Office Management Tips

Streamline Your Office Management

 

Within this article we will be giving you key tips and takeaways to help you streamline your office management, including the following: 

 

• Know Your Destination

• Plot Your Course

• Don’t be a Firefighter

• Lead From Behind

• Recreation is Work Too

 

Office management encompasses an enormous scope of techniques to organize and control office activities. Effective office management comes with a myriad of benefits that have a tremendous impact on all aspects of your organization. A well-managed office ensures valuable relationships are built between all departments within your company. This creates a seamless workflow between all teams. You can face many challenges as an office manager, and considering the number of factors influencing effective office management, you may find yourself overcomplicating things.

 

You are not alone in this struggle. In fact, many office managers face the same obstacles you may be encountering. Rest assured that this is easily rectified by following a few guidelines on streamlining your office management.

 

Know Your Destination

 

 

You would never hop in your car and start driving without knowing where you are going. Knowing your destination is key to any successful journey. Therefore, it’s no different when managing your office.

 

Having clear goals and analysing your office’s situation is key to streamlining your office management. Knowing the difference between where you are and where you want to be will allow you to create a plan of action to close the gap. 

 

Using your company’s mission or vision as a long-term goal can be a great guide when deciding on your destination. However, this journey won’t be easy. You should also look to create short-term goals or milestones that will keep you and your team motivated along the journey to success. These short-term goals are essentially stepping stones leading you towards the end goal.

 

Setting clear short-term goals is also a constant reminder of the direction you should be heading in, good for determining when you or your team are straying off course and when you need to step in and make course corrections.

 

One of the biggest obstacles office managers face is having an unmotivated team. This can be caused by a lack of transparency or understanding of the “why” behind their assigned tasks.

 

Giving each department a clear understanding of each goal and how they benefit from reaching their target aids in removing any skepticism team members may have. 

 

Plot Your Course

 

 

Once you know your destination, you can begin plotting your journey and deciding which order you wish to reach each milestone. You could consider this as the itinerary for your trip to success.

 

Prioritization is essential here. You will need to look at your short-term goals and prioritize them based on urgency, importance, time consumption, and the benefits gained upon completion.

 

By considering all of these factors, you’ll determine which goal holds the most weight and know in which order each milestone should be completed. This form of prioritization is not a once-off activity. It should be done daily to determine the task each person in your office should be completing. Always be ready to change your priorities as situations change. This means that you and your team are flexible.

 

Don’t be a Firefighter

 

 

As essential as they are, firefighters are only called in once the building is already on fire. Fighting metaphorical fires in your office is not ideal and indicate a lack of proactiveness. Your reaction should have come before the first plume of smoke even appeared. 

 

You should already have established goals and know the route you will take in order to achieve them. This will help you to determine potential obstacles that could negatively impact your business.

 

Streamlining your office management means considering those obstacles and proactively preparing solutions for them. If it is an issue that you can address and solve immediately, then you should do so. 

 

Never leave an issue unresolved longer than you need to. Remember, the longer you leave a smoking ember to burn, the more likely it is to spark an uncontrollable blaze.

 

Lead From Behind

 

 

Nothing is more important in streamline your office management than effective management of your team. You cannot build success on your own. An effective leader will always put their team first.

 

Most of the challenges faced by management, such as poor performance, lack of communication, and poor teamwork, are attributed to the team members. As a leader, you should take proactive steps to ensure your team does not struggle with any of the challenges mentioned above.

 

Every employee should have a one-on-one discussion with their immediate supervisor each week, even if it is only for a quick check-in. You should not limit this discussion to performance. Use this time to get to know each employee’s personal goals and gauge how they feel about their role in the office. 

 

Team meetings should be held regularly, and a 15-minute team huddle at the start of each workday is proven to increase productivity. Team members should feel that their voice counts, and raising concerns or discussing challenges they may face should be encouraged. No matter how small the problem, you should be able to address it.

 

Leading from behind and putting team members first shows your team how valuable they are. A team that feels valued is more likely to perform better.

 

Recreation is Work Too

 

 

Even the sharpest blade will become dull when used regularly. We often overlook one of the most important aspects of staying sharp: getting in some well-deserved rest or at least a bit of recreation. 

 

The sheer repetitive nature of most jobs and ever-increasing workload can lead to both you and your team losing focus, a severe hindrance for someone looking to streamline their office management.

 

Implementing one of the many employee engagement software offerings available can be a great solution to lightening the mood and bringing some much-needed respite to your team.

 

Setting up a team lunch after reaching a milestone or taking a few minutes to celebrate a team member’s birthday can boost morale. 

 

Celebrating even the most minor wins can positively impact you and your team. Sometimes, non-productive activities can yield the most productive results.

 

Streamlining your office management is no easy task. Working through each of the necessary steps can be time-consuming. The benefits of doing so far outweigh the negatives though. 

 

The resulting increase in productivity, boost in morale and improved performance are well worth taking the time to implement the changes.

 

Author – Brenna Johnson