Dust off the business cobwebs! The SDF Corp team shared their top 5 professional spring cleaning tips for re-energizing their operations after this year’s cold, and strange, winter.
Amanda van der Merwe, SDF Corp Group Managing Director, has a habit of doing these activities annually:
“I don’t like clutter, so every year at home and at the office I do a Spring Clean of my cupboards, desk, laptop, and get rid of everything that’s cluttering up my physical and digital spaces. So, every year I do the following:
- If I haven’t used something for a year, I throw it out, archive it, shred it, File 13 it, or give it away to charity
- Cleaning my desktop always reminds me of what my desk looks like, messy desk = messy desktop
- Creating folders/file structures that make sense to you and is an easy reference to anyone else, should you fall ill and something pops up urgently
- Business tip – take a look back on your past year, and see what worked, and what can be added to ‘part of the furniture’ – reorganize – change is as good as a holiday, even for business strategy
- Spring clean your mind, body, and soul at least once a year.
Pierrow Cronje, SDF Corp Operational Director, has a fail safe and relevant system in place:
“Spring clean your desk/workspace for the optimal working environment while you’re busy sanitizing as well – that way, it never gets too out of control and your space is sanitized at home or at the office.”
Johan Koch, SDF Corp Marketing and Sales Director, says that daunting tasks can often be completed in a morning if you break it down into quicker and easier parts. His top tips for a morning of business spring cleaning is:
- Review your company documentation
One of those things that always seems to end up at the bottom of the list, especially for small and medium businesses, is reviewing their legal documentation, financial documentation and systems, and their internal policies. Start this spring by reviewing your company’s most important documentation to ensure you’re set for the next season of business. Set up a meeting with your legal team to review these documents, or make a list of the documents you absolutely have to review and proofread over the next week. Then take them day-by-day to break it up into an achievable, fun task.
- Clean out hard copies and filing
Especially since the logistics of work had changed drastically this year, with many businesses that suddenly made a switch to remote working, get your filing in order. A clean desk and clean drawers (or at least aiming for organized chaos) are sure to set you up for success in the new season.
- Digital filing
If your desktop has 100 files “quickly saved” there – now’s the time to clean it up! Organize your digital filing system by making a cup of tea, then spending 10-15 minutes of dedicated focus on just putting files where they need to go, and creating file structures for them if they don’t have a place to go yet.
Tersia Landsberg, SDF Corp’s Communication Manager, says that your public digital spaces also deserve a cleanup every so often!
“Do a Social cleanup. Especially if you run your own social media, you don’t always have the time to review each platform’s details. In under 30 minutes, you can go through every social channel and update your business with the latest info, descriptions, cover images, or anything else that needs a fresh coat of paint to be the best reflection of your business.”
The SDF Corp Group Top Tip for business spring cleaning:
Revisit your strategy
Perhaps the best way to clean up your operations for the new season is to review your business strategy and be sure that your mission and vision is still relevant and applicable for the coming summer – maybe there has been some foundational changes during lockdown that you can now consider incorporating into your strategy to exit the “coping” mode that was caused by these past few months.
That’s our top tips for a morning of professional spring cleaning! For business insight pieces, subscribe to our newsletter here and follow us on Facebook at @SDFCorp.
