The Lost Art of Organizing: How to logically coordinate the scheduling of all the human, physical, and financial resources needed to consistently produce excellent results.

By Edward J. Murphy

This book is about ORGANIZING.

Organizing is your ability to logically coordinate the scheduling of all the human, physical, and financial resources
needed to consistently produce excellent results.

It’s also one of these ten core competencies of your effectiveness and success in business:

Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating, Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training,
Motivating and Character-Building.

This book will give you a far better understanding of Organizing, its definition, importance, and how to enhance it.

It’s the unique ability to coordinate human effort, arrange resources, and the means to execute the overall plan to achieve the boss’s goals.

As an executive coach for over 20 years, I know what your boss and customers expect.

Effective people know that their ability to organize is critical to their effectiveness at work.

By learning, using, and sharing these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the one person who adds the greatest value to the team - making you essential.

Here, you’ll learn how to use the most actionable tactics, techniques, and tools needed to master the Art of Organizing.

Many people don’t understand the meaning of Synergize.

To synergize means to combine and use resources to produce an effect greater than the sum of each resource.

Organizing is done by defining positions, jobs, authority, and responsibility; by delineating division of labor, work specialization, chain of command, centralization, structuring, integrating, and coordinating goals and activities to resources to attain objectives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edward J. Murphy
• Release date: May 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311355515

Edward J. Murphy

Ed Murphy considers himself lucky. From age 7, he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to be a Soldier. In 1964, four days after graduating from High School, he joined the US Army and found himself in Basic Training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.A year later, Ed became a Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1970, he graduated as a 2d Lieutenant headed to Airborne and Ranger School, then off to Viet Nam for a year.In 1978, Ed returned to West Point to teach Military Science and earned a Master’s Degree from Long Island University in night school. His greatest achievement during his time in the military was helping 1400 soldiers begin their college education during his last two years in West Germany as a Battalion Commander. He wanted to give his soldiers something of real value - something that no one could ever take away. After 23 years as a US Army Officer, from Viet Nam to Desert Storm, he retired in 1993.Ed then decided, with a little help from Anthony Robbins, that his second career would be as an Executive Coach. For the next 21 years, he worked for four of the largest consulting, outplacement and e-cruiting companies in America from Seattle, San Diego, to Kansas City.In 2012, Ed retired a second time and decided to document everything he learned from those he admired and willingly followed over his 50+ years in both the US Military as an Army Officer and Corporate America as an Executive Coach.Since many of them aren’t alive today to tell their stories, he wanted to pay tribute to them before their lessons were lost forever. Thanks to them, he’s collected thousands of small and simple things (tactics, techniques, and tools) that have helped and will continue to help future generations to maximize their true career potential by becoming more effective at work and in life.In 2014, Ed created TheCAREERMaker.com, a site dedicated to providing the best-in-class wisdom, knowledge, and advice on how to maximize your true career potential by teaching three simple things; how to become absolutely essential and irreplaceable to any leader, how to become more effective tomorrow than you are today, and how to find and build the career you were meant to have. His greatest joy comes from helping others avoid or overcome the problems he’s faced during his lifetime.In 2016, with the help of two partners and co-authors Lee O. Lacy and Jason Bowne, he finally completed The Effectiveness Guide, which teaches how to become more effective tomorrow than you are today by consistently producing excellent results; treating others with dignity, respect, and kindness; and helping others to do the same.Today, Ed considers himself fortunate to get to live in Phoenix, AZ, where he enjoys writing, eating sushi, genealogy, and watching movies with family, friends, and his best friend and wife, Diana.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

"Organizing is what you do before you do something,

so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."

- A. A. Milne

This book is about ORGANIZING, which you’ll learn about in the next chapter.

However, before continuing, it’s important to understand that this book is just one of a ten volume set of books that constitute a revolutionary new program called LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE.

It’s a real-world, Leader Training Program designed to help you achieve the effectiveness and success you deserve by mastering these ten core competencies:

Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing, Communicating,

Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training, Motivating,

and Character-Building.

I’m Ed Murphy, the founder of The Effectiveness Institute and the creator of LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE. 

This training is for you regardless of your occupation,

position, or level of authority.

My goal is to help you rise above the crowd, to be the best at what you do, and to stand out, rather than just fit in.

For my first career, after graduating from West Point, I served 24 years as a US Army Officer, during two wars, Vietnam, and Desert Storm, traveling all over the world. 

After the military, I spent the next 20+ years as an Executive Coach in Corporate America working with hundreds of business executives, small business owners, and teams, in Seattle, San Diego, Kansas City, and Phoenix.

During my career, I was always searching for why some people are more effective and successful than others. 

As a result, I discovered that the most effective people were able to achieve extraordinary success by:

Consistently producing excellent results.

Adding greater value to all those who helped them produce their results- especially their boss.

Treating all those with whom they worked with respect and kindness, regardless of how they were treated.

Currently, I’m the author of over 30 books and create online video training courses on each of the ten core competencies.

I created this special program from all the best practices I’ve learned from the best and brightest people with whom I served over my 77 years on the planet.

What makes LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE so unique is that it provides these three things you won’t find anywhere in academia or corporate America:

First, it gives you the most actionable best practices needed to consistently produce excellent results. 

Second, it teaches the most critical success skills used by the most effective people in their field, which you were never taught in school.

