Module 8 organization

Module 8
Organization Strategies

Module # 8 – Organization Strategies
Soft Skills Module 8
Summary
Goal: Instructor:
To recognize the importance of knowing
and applying organization strategies and
techniques when starting and managing a Delivery Method(s):
business.
Story Telling, Discussion, Reflections and
Student Activity
SMART Objectives:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Length:
Time-sensitive
By the end of this module, students should be able Three Topics
to:
A total of 2 hours
Objective SS8.1: Understand organization
preferences and patterns.
Any Applicable Business and/or Soft
Skills?
Objective SS8.2: Recognize methods of
organization that support preferences and Business Skills
patterns when organizing materials and • Operating and managing a business
information. • Organizing materials, information,
equipment, etc.
Objective SS8.3: Implement a number of
strategies and techniques for
experimentation upon release that will
support a good business model. Corresponding NLS Lesson #
Take Away Message(s):
This module will assist in preparing students leaving the regimentation of the prison, in
understanding and applying organization strategies and techniques when starting and

Instructor Preparation
Title of Module: Organization Strategies
Instructor:
This module, in a nutshell, is to help students understand that things work and flow better
when organizational strategies are in place. However, the strategies must be parallel to the
preferences and patterns of the student. While students need a host of ideas and methods
to choose from, the ultimate test of organization success is based on their choices which
specifically relate to their preferences and patterns.
Explain to students that they should be careful not to take on huge changes in their
preferences and patterns. For example, if they work better with “piles” of materials or
information, then it is better to organize the piles than to alphabetize them away in a file
drawer. Habits are hard to change without focus and support. This is not to say that one
or two changes in habits cannot or should not occur in the quest for organization or that
over time the one or two changes build to three and four and so forth. The important point
is to encourage students to take small steps that are easy to manage and that support
their organization preferences and patterns and are not just “shiny new ideas that work for
someone else.”
Agenda – topics to be covered in the module and length of each item
Topic: Organization Strategies Time Allotted: 2 hours
A. Understand Personal Organization Preferences and
Patterns (1 hour)
B. Identify Organization Methods to Support Preferences and Patterns (30 minutes)
C. Build a Toolkit of Organization Strategies and Techniques (30 minutes)

Materials & Supplies – items needed in order to carry out the agenda and classroom activities
1. Handouts: Picture (8.A.1), Understanding Your Personal Organization Preferences and
Patterns (8.A.2), Definitions (8.A.3), Personal Organization Preferences and Patterns
Frame Lesson (8.A.4 and/or 8.A.5), Checklist of Strategies and Techniques (8.B.1)
2. Picture (8.A.1) on PowerPoint or a document reader

3. Journal or paper to create one
4. Pencil and paper
Classroom Preparation – steps to follow when setting up the learning environment
1. PowerPoint setup or document reader
2. Computer access to create charts/graphs/smart art with Excel or Word
3. Room set up to support dyad/triad student group discussion

Curriculum Content
A. Understand Personal Organization Preferences and Patterns (1 hour)
Objective SS8.1: Understand organization preferences and patterns.

CONTENT PRESENTATION AND LEARNER PARTICIPATION
Begin the lesson with a discussion about a time when you were unorganized. Describe the
situation and include information about how you were:
 Thinking
 Acting
 Feeling
Finish your scenario with what the outcome was, how you believe others saw you and what
you might have done or did do to be better organized.
If you do not have a story, create one using Picture (8.A.1), of the woman at her desk.
Have students think about a time when they were unorganized. Encourage them to quickly
journal critical details of the situation and answer the following questions:
 What was their thinking about the situation as things unfolded?
 How did they act during the situation and afterwards?
 How did they feel about the situation, particularly about being unorganized?
Ask students to complete their details by answering these final questions:
 What was the outcome?
 How did others see the situation or you?
 What might you have done or what did you do to be better organized?
Have students revisit their Personal Learning Styles Profile that they created in Module 3.
Share with students that the foundation for understanding personal organization
preferences and patterns are largely the result of understanding personal learning styles
profile – specifically:

 The conceptualization, or how a student thinks
 The behavioral, or how a student acts
Review the categories and definitions on the Understanding Your Personal
Organization Preferences and Patterns (8.A.2) and Definitions (8.A.3)
with students; ask students to think about their unique profile as well as the situation
they described and mark which characteristics or traits they connect with the most.

