Also known as office administrators, office managers are often the very first point of contact. Office managers can have numerous roles and they work to deal with staff expectations, travel, and much more.
Office managers have quite a lot of say when it comes to how an office is run. It’s imperative then, that office managers work well and are good at dealing with people. It’s not always clear what office managers can do to ensure they’re carrying out their job to the best of their ability. The good news is that this article contains a few tips that can help you.
1. Be Very Organized
One of the best ways to be a top office manager is to be very organized. An office manager needs to know when and where each team member is working. They need to keep their own desk organized and set a good example. A poorly organized office worker will not set a good impression. So, do what you can to be as organized as possible at all times.
2. Make the Office Comfortable
If you have to work from home for a while, chances are you wanted a good office chair for your home office. Now that you and your team are back in the office, chances are everyone will want a comfortable office chair.
No-one wants to sit in a hard chair for eight hours a day. Ideally, the chairs that your team sits in will be comfortable swivel chairs that support their backs.
Each member of your team should have a large enough desk to work on and easy access to the equipment they need. Additionally, the office should have a good amount of light so that it’s a pleasant place to be.
3. Be an Excellent Communicator
If your communication skills are up there with the best of them, you’re likely to be a great office manager. You should be able to help avoid mistakes, give clear instructions and directions and help to resolve conflict. In addition to this, you should be able to communicate clearly with every single person that you work with. From the cleaners to the managing director, the new employees to the employees that have been there for years.
Communication should not be a problem for you. If it is, you need to work on it. The better able you are at communicating, the easier your job will be. You’ll also help to create a better office environment for everyone.
4. Know How to Solve Problems
As an office manager, you’re likely to have already learned quite a lot about the company you work for. With this knowledge, you can potentially help to solve a lot of problems. The longer you work in this position, the better able you will be at solving problems.
Problem solving is more than just about dealing with issues when they arise. It’s also about helping to prevent problems. Office managers will often be tasked with making work happen when there is little to no budget. Using the resources that they have the best office managers can tackle just about anything.
5. Make Use of Legal Knowledge
Office managers often find themselves dealing with contractors, suppliers, and contracts on their own. This can be tricky, however, the right legal knowledge can make the situation so much easier. Dealing with all of the small print can be useful. In addition to this, office managers will know how or when a contract is likely to end. They will also know how they can get the most out of the situation with the budget that they have.
You may need to brush up on your legal skills, but doing so can help you to do your job a little better.
6. Have a Lot of Empathy
Having empathy in the workplace is of great importance. This is especially the case for office managers who deal with a lot of people day to day. Ideally, you will have a good overview of every single employee’s work situation. This can help you to lead all of your team with a lot of empathy. Every member of your team needs to feel that they are understood and heard. You can communicate what you know about everyone’s work situation with compassion. Ideally, you should genuinely care about each employee. While they may be one or two that you dislike or struggle with, you should treat them with the respect. Treat everyone in your team with the same amount of respect. When you do, they will appreciate you more.
If you’re not sure what empathy is, think of it in this way. Sympathy is seeing someone struggle with something heavy and feeling bad for them. Empathy is seeing someone struggle with something heavy and offering to help them.
7. Be Great at Negotiating
Being great or at least quite good at negotiation is key. A skill such as this may not come very easily to everyone. However, the longer you’re in your job, the easier negotiating may be.
Chances are, you will need to keep the office budget up working well, as well as budgets for events and locations. This is where negotiation skills can really help. You’ll need to do what you can to make sure that you get the most out of the budget that you have.
It’s likely that you’ll also need to have a few peace-keeping skills. You may need these skills from time to time if some of your team have clashed. Confrontations such as these often need to be dealt with by the office manager. You can use your negotiation skills to help you to calm and resolve situations.
Being an office manager isn’t always an easy job. There’s usually so much to do, impending deadlines, employees to look after, and training to be carried out. However, with the right skills and a lot of hard work, you could become the best office manager around. Use the above tips to help you so that you become irreplaceable in your workplace and your job is easier.