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Issue Date: October 5, 2003
What your desk says about you
Your workspace speaks volumes about the type of person you are. What message is it sending?
By Patrick Gilsenan
Oct. 11 is Get Organized Day. Clean up your desk this week to showcase a new you.
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You may think you've got your co-worker figured out: He has a power tie, monogrammed day planner and new electronic business gadget. But those items won't tell you what you really need to know. To truly gauge someone's personality, just sneak a peek at his workspace.
Like our cars, clothes or homes, our desks can give others clues about our status, personality and work habits. Got Beanie Babies everywhere? You're probably friendly and fun-loving. If you have brushed nickel desk accessories, you're likely meticulous and no-nonsense.
"When people work in a [cubicle] farm, few of them are saying, 'This is my life.' So they want to show what their life is," says Liz Franklin, self-described cubicle anthropologist and author of "How to Get Organized Without Resorting to Arson" (Clara Fyer, $19.95).
Franklin, a San Francisco-based organizer who has spent 25 years helping people sort out their workspaces, says desks definitely reflect the personalities of their users. "There was a woman in a bank where everything on her desk was purple," she says. "Purple stuffed animals, a purple telephone, purple fuzzy picture frames. It looked like a toy store." Not surprisingly, the woman was bubbly and helpful.
What you have on your desk also sends messages to fellow employees about your interpersonal skills and preferences. A 2002 study conducted by the University of Texas at Austin gauged workers' dependability and openness to ideas in relation to the appearance of their desks.
One interesting finding, says assistant professor of psychology Samuel Gosling, who authored the study, is that the more obscure the workspace decorations, the more receptive the individual is to co-workers' ideas. One such person "had a light made out of an old Absolut Vodka bottle filled with Prozac pills," he says.
A little detective work is all it takes to suss out office personalities, Gosling says. "It's the Sherlock Holmes approach. The [workspace] contains what we do in the office, but also clues to what we do out of it," he says. "It does seem to be a pretty good indication of what people are like."
Patrick Gilsenan has a vaguely human-looking sculpture and a paperweight filled with election chads on his desk.
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Work personality quiz
Professional organizer Liz Franklin created this desktop test exclusively for USA WEEKEND readers.
1. Do you have lots of photos and decorative things on top of your desk? (If so, give yourself one A for each item.)
2. Do you have lots of unusual things on your desk (videotapes, swatch books, bicycle wheels, musical instruments, machine parts, etc.)? (If so, give yourself 5 C's for each item.)
3. Do you always have food and candy on your desk? (If so, give yourself one A for each cup, glass, plate, dish or bowl.)
4. Do you have "paper fences" on your desk blocking the view? (If so, give yourself one B for each time in the last month you've had to move things to see a visitor.)
5. Do you have lots of file folders on your desk? (If so, give yourself one A for each file.)
6. Do you have lots of stuff (workout clothes, boxes of paper) under your desk? (If so, give yourself two C's for each bag, box, paper pile, etc.)
7. Do you have more than one phone on or near your desk ? (If so, give yourself five C's for each extra phone, cellphone and pager.)
8. Do you have lots of measuring devices on your desk? (If so, give yourself two B's for each ruler, scale, tape measure, etc.)
9. Do you have more than three electronic devices on your desk? (If so, give yourself one B for each phone, computer, fax, etc., over three.)
10. Do you have more than two calendars? (If so, give yourself one A for each calendar over two.)
11. Do you get more phone calls than your co-workers? (If so, give yourself one A for each phone call over the first five you receive in a day.)
12. Is the top of your desk always perfectly clear? (If so, give yourself 5 C's for every day it was clear in the last 30 days.)
13. Do you always use your favorite pen? (If so, give yourself one B for each time you stop to find that pen in a week.)
14. Do you have charts on the wall near your desk? (If so, give yourself five B's for each one that's yours and is within view.)
15. Do you use just any old pen or pencil? (If so, give yourself one C for each time you had to search for a pen in the last month.)
TOTAL: A's B's C's
How does the stuff on your desk stack up?
If you have mostly A's, you're a Starter. You're the office extrovert. Your appointments are spread over several calendars. Your photos say you enjoy life, and your decorations and candy encourage conversations. You're great at starting projects, but socializing can distract you from finishing them.
If you have mostly B's, you're a Finisher. You're the office introvert. You like to have all your stuff set up just the way you like it. All your electronic and measuring devices mean you think in specifics. You work on only one project at a time. You'd like fewer interruptions, but people keep asking you to fix things for them. Your biggest challenge: remaining on schedule.
If you have mostly C's, you're a Delegator. You have many interests -- that's obvious from the variety of things on your desk -- and you tend to involve yourself in everybody else's jobs. You switch quickly between starting and finishing, so try to stay in one mode at a time. Pretend you're an orchestra conductor: Just direct, because you can't play every instrument.
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