Third, it provides step-by-step instructions for each core competency explaining what should be done, and how to do it, and provides the tools needed to make it happen.

These are all things you can easily learn today and use tomorrow.

I know that as you learn, use, and share what you’ll learn here, you’ll be adding greater value to your boss and team - making you irreplaceable.

Remember, we’re all a work in progress. So, no matter how good you think you are, you can always be better.

Join us and discover why our readers come away saying, "I wish I knew this stuff years ago."

This program is my legacy: to make a difference in some meaningful way to those I must leave behind.

Enjoy the book!

Also, if you feel this information could help someone else, please let them know. If it turns out to make a difference in their life, they’ll be forever grateful to you, as will I.

To your SUCCESS!

Sig 2

Founder of The Effectiveness Institute.

The LEADERSHIP MADE SIMPLE Series of books is available only from Smashwords.com.

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Stop wishing you were better and do something about it today.

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1

THE ART OF

ORGANIZING

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

- Benjamin Franklin

This book is about ORGANIZING.

Organizing is your ability to logically coordinate the

scheduling of all the human, physical, and financial resources

needed to consistently produce excellent results.

It’s also one of these ten core competencies of your effectiveness and success in business:

Followership, Delegating, Planning, Organizing,

Communicating, Problem-Solving, Awareness, Training,

Motivating and Character-Building.

This book will give you a far better understanding of Organizing, its definition, importance, and how to enhance it.

It’s the unique ability to coordinate human effort, arrange resources, and the means to execute the overall plan to achieve the boss’s goals.

As an executive coach for over 20 years, I know what your boss and customers expect.

Effective people know that their ability to organize is critical to their effectiveness at work.

By learning, using, and sharing these best practices, you’ll be well on your way to becoming the one person who adds the greatest value to the team - making you essential.

Here, you’ll learn how to use the most actionable tactics, techniques, and tools needed to master the Art of Organizing.

Important Notes:

To make this book more useful for, and actionable by, everyone in the workforce, it’s important to point out that I’ll be using the term boss, throughout this book, instead of leader, manager, or employer. 

I do this because,

We all work for a boss, whoever pays us for our work.

Even if you’re self-employed, or a small business owner, your boss is your customer, client, guest, or patient; whoever pays you for your services. 

I’ll also be using the terms member or team member instead of worker, employee, or associate to reinforce the power of teamwork.

So, let’s get to work!

Many people don’t understand the meaning of Synergize.

To synergize means to combine and use resources to produce

an effect greater than the sum of each resource.

Organizing is done by defining positions, jobs, authority, and responsibility; by delineating division of labor, work specialization, chain of command, centralization, structuring, integrating, and coordinating goals and activities to resources to attain objectives.

Here are several ways to get organized or get your act together:

By starting a New Position.

As a new member, this is your first task to complete after you arrive. Do you know who’s on your team, what they're doing, and how they contribute to the team’s goals? Do you have what you need to do the job? Do you know what's going on and what's coming up?

Here’s a short list of the things you’ll need:

A list of all members of your team. Learn their names.

A structural diagram showing who reports to whom.

A listing of everything for which your unit is responsible.

Any keys, combinations, or passwords that are part of the job.

Support getting your email and voicemail systems functional ASAP!

Any documents, supplies, and equipment that pertain to your job.

A lunch with each team member to get to know them (Yes, you pay, if you’re their boss).

A listing of all recurring events (weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual).

A verbal update on Unresolved Issues (Chapter 22), changes, and assignments accepted and made.

A visit to all appropriate Line and Staff bosses to get to know them.

All Standard Operating Procedures, Standards of Behavior, and Mission/Vision Statements.

Refrain from asking for or receiving opinions on the past performance of anyone in your unit. You don’t want to prejudge anyone. Let everyone start fresh without any preconceived prejudice (good or bad).

By assessing your Span of Control.

Span of Control is the number of people you can effectively lead while consistently producing excellent results and serving your team. Have you ever arrived at a new position and found the current structure not what you needed? Review the organizational chart for your organization and your unit showing all the positions and the members who fill them.

Advanced communications technology can increase your Span of Control. However, if you struggle to consistently produce excellent results, you may want to assess your Span of Control: who reports to whom. In each unit, recognize that your challenges will be different depending on your level within the company.

By deciding on the need for a #2 Person.

Can you remember when you needed to make a decision or had a question, and it took hours, if not days, to get a response from your boss because he was gone? How did that make you feel? If your boss had a #2 person you could go to for approval or answer your question, would that have helped you?

It’s smart to have a second-in-charge with full authority to act in your absence. If you’re the only one who can make simple decisions and are not available, your entire unit comes to a halt. This also applies to your meetings.

If you’re late or detained with your internal meetings, instead of having all your members standing around waiting for you, your #2 Person can take the meeting, starting no more than five minutes late, and briefing you later. Likewise, if you are not available for your external meetings, your #2 Person can attend, take notes, and brief you upon your return.

The important issue is that your unit must continue to function seamlessly when you’re not there. Also, compare vacation schedules with your #2 Person to ensure you're both not absent at the same time.

By using a Line and Staff structure.

Here's a Line and Staff structure diagram using a grocery store.

Diagram Description automatically generated

The Line structure interacts with the product and serves the customer directly and runs from the store manager to the heads of each department within the store like Meat, Dairy, Produce, Dry Goods, and Beverage.

The Staff structure exists to serve