The Art of Office Management
The importance of understanding every role
Office manager is not technically anyone’s manager, but makes everyone’s life easier. It mostly goes unnoticed or undervalued, which is not fair, because office manager is the first person you contact if you have any question that is kind of work related, but not really. This is a role that refers to the efficient and effective organization, coordination and supervision of various tasks (within an office environment).
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If you want to understand this role in more detail, here are some key elements to keep in mind:
- Organization/planning and Time/Task management — Prioritizing tasks, setting objectives and developing a plan to achieve goals, creating schedules, setting deadlines…
- Flexibility and adaptability — office dynamics can evolve and change rapidly and good office manager should follow that. Also, they need to adapt to new tech, procedures and anything that can impact workflow.
- Communication/Collaboration — this is maybe crucial for a great office manager. Open and clear communication (and communication channels), ensuring that info flows smoothly.
- Document/Data management — proper data management ensures that information is up to date, properly stored, secured and readily retrieval.
- Office supplies and equipment — responsibility of ensuring the necessary equipment and supply are available.
- Information about Staff Training — Office manager should identify training needs and encourage professional development. It’s also great if they can provide opportunities for learning and development.
- Conflict resolution — maybe not first resort, but definitely resort before HR (which is last resort). If it’s not clear, first resort should be you and a coworker with whom you have a conflict; if nothing helps, then you should talk to your manager; then office manager to solve the dispute.
- Innovation — being ready to accept and try new suggestions, even if you never heard of the things they are asking you about. And I think that this maybe the most important ‘skill’ that office manager should have. You are going to have some very unhappy coworkers if you have an office manager who is sticking to “the way it always was”.
Job is dynamic, important as office manager plays crucial role in making things run smoothly. Also covers administrative functions, managing resources, generally ensuring workplace efficiency. They also coordinate office activities, handling personal matters, supplies and equipment, implementing office policies.
Why I decided to write about this role?
When I started working in IT, company had less than 50 people. The job of the office manager didn’t exist (in title), and the tasks that had to be done bounced back and forth between anyone who had the time at the moment. In one hand that was great experience for all of us. On the other, it became confusing at times. So they (and us) started developing that role. First they hired a person who didn’t had any clear instructions for the job. In general, we all had a rough idea what the work is, but in practice — not so much. So that first hire later switched to only administrative tasks (at the same company). They hired another office manager — that one went becoming something different at the company. After third one (that one become HR, I think) we all finally decided that role should be clearly defined and specific. I was manager at the time and we had a lot of meetings and brainstorming defining this role. We did learn a lot, because I decided to see everything as a learning opportunity. But it became clear to all of us that all of us millennials do need some clear guidance from ‘the elders’. Turns out we were discovering hot water all this time, because there is whole branch of science dedicated only to describing and defining job roles and regulations.
During hiring all these ‘office managers’ we ended up with several more people at the company that we didn’t know we needed, so that is a plus. Most importantly, they all did a phenomenal job.
