Mary Colak
The Office Undertaker - Will Bring Yours Back to Life
|
Everything you wanted to know about the difference between ‘filing’ and ‘records management’ but were afraid to ask is knowledge that is available from consultant extraordinaire Mary Colak. Combining a no nonsense approach to organization and a razor wit, Mary is in the business of making sense of the mess in your records and information systems.
"Just call me the Office Undertaker,” said Mary referring to the macabre brand of humour associated with funeral directors. “One of my projects involved cleaning up files from an office and by far, the worst find in one of those boxes was used cooking utensils, food, two pairs of shoes, and a couple of tampons, among other unmentionables. Don’t mix up your food and hygiene items with files. That’s Records Management 101!”
The industry knows there are no facsimiles of Mary Colak. She has successfully saved her clients a great deal of time and money while improving their organizational productivity and efficiency. She warns there are vendors who claim to offer records management, but in fact, provide filing solutions that do not include proven records management concepts, she adds. Mary prides herself in examining the “big picture” of a company’s records management woes and instituting end-to-end solutions.
Sorting through records involves many initial decisions including what files are kept on site, shipped to storage, archived and shredded or recycled. Mary is also experienced in auditing ongoing systems, equipping staff with records management skills through her self-designed courses and providing a final project analysis.
“The greatest satisfaction I get is leaving an office or organization a better place than how I found it,” said Mary who has been a consultant since 1988. “Sadly companies continue to make the same mistake and they do not give records management a high priority.”
In an age of increasing requests through the Freedom of Information Act and potential fines for not retaining files, businesses ignore records management at their peril. Mary cites some warning signs of poor record maintenance – overly long information retrieval times and low productivity among employees. She offers three top tips to clients including:
•Choose to stop wasting time. Every day is a gift of 24 hours. Develop a time management psychology by visualizing yourself as efficient and organized.
•Develop long-term and short-term plans while working towards goals.
•Understand the 80/20 rule, where 80% of our results often come from 20% of our efforts. By wasting our 20% on low priority items, we may never be able to get caught up on our important tasks!
Email can be one of the worst time wasters in an employee’s workday, according to Mary. She advises that the key is to control it rather than letting it control you. Employees do not need to read all messages right away. Treat online mail the same as regular mail, she advises. Turn off your automatic email notification – check your email only once or twice a day for 30-60 minutes. Frequently review, purge, delete or create folders for emails since excess messages are a source of clutter.
“Clutter postpones efficiency,” said the woman who is proving one client at a time that records management can be exciting.
Written by Alana Perkins
|
| |
|
