Hands up who has ever had to deal with a particularly messy office colleague? If you have, it’s likely to have driven you more than a little crazy during your time at your office desk.
The scenario usually goes something like this – you’re someone who is tidy, quite organised, and hates any type of clutter; you adore your glass desk and you like it to be clear and shiny. Your neighbour on the other hand is more of an ‘organised chaos’ type of person, and this means you have to deal with their mess, and try and block it out of your mind.
It can be a huge problem, and it’s something which can start to affect morale too.
The bottom line is this – not everyone works in the same way, and that is something we all need to accept. Despite that, we also have to respect each other enough to know when our way of working may be affecting someone else adversely. This isn’t always the case, and sometimes another person can simply be oblivious, they have no idea that what they are doing is causing a negative problem. This can lead you to not get along with your office neighbour, and to cause conflict within the office. None of that is productive, and none of that is ideal for ensuring high morale within the office environment.
A colleague who is messy shouldn’t be an issue unless office space planning means they sit next to you on an adjoining desk. If their desk isn’t adjoining to yours or they’re not next to you, the fact they are a little messier than you is simply something you have to avoid thinking about. You only have a real reason to be annoyed about this issue if their messiness adversely affects you. For instance, are they constantly spreading onto your desk, or invading your space? In that case, you have grounds to approach the subject and try and fix it.
So, how can you do that?
A light-hearted conversation should do the trick. Keep it friendly and simply ask if they can avoid spreading onto your desk, because you need to keep all your papers organised. You don’t have to do this in a formal way, and the key to having this conversation and it being successful and having it and it turning into a conflict, is in how you say it, and the body language you show. Smile, make eye contact and keep your body language open. You’re not berating them, you’re just asking if they can keep to their own desk!
This type of issue can become a huge problem when you’re working at collaborative office desks together. In this case, you have no choice but to accept the situation and try and go with it. If the issue persists and you really can’t deal with it, then perhaps have a quiet word with your line manager and mention the problem. In this case, your manager will deal with the potential conflict in a quick and harmless way.
It might sound petty to be talking about someone who is a little messy in the way they work, but if it is affecting you and you’re not being overly pedantic about it, then it needs to be addressed. We all work in slightly different ways, and one size doesn’t fit all. When something starts to annoy you, it’s likely to stick there and grow. When this grows out of control, it’s going to affect the way you feel about that person, which will cause conflict within the office environment. When this happens it affects everyone in the space, and that has a direct impact on morale. Messy environments for some people can be extremely blocking too, i.e. they just can’t concentrate, whether they have extremely cool office furniture or an old retro desk! The same can be said for tidy environments for some people also; some people need a little clutter. We’re all different, and we need to learn to set boundaries that suit us all, if we’re going to get along and work harmoniously together.