The Practitioner: ‘Tis the season to tidy up

The Practitioner: 'Tis the season to tidy up

The Practitioner lets loose with 'Deskgate', after losing the plot over yet another untidy area...

‘TIS THE SEASON to be jolly…and to tidy your desk!

It’s not often I lose my temper in the office, in fact it’s fair to say I hardly ever do. One thing that does wind me up however is an untidy desk. I’m probably being slightly sexist when I say that women are tidier than men – but in our office it’s actually true.

If all the men were as tidy and organised as their female counterparts I wouldn’t have had to resort to depositing the entire contents of a certain someone’s desktop on the floor with a sweep of my arm.

The main offender and cause of ‘Deskgate’ was on annual leave last Friday, and while failing to find something on his desk I saw red and swiped everything onto the floor -even his desktop mini Christmas tree.

I had been thinking all weekend that maybe I should go back into the office and pick everything up. I stuck to my guns however and waited for him to come in this morning.

I can see his desk from my office and I saw him look at the mess on the floor in disbelief. So I walked over to him and just said ‘Pitch Inspection at 10am’.

To his credit he spent the next hour tidying, shredding, filing, and generally sorting out his workspace.

It may have been a bit dramatic but when something gets to you it gets to you, and I’m confident it had the desired effect. He didn’t complain (to my face at least), and it should send out a message to the rest of the office.

Tidy desk equals a tidy mind I say, and there’s at least one tidier mind today in our office. How long the desk remains tidy is another thing.

I’m practising the arm sweep as I speak…

The Practitioner’s uncensored thoughts come from within their own practice – having left a regional firm in the heart of England

 

 

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

Professional Services Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

Accounting Firms Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

Making Tax Digital Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource