You will at some point have to work with disorganized people. Do not choose to work with them if you have a choice. Working with disorganized people will be a challenge. Here’s what you can do to minimize the challenge.
Learn to say no to disorganized people.
You can say no when disorganized people call. You say no by not picking up the phone when they call. They can leave a voicemail. Disorganized people often get in trouble with missed deadlines. I knew one person who had several email addresses, but didn’t check them daily. Can you imagine the missed opportunities she created by not checking emails at least daily?
Everyone has a cell phone. It’s not that much effort to check emails daily. It’s actually harder NOT to check your email with all the alerts you could get from your emails and you ignore them. You then get to say, “I need to check my calendar and get back with you” if you do pick up the phone and get a request of your time that adds more than you are willing to do.
Create clear boundaries.
People are disorganized for a reason. One reason is they have no boundaries. They think that can contact you with a request at any time they’re in trouble. Don’t let them intrude on your time. You can prevent many intrusions by clearly telling them your work hours. Tell them if you don’t take calls after a particular time. Even better is to tell them specific times their calls are welcome. That way if they’re so disorganized that they miss your window of opportunity, it’s their problem, not yours.
Recognize that they’re high maintenance and do something about it.
I tell sales managers when I work with them that there are two kinds of salespeople: High maintenance salespeople and low maintenance salespeople. The low maintenance salespeople are good communicators. They don’t waste your time and they still keep you informed on key issues in their sales territories. They make timely, good decisions within their authority. They’re organized and manage their business expenses effectively.
The high maintenance salespeople do exactly the opposite. Even worse, you will find that you spend 80% of your time on these high maintenance salespeople. What can you do to lower that time that they take from you? Start with assuming innocence. Assume they don’t know have organization skills to be effective. Show them how to organize their business.
Your job is to give them the tools they need to be more organized. What does their agenda look like? Are they even able to determine how to build their schedule of calls with the most important customers getting face-to-face time while the less important ones get phone/Zoom attention? Do they understand how to make decisions? Perhaps you need to help them with the criteria they should use when they make decisions in your business.
Disorganized people are a nightmare to work with. Given a choice, I would avoid them. It’s a lot harder when you don’t have a choice and must work with them. Prepare to spend more time, but be sure you are saying no when you can.