Once this is done, they should take time to reflect on which characteristics and traits are
the most important, rank ordering each. This can then be put into a graph, chart, or smart
art using Excel or Word software.
Once their behaviors or traits are identified, have students meet with other students who
have the same or similar personal learning styles patterns for organization, describing why
they think their choices are accurate.
Finally, have each student create a framework for their organization strategies and
techniques (computer-based or use Personal Organization Preferences and
Patterns Frame (8.A.4 and/or 8.A.5).
B. Identify Organization Methods to Support Preferences and Patterns
(30 minutes)
Objective SS8.2: Recognize methods of organization that support preferences and
patterns when organizing materials and information.

Using the Framework (computer-based or use Personal Organization Preferences
and Patterns Frame 8.A.4 and/or 8.A.5) and the Checklist of Strategies and
Techniques (8.B.1), have students identify and write in which strategies and techniques
match their Personal Organization Preferences and Patterns (8.A.2).
Once they have completed the above task, ask student to look at the strategies and
techniques inside their frame and circle those they believe would have helped them during
their earlier described situation in Topic A where they felt they were not organized.
C. Build a Toolkit of Organization Strategies and Techniques (30 minutes)
Objective SS8.3: Implement a number of strategies and techniques for experimentation
upon release that will support a good business model.


Have students select those strategies and techniques they believe would assist them
in getting their home-based business organized.
Use the Checklist of Strategies and Techniques (8.B.1).

Module 8
Handouts

Picture (8.A.1)
Use this picture as a substitute for a personal story.
8.A.1

Understanding Your Personal Organization
Preferences and Patterns (8.A.2)
Personal Learning Style Characteristics and Traits

Abstract Random

Abstract Sequential/Logical

Concrete Random

Concrete Experience

Active Experimentation /Experimental

Reflective Observation

Global Big Picture

Parts/Little Picture

Imaginative

Practical

Visual Non-Print

Visual Print

Visual Spatial

Visual Color

Laid Back

High Energy

Short Focus

Long Focus

Long Lead Times

Quick Decider

Early Bird

Night Owl

“All In”

“Little Bits of In”

Definitions (8.A.3)
 Active Experimentation – jumps straight in and just does it.
 Abstract Random – prefers to receive information in unstructured manner,
enjoys group discussion, cooperative learning, and multi-sensory
experiences.
 Abstract Sequential – likes written and verbal symbols, often thinks in
“conceptual pictures,” grasps ideas easily through reading and listening.
 “All In” – totally agrees and is ready to start.
 Concrete Experience – experiences real, tangible; feels qualities of the world.
 Concrete Random – uses experimental, trial/error approach, has “flashes of insight,”
makes “intuitive leaps;” prefers discovery and problem-solving activities.
 Early Bird – likes to be up early; works better in the early part of the day.
 Global – big picture, needs whole before can get into parts; jumps in and does.
 High Energy – Always on the go; always thinking about the next
steps/projects.
 Imaginative – creative, inventive, artistic, resourceful.
 Laid Back – needs to collect thoughts; is not in a hurry.
 “Little Bits of In” – is still thinking and contemplating; is willing to start
slowly/small.
 Logical – thinks logically, detects patterns; analyze problems, understands
relationship between cause and effect towards a tangible outcome or result.
 Long Focus – attention and concentration is focused for long periods.
 Long Lead Times – needs adequate time to think things through; reflect.
 Night Owl – likes to stay up late; works better in the evening and late night.
 Practical – sensible, realistic, no-nonsense, down to earth.
 Quick Decider – listens to all or part and makes a decision in the moment.
 Reflective Observation – watches, thinks about experience; reflects on what
happened.

