Does It Matter If You Have a Clean Desk?
August 5th, 2006Seriously - do you think it matters how clean and neat your desk is at work?
It does.
The idea that it doesn’t is preposterous. We judge people - I use that word carefully but accurately - for attire, vocabulary, speech patterns… all things that we believe in some way reflect or shed light on their ability to perform. They’re only proxies, perhaps. They’re not de facto predictors. They’re just our own heuristics at work. If enough of us share the same heuristics, it’s culture, and it makes a difference.
The reason I’m writing this is that I read an Ask Annie column recently where she asked readers whether a messy desk could hurt someone’s career. You can find the column here (last item). Here’s how she characterized the responses:
The vast majority of you pooh-pooh the notion that an office that looks like a bomb site reflects badly on its occupant - as long as said occupant is producing great work.
“What your expert is really saying is that there is only one correct way to do a job, and that is in a neat and orderly fashion,” writes a reader named Chris T. “While we’re at it, why don’t we make everyone wear white shirts, burgundy ties, and charcoal suits? Trying to make everyone conform is a sure-fire way to lose some very talented people.”
[To be fair, in a previous column, Annie answered , “yes it does.” And she listed the reasons, which you can get from anyone in your office with a neat desk. But at the end, she asked for input, and what she got back is represented above.]
Let’s look at those two paragraphs. Note what the first ends with: “…as long as [you are] producing great work.”
Let me get this straight. I ask someone if a clean desk is important to one’s career, and they say, “NAAH. As long as someone’s producing great work, it doesn’t matter”?
Hey! Pay attention, survey respondent! You’re not being asked whether top performers can GET AWAY WITH a messy desk. That is a completely different - I would argue enormously different - question. Maybe the “vast majority” were answering as they did to support their own beliefs that a messy desk “ought not to” hurt one’s career, maybe they just didn’t get, I don’t know… and it doesn’t matter.
If one of your team asked you that question, and you answered that way, the “Naah… AS LONG AS…”, here’s what happens. They tell themselves, hey, the boss says it really doesn’t matter. And they wonder why, in close races for promotions, they don’t get it. What’s more… no one can tell them why, because something like a desk is something we NOTICE, but not something we EVALUATE. We just judge, silently, heuristically.
All good career advice starts with the fundamental premise that for the purpose of the advice, everything else IS equal. It may not always be able to be purely applied (YES, brilliant geniuses can have AWFUL desks), but it is the best way to advise your charges (because they are likely NOT brilliant geniuses for whom standards of culture don’t apply.)
The second paragraph is even worse than the first one. Telling your team and those who come to you for advice that a clean desk is better than a messy desk is NOT the same thing as saying there is “only one way.” A subtle, unspoken cultural standard of a clean desk is NOT fascism - it’s effectiveness. Just ask yourself how you feel when you come back to your desk and it looks like “a bomb went off.” That feeling does NOT make you more effective.
A clean desk is more effective. If you don’t tell your team, you’re not being “understanding.” You’re asking them to run with weighted shoes.
It does matter.
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August 5th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Amen brother Horstman! I am one of those always cracked on about my tidy office space (anal retentive, neat freak, etc.). My primary reason for being tidy is to insure everything can be accessed quickly, when I need it. My brain works sort of like a computer in that if things are’nt filed into categories/sub-categories I’ll lose myself. Although the “organized chaos” some people have works for them, it’s definitely not my bag!
August 5th, 2006 at 9:26 am
Couldn’t have said it better, Mark. Though not always as clean and neat as I’d like - especially when in transition between jobs like now! - this has been something that I’ve always tried to live by.
There is a guy who I work with whose office always looks like a bomb went off. He is the butt of many jokes about it! He had the opportunity to start fresh during a recent office move. Within one week, the new office looked as bad as the former war zone that he occupied.
Do I need to say that he is not one of the top performers?
August 5th, 2006 at 9:42 am
“Does it matter if you have a clean desk?”
My desk on a better day.
Having a organized and tidy desk does promote productivity, period. Mark over at Manager Tools has a great post today clearifying this. This is not only great advice for me but also for the people that I mentor. I like this…
August 5th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
It absolutely matters. Yes, there are exceptions. My boss who is now VP had a systematic mess (neat piles everywhere). It worked for him. I’ve seen many others using the pile approach and it is obvious that they are messy inside their heads as well. And people with the “throw everything in the air and let it lie” approach is a surefire receipe for disaster. Clean your desk. It makes a better impression with everyone and maybe just maybe will make you more effecient.
August 6th, 2006 at 2:33 pm
I whole-heartedly agree with Mark. I always feel more calm and in control when I can see my desk and have clear easy access to what I need.
One of my departments is a client support department. The reps that are the most efficient and best performers are ones that have clean, organized workspaces.(Some have papers and books out, but you can see it is organized for their use). The ones that look like a closet no one want’s to go into are the ones that perform the worst.
One rep spent a day cleaning and organizing his workspace after watching an episode of “Clean Sweep’. He works hard to maintain it and he has actually improved in his performance and seems much happier and calmer at work. He was chided by others, but they probably won’t do that if he get a promotion.
