Spring Cleaning or Company is Coming

At least once or twice a year, we would schedule spring cleaning at our organization and additional sites. Truthfully, we did this sometimes to prepare for VIP guests. Sometimes, we did this to make sure we were in compliance and needed to discard out of date materials. Whatever the reason, we had for scheduling spring cleaning, it was amazing what happened.

The employees were notified of the day or days we scheduled this. You need a communication plan to do this effectively. We would bring in additional trash receptacles, recycling bins and bins for confidential shredding. We would allow employees to wear jeans to work. We would provide a lunch or a pot luck theme to help bring everyone together on cleaning day.

Everyone was involved. We also included those pesky storage areas that seem to be the dumping ground for supplies that nobody wants or open space employees think they can drop something and store it. Sort of like out of sight, out of mind.

Each area would have a designated person held accountable to make sure it was clean. Sometimes we found supplies we did not know we had. Sometimes we found office supplies all over the building. We would then consolidate those supplies to specific departments or a new designated storage area.

At the end of the day, we would all walk through the building, going into each area. It was a whole new set of eyes to make sure the area was clean, collateral was properly displayed and we did not miss anything. The other purpose was to show off our newly cleaned areas.

It may sound a bit silly, but I can assure you the next day when everyone came to work, they felt better. To rid areas of clutter, allowed our employees to feel proud to work in our organization.

It is a lot like when you have company coming to your home. What do you do? You clean. Your present your home in an inviting new way. You want your guests to feel welcome and good about being in your space. You want to be proud. Why not have the same thing at work? Happy cleaning.

 Quote: Spring cleaning is not just about sorting through things, and getting rid of clutter. It’s about taking stock of who you are, and how others see you. It’s a chance to redefine yourself, to change expectations, and to remember it is never too late, to recapture who you were or to aim for whom you want to be.