments

• Daily calendar• Perfectionism– “Plan B”– First draft mentality– Timer

Learned expert

• Need to see the big picture

• Relevance• Outline of what to

do with a few subtasks

• Ability to access sources

• Need challenging assignments

• Quiet place to work• General routine but

opportunities to explore deeper

• Weekly/monthly calendar

Spontaneous organization tips• Tend to misplace things• Skip or forget directions,• “Post- it” monthly

calendar, Backwards planning and deadlines

• Email assignments back and forth

• Time management: Come home between 5:45-6:00

• Piles, stacks, and storage bins

Calendar for spontaneous• post it calendar

• Marcella Moran, co-author of Organizing the Disorganized Child (coming out August 2009 from Harper Studio) gives quick tips for organizing your kids ...

Calendar for spontaneous• post it calendar

• Marcella Moran, co-author of Organizing the Disorganized Child (coming out August 2009 from Harper Studio) gives quick tips for organizing your kids ...

Creative Problem Solvers

• Easily bored• Flexible routine• Choice of where, when, and in what order to

finish homework• Multi task with scheduled breaks integrate

movement (dance, run, jump)• “Partial completion method”• Making tasks into games and competitions

Environment for Creative Problem Solvers

• Project based with shelf or area for each project• Opportunity for “mix and match”• Collection or drop box• Music in background, tv on

•

Supports for the Creative Problem Solvers

• “Check out partner” who is organized• Time to organize• Multiple backpacks cleaned out weekly• List on front door –things to remember or a

remember bracelet• Webbing used for organizing ideas• In, out, and in process folders

People Persons

• Study buddy• Work at kitchen table • Opportunities to be creative even if it takes

more time • Timer to get started—no phone or social

networking opportunities• Calendar with stickers• Organize in stacks, bins,

FINAL WORD

• To organize or not to organize is not the question.

• But rather in what ways can I keep the events and things in my life ordered so that I can function well?

International Center For Talent Developmentwww.internationalcenterfortalentdevelopment.com