- Eric
August 6th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
Eric-
That whole “chiding of others” has always fascinated me. It’s not something to always be addressed, but if a manager has an opportunity to do so, I think it’s a good example for a manager to set: I protect my top performers.
Mark
August 6th, 2006 at 5:53 pm
Mark, remember that most people think that they’re in the top 20%. So the comment about producing good work is really a defense mechanism. “Hey, I do good work and my desk is a mess. They’re all crazy!”
I do suggest that we all choose to use the words ‘clean’ and ‘orderly’ separately. I require a clean workspace. No food laying around, no shredded paper, etc. I leave organization to the individual unless it’s creating a problem. Interestingly, orderly desks never create problems, whereas messy desks do.
I’m a firm believer that many with messy desks use it as a way to discourage communication and imply work. My top performers often don’t have messy desks.
August 6th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Lou-
You know, I have missed the “defense mechanism” technique of discouraging communication and implying work. I get it now, but just wasn’t looking for that… Glad I’ve learned that - thanks.
I think one of the incorrect “uses” is the “I’m important because I’m busy” notion. I see that a lot…but as many senior SENIOR people I see that have NICE desks blows that out of the water every time.
How DUMB is it to discourage communication from others? Kinda funny.
Mark
August 7th, 2006 at 9:38 am
our studio is a very open space so I require my team to maintain a respectable level of cleanliness. This includes their desks being kept in order. I do this for two reason. the first is the impression other have of our work space as a whole. The second is that I do not want anyone to lose something important. One of my designers lost a copy of her annual review in the stack of junk around her desk.
August 7th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I didn’t even address a client or customer seeing your area… WOW! If a client saw my desk looking less than professional, I’d be embarrassed, and rightly so.
Mark
August 7th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I agree that a clean desk is important. Besides the professional image it gives to those who stop by, it helps to be more organized.
After listening to the podcasts that talked about Administrative Assistants, I reorganized my desk as Mark mentioned in the podcast (clear space in the middle, immediate work set out around the open area). This has improved my efficiency and I have been much quicker to deal with an issue and clear the space, instead of procrastinating.
August 8th, 2006 at 12:40 am
Hi,
The ideas here about the message clean desks send out are spot on.
They also extend to virtual desktops and workspaces as well. Being disorganised on your PC or fileservers is often just as visible to teams/colleagues as the physical desk
Simon
August 8th, 2006 at 9:46 pm
I’m messy by nature, but in the last few years have made an effort to keep my work areas tidy.
I recognise that people will judge you based on your external appearance, as your exterior typically reflects your internal environment. The saying “Cluttered desk, cluttered mind” is true.
I also find, primarily in my home environment, that having a messy room and desk makes it harder to execute on what needs doing. It’s difficult to focus on something when you have unopened letters or unpaid bills on your desk. Hard to go to and from your room when you have to navigate clothes on the floor.
In both your home and work environments, eliminating the clutter helps you get to what needs working on without getting distracted. In the physical space, this includes not only your desk, but your briefcase/bag, your desk drawers and shelves, your in and out tray.
This also applies to your virtual environments. How much clutter is in your inbox? How may applications do you have open right now? How many browser tabs or windows do you have open?
What message does it send to people when they see your clean desk, but when you go hunting for a file in your cabinet, or an email in your mailbox, all they see is a mess?
August 9th, 2006 at 2:24 am
Provocative
I like this post from Astha Parmar called HR is not a Social Service. Astha has done a good job provoking our thinking about HR and the types of individuals best suited for that work. I like this line a
August 10th, 2006 at 9:40 am
From a Getting Things Done perspective, a messy desk is a sign that someone’s not managing their time (forgive me Mark!) effectively. It’s like the email inbox with 800 messages in it - ouch!
August 10th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
KDDonath-
Niiiiice. No forgiveness necessary.
Mark
August 11th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
I work in a bank. Having a clean office is a security issue. You mentioned security briefly in the Admin cast, but our industry has a lot of federal privacy regs related to client information. We officially have a clean desk policy, but it is haphazardly followed and not enforced at all. As a conceptual thinker, I don’t notice when mess starts accumulating until I feel anxious about my work area. I really have to work at keeping my desk clean AND orderly, but what a difference it makes! I love being able to focus on one thing at a time with no email reminders dinging. (PS- I can actually hear my manager’s email dings two offices over. Yes, his office is a mess, too.)
August 15th, 2006 at 1:52 am
[…] And check out this provocative piece from Manager Tools called, Does it Matter if Your Have a Clean Desk? Here’s a snippet: All good career advice starts with the fundamental premise that for the purpose of the advice, everything else IS equal. It may not always be able to be purely applied (YES, brilliant geniuses can have AWFUL desks), but it is the best way to advise your charges (because they are likely NOT brilliant geniuses for whom standards of culture don’t apply.) […]
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:42 pm
I have a boss who thinks that her messy piles makes her look busy and needed while my neat desk looks like I am not working on anything. I see her desk as proof that she is a harried workaholic who doesn’t have five minutes to label a file folder. It’s the same idea as working long hours. She works far more hours than I do and is proud to announce how late she stayed. I’m proud that I got out at a decent hour and was able to have dinner with my family. It’s all perspective.