The organization is extremely important. Whether you are a student, junior employee, manager, or CEO, staying organized will boost your efficiency and productivity. It will help you stay ahead of your competition. However, many individuals are naturally disorganized. They feel like an organization takes a significant amount of time. In fact, some assume that organization takes so much time, that it actually reduces their productivity! Plus, it’s generally difficult and sometimes costly to build new skills, so many neglect doing it altogether.
But, building organizational abilities does not have to be complex or costly. In this article, we will help you understand the benefits of organizational skills and how to develop them efficiently. To kickstart your journey towards better organization, consider taking the HIGH5 strengths test. This assessment can reveal your innate strengths, including those related to organization, allowing you to leverage your natural talents for maximum efficiency.
What are organizational skills?
Organizational skills involve the ability to manage tasks, time, and resources efficiently to achieve goals. These skills help create structure in work environments, improving productivity and reducing stress. Organizational skills include planning, prioritizing, and coordinating tasks to optimize workflow. They are essential for success in any professional setting.
Why is it important to recognize organizational skills and their benefits?
Organizational skills are crucial for any employee regardless of industry, job title, education level, age, or any other factor. They help you in nearly every aspect of your work. Recognizing your organizational strengths through tools like the HIGH5 test can be a game-changer. This strengths assessment not only identifies your top organizational talents but also provides insights on how to apply them effectively. For instance, if ‘Planner’ or ‘Strategist’ emerge as your strengths, you can consciously leverage these abilities to enhance your organizational skills, boosting your productivity and career prospects.
Most of the best leaders also credit their strong organization as one of the reasons for their success. So, even if you are not an employee, pay attention to your organization. When considering if you should spend time building organizational skills, consider the following benefits:
- Increases the relevancy of your goal setting (creating goals specific to you) and boosts your odds of achieving those goals.
- Builds strong planning skills that allow you to stay ahead of the crowd.
- The physical organization makes your workplace visually appealing, potentially increasing positive emotions.
- Both physical and mental organization boost your productivity as well as efficiency.
- Makes you more committed and passionate about your work, reducing your thoughts of giving up.
- Increase your opportunities for a raise, as you will be generating more revenue and profit.
- Save you from the frustration that comes from working in a disorganized workplace.
- Reduces stress and risks of both mental and physical ailments (depression, anxiety, obesity, and more).
- Give you an advantage over other employees when you are on a job hunt.
- Can improve your collaboration skills and strengthen relationships with coworkers.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
After identifying your organizational strengths through the HIGH5 test, create a personalized strategy to apply these strengths in your daily work routine. For example, if ‘Time Optimizer’ is one of your top strengths, use it to create efficient schedules and prioritize tasks more effectively.”
10 crucial organizational skills
There are many different types of skills included under the broad category of organization. The types of organizational skills you use in each workplace may also be different. It is important to be aware of the specific organizational skills you already have and which ones you need to focus on building up. More specifically, these are some of the top organizational skills to consider building up:
- Physical organization
- Goal setting
- Prioritization skills
- Strategic thinking and planning
- Collaboration
- Effective communication
- Time management
- Self-motivation
- Self-management
- Stress coping skills
- Analytical thinking
- Attention to detail
- Decision-making
Physical organization
Physical organization refers to maintaining a clean and structured workspace. This includes organizing your desk, files, or digital workspace, which reduces clutter and enhances focus.
Goal setting
Effective goal setting involves establishing clear, achievable objectives that guide your tasks. It allows you to create a roadmap for success, keeping you motivated and on track.
Prioritization skills
Prioritization helps you focus on what matters most by ranking tasks based on urgency and importance. This skill ensures that critical tasks are completed first, leading to better time management and productivity.
Strategic thinking and planning
Strategic thinking involves looking at the bigger picture and planning ahead. It helps in organizing tasks with long-term goals in mind, enabling better decision-making and resource allocation.
Collaboration
Collaboration skills enable you to work well with others, sharing tasks and responsibilities effectively. This ensures that team efforts are organized, leading to greater overall efficiency.
Effective communication
Effective communication ensures that information is shared clearly and efficiently. When everyone is on the same page, tasks are better organized, and misunderstandings are reduced.
Time management
Time management involves using your time wisely to get more done in less time. It’s about structuring your day effectively, avoiding distractions, and staying focused on key tasks.
Self-motivation
Self-motivation allows you to stay driven without external encouragement. This helps in maintaining an organized approach to work, ensuring consistent progress even without supervision.
Self-management
Self-management is about taking control of your own tasks and responsibilities. It helps you stay organized, manage your time efficiently, and avoid procrastination.
Stress coping skills
Being able to manage stress ensures that you stay calm and organized even under pressure. This allows you to maintain clarity and focus when dealing with difficult situations.
Analytical thinking
Analytical thinking helps you evaluate data and make informed decisions. It improves organizational processes by allowing you to assess and refine your methods efficiently.
Attention to detail
Attention to detail ensures that small but important elements are not overlooked. This enhances the quality of your work and keeps your tasks organized and precise.
