Creative Office Manager

Your office may be doing everything it is supposed to do. Staffers complete required training. Licenses and permits get renewed. Inspections happen on schedule. Policies are distributed and updated. Vendors provide certificates and other required documentation. Required forms are filed, equipment is maintained and important deadlines are met. But could you prove it? That question can expose a very different…

Free shipping feels like a win. When you’re comparing two suppliers and one promises to deliver your order for nothing, the choice can seem obvious. But the lowest shipping charge—or even the lowest unit price—doesn’t necessarily mean the lowest cost to your office. Purchasing decisions come with costs that don’t always appear on the invoice. Minimum orders, storage space, staff…

Meetings have a legitimate place in the workday. Sometimes people need to discuss a complicated issue, make a decision together or work through something that can’t be resolved any other way. But plenty of meetings begin with something much smaller: a question. Someone needs an answer, so they schedule 30 minutes with four people. Someone needs approval, so everyone gets…

Technology problems at work aren’t always dramatic enough to generate an IT ticket. Sometimes they’re just irritating. The conference room computer takes forever to connect. Nobody knows which printer to choose. A shared file is buried six folders deep. Staffers repeatedly type the same information into different systems. Someone asks for the Wi-Fi password for the 40th time. Individually, these…

Most office managers spend a great deal of time managing down, across, and outward. You support staffers, coordinate vendors, answer customers, solve problems, and keep projects moving. But one of the most valuable relationships you manage is the one above you. Whether you report to an owner, executive director, general manager, professional, board chair, or leadership team, your success often…