 Sequential – ordering, step-by-step, linear and logical.
 Short Focus – attention to detail is very short.
 Visual – seeing and reading, print and non-print (pictures, forms, icons, text,
etc.).
 Visual Spatial – interprets and creates visual images; has pictorial
imagination and expression; understands relationship between images and
meanings, and between space and effect.
8.A.3

Personal Organization Preferences and Patterns
Frame
(8.A.4)

Personal Organization Preferences and Patterns
Frame
(8.A.5)

Checklist of Strategies and Techniques (8.B.1)
Here is what happens when Organization is Out of Control…
 Your brain is seeking order; it needs a schedule; it must have a plan.
 Unmanaged clutter and lack of organization wipes out.
 Order – Schedule – Plans
Do something – change requires action.
 Start small – just a part.
Create a PLAN.
 Failing to plan is planning to fail.
 Set “goals to paper.”
 Make the plan clear and purposeful.
 Identify evaluation criteria; make sure you know how you will evaluate the plan and its
success.
 Evaluate energy and time.
Try different planners and schedulers.
 People are different and different things work for different people.
 Try paper/pen and electronic; decide one or the other or a combination of both.
 Make sure critical long range dates are entered on the planner/scheduler.
 Check schedule at the beginning and end of each day.
Use lists – electronic task list or paper/pen lists.
 Create a daily to do list and cross things off as done.
 Assign designated time frames to tasks or functions.
 Question whether you should do the task or function or not.

Schedule meetings with yourself – to organize, plan and get caught up as needed.
 Create a “peak performance” list.
Know what the strategy is and how you are going to accomplish it.
Create new or re-invent routines that make more sense and work with your preferences.
 Adjust your approach.
8.B.1

When organizing, think about you want and need.
 Manage yourself based on your self-knowledge and self-acceptance.
Manage functions and tasks according to the schedule and deadlines.
• Think about how to schedule the heavy stuff and the light stuff.
Only read something if you truly need to read it.
Set things up to do “just once” and bridge tasks to do in a “connected way.”
• When finished with something put it away right then.
Be you – take work that uses your ‘talents.’
Focus in the “moment.”
Break big tasks into small bites.
 Then break those down further.
 Don’t try and do more than can be handled in a day or a specified timeframe.
Re-examine task importance and either.
 Move it to later in your plan.
 Delegate it.
 Do not take it on.
Get the monkeys off your back.
Dump the “all or nothing” approach.
 Eliminate “fear of failure.”
Clean as you go; do not leave everything to the end of the day.

Ways to de-clutter.
 Do not be overwhelmed and assume you will never be able to tackle the clutter.
 Get help.
 Have a place for everything.
 Create an ‘ok to buy or keep’ criterion.
 Keep things you love or use.
Stop the guilt about getting rid of something someone gave you. 8.B.1

• When all else fails it’s all about you so take care of yourself.
Work on improving your memory.
Know what is important.
Say no or maybe next time.
Finish what you start.
Use daily affirmations to keep your positive energy flowing.
 Do not get discouraged; you will see the progress.
Spring clean your life.
 Dump the anger.
 Hose down procrastination and delay.
 Fluff up your attitude.
 Put misunderstanding and lack of patience out with the newspapers.
 Humor yourself – have fun.
 Like yourself.
The secret formula is:
 Do not give up.
 No self-battering.
 Keep practicing.
 Set positive expectations.
 Quit using excuses:
o “Too many interrupters..” or “I’m just not organized.”
 Practice re-framing.
Monitor and evaluate.

 Use a time log and journal what is working and what is not.
 Take time for critical reflection.
 Do not be afraid to adjust and tinker.
Keep all the critical or important information in one place.
• Use an inbox and try to empty it daily.
• Create a simple method of tracking pending work.
• Calendar or task list with due dates or use by times. 8.B.1

Keep notes on customer conversations.
 Jot specifics on a message pad; enter in electronic calendar, or a
contacts list.
Buy items that work best for you in your space.
 Go window shopping before buying.
Filing systems:
 Keep them simple.
 Use the same label or title for paper files, e-files and email files.
Have a place to put important “stuff” – keys, receipts, cell phone, etc.
Get enough sleep.
Take a vacation.
Take a free class on organization skills offered through the small business assistance
group, the local college or community education program, or the Chamber of Commerce.
Some of the above information was retrieved from the follow website.

http://www.hgtv.com/organizing/quick-tips-for-home-office-organization/index.html
8.B.
1

Portion into Doable Parts
8.B.1

Get rid of things you don’t need, won’t need and don’t
use!

Module 8 organization

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