What does your desk say about you?
June 25th, 2008 | by James Welch
Is your office space and its desk home to potted plants, personal framed pictures and novelty desk mascots or do you favour your desk to remain free of personal clutter? Do you flourish with an orderly desk or are you more efficient when your desk is untidy?
Online office broker, officebroker.com which works with 97% of the UK’s serviced office space providers and landlords, has united with leading business psychologists Pearn Kandola to reveal what your desk really says about you. Is a cluttered desk really the domain of the creative genius or does forming your own ‘nest’ at work give a feeling of belonging and settlement?
“Walk into any company and the chances are you will find people whose desks are all very differently organised,” says Andy Haywood, joint Managing Director of officebroker.com. “While some companies might in fact employ a policy or have a culture of desk etiquette, it seems the majority simply leave desk decorating decisions down to the individual employee.”
“So can you really be efficient if your desk is messy? And can employers determine what best motivates an individual by the state of their desk?” asks Andy. “We thought it was time to find out!”
Louise Weston is one of the business psychologists working with Pearn Kandola. She says: “You can certainly gain some insight into an individual’s personality and what motivates them by looking at how they organise their desk. In fact, it can even give Managers a quick snapshot into how to best motivate members of their team.”
Pearn Kandola and officebroker.com offer the following examples:
• Employees who present targets or project charts on or around their desk are often greatly motivated by success and by setting goals for themselves.
• A person with photos of their family or friends on their desk and a display of personal belongings have a tendency to be more people focussed and are enthused by their relationships both inside and outside of the work place.
• People who have screen savers or calendars depicting exotic destinations and tropical beaches are typical to be more hedonistic – for them drive is all about the pleasure principle. They look for pleasure in every opportunity, perhaps favouring to meet clients over lunch at a fine restaurant, for example.
• Those with ‘fashionable’ desks, possibly with an Apple Mac on it because they ‘like the design’, or with trendy flowers or objects are more inclined to be motivated by culture and the environment in which they work.
• Desks without any personal items are usually the domain of the introvert – these people might even use existing office objects like files to create a barrier around themselves and their work. They favour their desks to face toward a wall rather than out into the office.
• Conversely, people who use their desks to display their personalities tend to be more extroverted and may even have novelty calendars or desk top toys to attract people over to their work space and generate a talking point. These kinds of people prefer desks facing out to their ‘audience’ and the rest of the team.
• A clean and tidy desk is often an indication of an extremely hard-working individual – someone who is well organised and prefers to focus on one thing at a time.
• A more impulsively ordered desk demonstrates someone who is good at multi tasking and can progress between different tasks quite quickly and easily. They tend to be flexible and creative in their attitude to work.
“People’s desks can give employers and Managers an insight into what makes individuals in their organisation tick,” explains Louise. “And changing the position of a person’s desk might seem trivial to a manager but can in fact have a profound effect on some employees, making them feel sidelined for example or creating a different environment which may take them time to adjust to.”
“From a motivational perspective, Managers should look at a person’s desk to determine how to get the best out of that individual,” she continues. “If someone has certificates or trophies on their desk, the chances are they need regular pats on the back and recognition for their achievements, perhaps by sending round an office email declaring what a great job they have done on a particular task. Pleasure seekers can be motivated by the offer of bonuses such as weekend breaks or trips to a top restaurant if they reach their targets, while those displaying lots of family photographs may be motivated by the offer of flexitime or time off in lieu for example.”
Andy Haywood says: “Everyone’s desk is different and we can all find out more about what makes our colleagues tick by taking a look at their desks. It is a fun and fascinating, but actually quite serious, way for employers to determine how to improve performance or productivity and realise that there is no such thing as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ desk – each individual performs best when they are allowed to express themselves and their personality in the work place and their desk is often one very easy way to do this.”
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