Decision-making
Effective decision-making is key to staying organized. It involves quickly weighing options and choosing the best course of action, reducing time wasted on indecision.
Types of organizational skills
Internal organizational skills
Internal organizational skills relate to your ability to manage personal tasks and mental processes. Examples include time management, decision-making, and self-motivation. These skills help you stay focused, meet deadlines, and improve your productivity in a structured manner.
External organizational skills
External organizational skills involve managing external elements like team collaboration, workspace arrangement, and task delegation. These skills ensure smooth workflows, effective communication with team members, and a clutter-free physical or digital environment that enhances productivity.
How to improve organizational skills in the workplace?
The HIGH5 test provides immense insights into your current organizational skills and other strengths. The next step to self-improvement is building upon these identified strengths. For instance, if the test reveals “Analyst” or “Deliverer” as your top strengths, you can focus on enhancing your data organization or task completion skills respectively. This strengths-based approach ensures that you’re not just improving your organizational skills, but doing so in a way that aligns with your natural talents, making the process more enjoyable and sustainable. This does not mean you have to lose all of your confidence by focusing on your weaknesses, though.
In fact, this weakness-oriented approach also reduces productivity and passion, so it is best to avoid it. However, other strategies are highly effective in boosting your organization. For example, start by focusing on your physical organization. Do you have your binders, online work, and physical workplace all organized? Do you know where to find the information necessary for your job? If not, consider taking a look and reorganizing your workplace. Additionally, you should seek to maximize opportunities for using your strengths.
If you are a great planner, do not be afraid to plan for smaller events, too. This can serve as a way to practice the planning process for times when you must plan for large occurrences, such as major conferences or interviews. If you know that strong communication skills and great listening ability are one of your top strengths, volunteer to lead group projects and communicate with everyone on the team.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
Use your HIGH5 strengths profile to create a personalized organization system. If ‘Believer’ is one of your top strengths, align your organizational goals with your core values to stay motivated. If ‘Problem Solver’ is a key strength, create systems that allow you to tackle organizational challenges creatively.
How to highlight organization skills in a resume and job interview?
One of the great benefits of gaining a skill is the increased interest you could receive from potential employers. It makes your odds of acquiring your dream job more likely and boosts your motivation. The first step to getting the attention of your dream employer is to treat an amazing resume. Try to communicate why you are a high-value employee to this particular employee. You must show off your strengths but do so in a humble way. Simple saying “Here are my strengths:” on your resume will not convince employers you are a well-organized employee.
Instead, you can include examples of times organization helps both you and your entire team. Be as specific as you can. You can include your organization examples under your prior job descriptions. Use statistics when possible to give your claims more merit. For example, you could say: “I lead two remote teams and increased their organization by encouraging communication. We accomplished this by experimenting with a new online communication tool I developed.”
When it is time for the interview, use a similar strategy. Do not simply tell them you have a certain strength. Show them you are organized. Ensure you come prepared and show you understand what the company’s goals are as well as what they need in an employee. Bring up a few examples of how the organization helps you with ongoing projects, and come prepared with answers to many of the common interview questions. It will show your organizational skills live in action.
Pro Tip From HIGH5
When preparing for interviews, use your HIGH5 strengths profile to provide concrete examples of your organizational skills. For instance, if ‘Catalyst’ is one of your top strengths, share how you’ve initiated and driven organizational improvements in your previous roles. This strengths-based approach will help you stand out and demonstrate your unique value to potential employers.
How to measure organizational skills?
Organizational skills can be somewhat difficult to manage. They are one of many different kinds of soft skills. Soft skills are often difficult to quantify, especially when compared to quantifying hard skills. But, there are a few ways to measure your organizational skills. For instance, you could take a test such as HIGH5 and see how your results change over time. In addition, you could also view productivity metrics.
Productivity is one of the effects of becoming more organized. So, if you can track how productive you are (measure how many calls you make, goals you accomplish, and deadlines you meet) you can see how your organization improves. You could even track how much time it takes you to find key information. For instance, see how long it takes you to find a certain report or data piece now and compare that time to your time in a month. Notice the quality of your work, too. See if preparation boosts your test grades if you are a student, for instance.
Organization skills FAQ
What is a good organizational skill?
Good organization is the ability to have a structured and efficient work and personal life. Many different skills are included under the broad category of organization. All of these skills help you boost your productivity, make the most of your time, and much more. In general, organizational skills are almost always positive. Some great organizational skills include effective communication, planning, delegation, and more.
How do you show organizational skills?
There are many different kinds of organizational skills. The way you show each of them is slightly different. However, the end result of getting more organized is similar: boosts in productivity and goal accomplishment. The easiest organizational skill to show is physically organizing your workplace. Next, try to make plans and set SMART goals. By consistently accomplishing these goals, you will show that you know how to stay organized.
How do you say strong organizational skills are on a resume?
Many individuals who have a particular skill would love to show it off on their resumes. However, simply saying that you have a certain skill will not convince the employer that you truly have it. To show you are organized, include specific examples of how your organizational skills helped you and your prior team under the prior work experiences section of your resume. Include statistics whenever possible and be detailed.
