There is no good company without an Office Manager. In fact, along with the right staff and good funding, an engaged manager that does their job passionately is a big part of the overall firm’s success. The reason for this is that a good manager both supports and motivates the whole team, as the staff typically – consciously or not – takes an example from the leader.
Just think about it: can you imagine an engaged team, with an office manager being always absent at work? Can you visualize a good communication strategy among employees when the leader is never available to talk about certain issues? In fact, a strong manager is the basis on which the rest of the team should be built.
Having realized that, it’s crucial for an office manager to actively try to develop the best possible qualities in order to provoke positive change in the whole company. To find out what are the necessary skills and traits every successful office manager should possess, follow the article.
Modern Mindset
The digital era we live in requires each company to take up new digital possibilities and use them in its favor. A good office manager should be the best example of a person keeping up to date with technology rather than avoiding it. To find out more about apps that can make your office work more convenient and effective, you can click here.
In order to make good use of the latest technology in the office, your job as the manager is to integrate that technology with people – as the office manager, you should take up the responsibility of teaching employees how to adapt to the tech you introduce to them.
When you combine a really easy-to-use interface with an app that can solve anybody’s problem, it may just connect you to your employees more than ever before. With technology-enabled real-time feedback, they can tell you exactly what they need to maximize their performance.
Also, from a financial perspective, using the latest tech puts you light-years ahead of any competitor who is stuck doing everything the old-fashioned way.
Flexibility
The COVID-19 pandemic, like nothing else before, proved to us the value of flexibility and the ability to quickly adapt to new, unexpected circumstances. Any office manager usually working according to the plan could not handle rapid changes in the workplace, as well as the quick implementation of new policies. On the other hand, the flexible office managers were able to work fast, deal with the crises, and adopt new measurements to help overcome the challenge.
The flexibility of an office manager entails not just the quality of planning and decision-making but also the ability to arrive at a decision that is acceptable to employees. This means that sometimes, you may just have to sacrifice your vision for the sake of your employees’ suggestions, which may be pointing to something you have overlooked. Nowadays, remaining entrenched in your old ways is just a hallmark of a bad, unresponsive manager.
Empathy
Every successful office manager should be empathetic and supportive of his colleagues. Whatever the structure of the organization may be, it’s always crucial for staff to know that they may count on their leader in terms of any difficulties, ask them for help, ask questions, and receive fair feedback.
Good Delegating Skills
From the vantage point of managers, delegating tasks is one of the most important factors in creating a successful work environment. The ability to distribute tasks fairly and evenly among your employees is one aspect of office work that requires a lot of empathy.
Three key things are important here: communicating clearly, giving reasons, and taking responsibility for the outcome. Some ways to clarify communication are to explain all steps that will need to be taken in a task or project, to describe how the results will be evaluated, and to ask for other people’s opinions about what should be done.
The Bottom Line
A successful office manager needs to be able to adapt to the times, quickly react to crises and unexpected developments.
Nowadays, it is simply not enough to have a management degree and know the basic principles of working at an office to do a good job in that position. You’re going to have to know how and when to use modern technology to help your employees make the most out of their time at work.
Finally, you’re going to need to show your workers that you’re empathetic and understand their needs. With all that, you’ll surely be able to take your office to the next level!
