- Use Your Desk and Office Arrangement
to Improve Time Management
It is easy to simply use what one inherits. A new assistant principal
or principal walks into her new office and just accepts the furniture
arrangement and décor, sits at the desk, and begins working. This may
perpetuate what may have been an inefficient system. Elsewhere, this
book deals with personalizing the décor of the office and making the seat-
ing arrangements comfortable for visitors. This section is about making
the office more conducive for time management
Let’s first look at the desk. A school leader needs a large desk. In ad-
dition to the work space in the middle, he will need several other distinct
spaces. Each school leader will determine these according to his or her
preference. Figure 5.3 provides one possible arrangement. Between all
these items, there should be family photos, mementos, and school-related
items to personalize the office space. The front middle section of the desk
is the work space.
A principal will arrange these items according to her own personal taste.
Her daily goal is to move as many items as possible from the inbox to the
outbox. Items requiring more than a few minutes to respond to go into the
“short-term” pile to be dealt with within a day or so. Items of a long-term
8 5 3 71 2 6 4 (^)
Figure 5.3. Possible Desk Arrangement (Key: 1. Metal box with index cards on problem
students [see chapter 2]. 2. “Inbox.” 3. Long-term project folders. 4. “Outbox.” 5. Short-term
project folders. 6. Weekly calendar book. 7. Daily plan sheet. 8 [optional]. Rolodex with
contact numbers [not needed this if the principal has an e-directory in his computer].)
64 Chapter 5