Creative Office Manager

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…

You can teach software. You can teach procedures. You can even teach someone how your office prefers to answer the phone. What you can't easily teach is curiosity, accountability, adaptability, or good judgment. Yet those qualities are often what determine whether a new employee becomes a valuable team member—or a constant source of extra work. Every Hire Changes the Office…

Most office managers wear a lot of hats. But when pressure hits, deadlines pile up, and people start looking for help, most of us naturally fall into one role more than the others. Take this quick quiz to discover your dominant office manager style.

The best office managers don't wait for problems to be reported. They go looking for them. Most people arrive at work, sit down, open their email, and begin reacting to whatever appears on their screen. Experienced office managers often do something different before they settle into the day's interruptions. They take a quick walk through the office. Not because they…

Trust falls: the timeless exercise that says “we value psychological safety” by asking you to fall backward and hope Brenda from Accounts Receivable is paying attention. There is a certain type of workplace activity that management believes will boost morale but instead causes large portions of the staff to quietly contemplate faking a dental emergency. Mandatory fun is one of…