How do you manage an office successfully? The role of an office manager is not a simple one. You need to know how to effectively deal with employees and clients to build trust and establish yourself as the kind of leader your company needs.
Being a good office manager means helping to create a culture of inclusion, acceptance, and engagement. It means ensuring that an office environment is a place where employees will want to spend their time. If you can be the person who helps to steer the company in the right direction when it comes to all that … you’ll be on your way to becoming an office manager rock star.
With that said, knowing how to be a better office manager isn’t knowledge you’re born with. It comes from continual learning and working hard to hone a unique set of skills. If you’re ready to know more about how to be a good office manager who’s successful more often than not, read on.
How to be a good office manager
Know your technology
How would you feel if your computer blew up and all of the data was lost? It’s a scary thought, but crashes happen. That’s why office managers must know how to use new technologies to keep their company up and running even during a crisis.
Additionally, office managers will need to know how to use technology in order to keep up with the workforce. For example, suppose your company has a mobile app for its employees and you have no clue about it or what it does. In that case, you’re going to be behind on technological trends. You won’t offer much of an advantage when compared to other office managers who are savvier.
Work on your communications skills
Good communication skills are essential for office managers because they need to be able to articulate and convey crucial information to both superiors and subordinates, not to mention, their company’s clients.
In order to become better communicators, managers should be sure to practice speaking in public. That doesn’t mean you have to give a presentation in front of thousands. However, you should be able to speak to a room full of employees with no problem. Additionally, you should practice active listening. A good office manager is able to listen effectively – even when the speaker goes off-topic.
Another way to increase your communication skills is through reading. If you’re a good reader, this will come easily and naturally for you. The more you read, the more likely it is that you’ll become a great communicator. Those who read often increase vocabulary and general world knowledge. They also gain insight into how other people think about things – which can be especially helpful in understanding different personality types within your office hierarchy and with clients outside of it.
Be innovative in your thinking
A good office manager should also work to be innovative in their thinking. How do you manage an office that’s stagnating? How can you make the space more efficient or modernize the way the company does things? What new ways can you think about how to engage with your workers, clients, and customers? What might your process look like if you did it from a different perspective?
Innovation as a concept has been widespread for decades now. Still, office managers often don’t see themselves as innovators because they are acutely focused on executing the day-to-day tasks of running the entire office.
Continue your education and professional development
One of the most important aspects of being a good office manager is to continue your own professional development. There is never a time that’s “wrong” to invest in your career. Think about it. The benefits of furthering your education and professional development are numerous.
For one, you could gain a new perspective on how things work in the industry that can benefit both yourself and your company. In addition, an increase in knowledge level often leads to increased responsibility, leading to an increase in salary.
Additionally, there is nothing wrong with going back to school or getting additional certifications if it’s something that will benefit you professionally, such as taking classes related to project management or anything IT-related so you’ll become even more valuable when trying to get a promotion or if you decide to look elsewhere for a new job.
Being a successful office manager
Remember that a good office manager has the skills to manage their team and lead them in a way that maximizes productivity. They’re also able to handle day-to-day tasks, such as answering emails or addressing customer complaints, while still maintaining an eye on the bigger picture of operations.
To be a successful manager, you’ve got to not only focus on what’s going well but identify problem areas and work towards fixing these problems so everyone can enjoy better working conditions.
One last tip for anyone looking to become a more effective office manager is to reiterate the benefit that getting additional certifications related to project management or any IT-related training can bring to your career. Make yourself invaluable to the company, and you’ll often see positive results. And if your current executives don’t recognize the value added, you can be sure that others will.
