Don Franty has worked with Sterling Management Systems since 2003. Franty & Company utilizes the management techniques and office practices taught by Sterling. This Pittsburgh-based tax practice operates as a well-oiled machine. Our team is critical to our success! Here is a management tip:

Avoid Office Distractions

In today’s fast-paced work environment, it’s easy to find yourself distracted by multiple job tasks, social media and your personal obligations. While multi-tasking is a great skill, it’s a difficult one to master and it’s not always the best way to deliver high quality products and service to your superiors, coworkers and clients.

Here are some techniques to help you stay focused on your important work tasks:

-Silence your phone – You can look at those text messages later!

-Clean up the clutter – Make your desk an easy place to accomplish tasks by organizing paperwork.

-The same goes for your computer! Organize your files, so your desktop doesn’t look like this:

-Make it clear to others that your are focusing on an important task – Block off time in your calendar or utilize your computer’s ‘Do Not Disturb’ setting

-Stick to a schedule – At Franty & Co, each member of the team has a clipboard with a Battle Plan sheet. We write our tasks-to-be-completed on it and highlight which items have priority.

In our McMurray, PA office, we avoid distractions by utilizing mailboxes in our processing area. If Lea wants to give a paper file to Don, she simply drops the file in Don’s command center box, and Don will pick it up when he walks by the processing area. If Lea were to bring the file directly to Don, they may start a conversation about an unrelated tax compliance client and get distracted from their more important tasks.

Need help getting your business organized? We can help! Contact us today.