Keeping Your Office Productive Without Hurting Morale

Managing an office isn’t an easy job. In addition to making sure deadlines are hit and services are delivered, an office manager is also responsible to set the tone for the work environment. Demanding accountability while trying to maintain a positive space is a delicate balancing act. Whether you’re the organization’s CEO or general manager, or a project leader in charge of a single department, here are some practical tips to help you walk that line.

Meet Regularly, But Not Too Often

If “meeting” is a dirty word in your office, that’s an indicator that they are being held incorrectly. Long meetings that feel like one-sided lectures or presentations drain a staff’s energy. Repetitive daily meetings stress people out. On the other hand, short, productive, informative, and engaging meetings can energize a team, keep them in the know, and sometimes even inspire them!

Here are a few good rules of thumb: Once a week, you should meet with your department or team. This meeting should happen either early or late in the week to go over what’s coming up and to check the status of what’s currently happening. This meeting should last no more than half an hour, and if it can be shorter, great. If possible, you should have an additional one-on-one meeting with each of your employees each week. This can be five to ten minutes and give them the opportunity to vent concerns and ask questions. It also gives you the opportunity to address disciplinary issues or problems. Staff meetings should be held monthly or quarterly, but they must be interactive, not just a platform for the CEO to pontificate.

Invest in IT

Sometimes, productivity isn’t in the hands of employees. If your network, software, or hardware isn’t running optimally, or worse, is infected or compromised, your staff can’t do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Hiring a skilled IT person or subtracting an IT company that understands what is network monitoring, how to fix common problems, and how to keep network security current is critical. If your company is big enough, investing in qualified full-time IT employees is always a good idea. They will know your systems and infrastructure inside and out, and they will feel more personally invested in the work. It will save you time and money in the long run.

Make Time for Creativity

Boredom is one of the top reasons people leave jobs. And while not every industry or profession can provide maximum creative stimulation, a good manager can inject creativity into their workplace by brainstorming and problem solving. Involve your team in tactical planning. The best ideas often come from the trenches, so to speak. If your employees are shy or disengaged, try a whiteboard brainstorming session. Make it clear that every idea will be written down and considered, and there are no bad suggestions. Some employees may take that as a challenge and throw out absurd schemes. Roll with it and play along with humor; you may be surprised what a bonding effect that can have. After all the ideas are written down, look to the group to say which ones they think are best and why. You can direct the conversation but let them do most of the talking.

Give Regular Feedback and Schedule Evaluations

Lastly, be sure you are giving your employees regular, constructive feedback. Not only will this help you maintain quality control, but it shows that you care about their work, and about their growth. This is also helpful when it comes to annual evaluations that many companies require. Even if yours doesn’t, you should have a formal or semi-formal evaluation once a year. If you give regular feedback, that process will mostly be review. The last thing you want to do is spring a surprise about someone’s performance on them during the evaluation.

Employees can be happy and productive at the same time if their leaders recognize their responsibility to create a welcoming work environment. As a manager, this is your top responsibility!