Coaching workers helps streamline jobs, reduce stress

Business Report Correspondent

BOULDER — Cathleen Hight’s Breakthrough Organizing program goes beyond generic, business time-management seminars that generate plenty of ideas but little change.

“There are a lot of business time-management programs out there,´ said Hight, founder and owner of Boulder-based Breakthrough Organizing. “What I find is that when you attend a seminar, you get a lot of great ideas, and the material ends up on the shelf.”

Hight says her program is different. Those who sign up with her receive a workbook, a seminar, meals and follow-up visits from a personal coach. These services cost $495 per person, although group discount rates are available.

Breakthrough Organizing was founded in the fall of 2000. Although her client list is small, Hight has been a time-management consultant teaching the same ideas since 1989 in Hawaii, California and Japan. She and her partners run the business from their Boulder homes.

Phil Shimmin, owner of Consolidated Amusement Company in Honolulu, said the success of Hight’s program is largely due to her “persistent but patient encouragement and professional guidance.”

“Until you get into their office,” Hight said, “a seminar only goes so far. Then the real work comes.”

The first morning of the Breakthrough seminar covers office organization. “I start there, because I want to organize and streamline what’s important,´ said Hight, “but we have to start out with how their space is organized. When it’s very cluttered, it takes a long time to find things.”

After redesigning the workstation, Hight launches into filing and information processing.

“We create a work system,” Hight said. “There are a lot of components to that.”

One of them is the in-box. “I’m the advocate for the clean in-box,” she said. “The in-box is like a hotel for your work. You visit a hotel, but you don’t live there. For some people, the in-box is a condominium. Why leave work on your desk if you aren’t doing it right away?”

Hight encourages clients to use color-coded stacking organizers or folders to prioritize tasks by urgency. She also shows clients how to effectively use an electronic or standard date book. “Palm Pilots aren’t just for appointments and deadlines,” she said.

Hight urges her clients to use date books for task reminders and to prompt follow-through. She refers to instances when people don’t look at their date books as the principle of the pleasure to forget.

The morning of the second seminar day involves time management. Argonaut Industries’ Senior Account Manager Andy Miller said Hight helped his Honolulu company create “a better work environment through a better understanding of time management.”

One exercise requires clients to record their required tasks for the day on one side of a page, and what actually happened on the other side. Often, clients are surprised at how little vital work they accomplish.

Hight said people slog through their day with ineffective work methods because they follow the system that was left by their predecessors. “People are so relieved when we fix it,” she said.

Part of this process is learning why people work the way they do. “Sometimes people laugh at themselves when they explain why they work that way,” Hight said.

After the seminar, clients receive semimonthly, consultations for up to one and one-half hours from Hight and her employees, Dhayan Atkinson, business psychotherapist, and Sara Balsoe-Gelb, corporate and personal coach. “We create new systems for your work,” Hight said. “We have to get in there and figure out what’s going on. It’s like being a sleuth.”

This may involve decreasing the amount of work a client must do. “The question is, ?Are they disorganized, or is there too much to do?’ You can’t make assumptions. They could have inherited a bad situation. You can’t know by looking at their desks.”

By observing how the client works, the trio objectively evaluates the work processes to find wherein the problem lies. “(Management) is sometimes willing to change because we’re from the outside, and they’re paying for our advice,” Hight said.

Other times, change does not come easily. “I have worked with companies that aren’t willing to change,” Hight said, “and the system is self-defeating. Some people hoard work and create this wall,” Hight said. “(They claim) ?there’s so much to do, and no one can do it but me’ because they’re afraid that if people found out how little they have to do, they’d be fired.”

Hight said her clients will have six additional hours a week if they follow her guidelines, but some clients try to cram six more hours’ work into their schedules. “That’s not the goal,” Hight said. “We want you to finish your work and feel less stressed. Some salaried jobs are really 45 to 50-hour work weeks.”

Boulder-based Breakthrough Organizing can be reached at (303) 415-0243.

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