What I’ve learned about Office Management, 20 years in…

Yes, you read that right – I have been in this profession for 20 WHOPPING YEARS now! I hit 40 this week, and I started out in my career as a Branch Secretary at the age of 19 in a local role, close to my home in Essex. This role, although I didn’t really appreciate it at the time, was very much office managery (yup, using that word!) based.

In this role, I was responsible for petty cash and tea, coffee, milk and sugar purchases (that was it back then, no booze or breakfast bars for us!), the printer which was a multi-functional device (MFD) one and had soo so many issues, the IT and kit (not that we had too much back then and it was the dial-up ADSL so anytime anyone wanted to send a fax, I had to come offline on my PC), arranging our little dos and events as and when the time needed it and a few other bits and bobs as well as the day to day admin that’s involved in that sector.

Now, I was going to write this article on "40 things you should know about office management", and don’t get me wrong – I could come up with them, but it would be a book rather than a blog! (Maybe one day…) Anyway, let’s fast-forward to now: looking back, I have had the most incredible time in my career this far, and I am so utterly grateful that I found my career-passion in office management. Not only that, but have somewhat become an advocate for the profession and created the most glorious, kind and giving network of office managers – recently I’ve started referring to them as a tribe. So, what in all this time have I learned about the role? What are my top tips and takeaways to share? I’ll dive on in…

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Firstly, this role is 1000000000% not for the faint-hearted. I learnt that at the estate agents and also once landing at JP Morgan. The language thrown at me when things went wrong, let alone the amount of responsibility and going from something so random in your day (I love the cake in the toilet story from our Office Manager Diaries Podcast as an example), to something regular the next (think policy creation or organising an event, onboarding a joiner, they're pretty usual), all of which means you must have a level head and be, to use interview speak, unflappable. Calm, professional and personable. But don’t take it personally – a mistake or more trait, I had for a long time and in all my reviews for many years, that I can take things too personally. It’s a hard one to shake if you’re like me, but remember – it is business. It's not you.

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People likely don’t and will never understand what you do. Trust me, 20 years in and I still can’t sum it up all that succinctly. Most people who don’t get it end up saying “oh, so you do HR”, depending on who they are and my mood I may agree – yes, yeah basically, or put them straight – no, HR do HR, we run the office and everything in that environment to make it work. If anyone has found that one liner that sums it up, let me know. The best I’ve made up so far is “office managers are responsible for ensuring a healthy, safe and productive working environment so that employees can do the job they need to do, ensuring minimum disruption for all staff, clients and contractors.” You’ll also have people say, oh – so you’re an administrator! Nope. Guess again. I really am not a fan of being banded under this job title; administration is in the role, absolutely but it is not the be all and end all of the role – it is so much more multifaceted than that, and more challenging. Common sense comes in an awful lot here too!

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You need to be flexible, without a shadow of a doubt; if you’re managing an office, hybrid working may not be the best solution and so, consider that the role may end up being full time in office, or the requirement to go in when things are going on. Also, the many times I have been in at 5am to see the cleaners, let the BBC in for trading floor filming, to get ahead of a post-move completion before the traders start getting in at 6:30/7am and ensure everything is spot on for them to just get on and work, not to mention the countless weekends of office moves, late Fridays, all day Saturday and Sundays too. It will always depend on the size, sector and activity of the business, but you need to bear that in mind.

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And, being adaptable – if the crazy C taught us anything, it’s that we must continue to evolve and adapt with the times, the demands and the needs of the business and the trends potentially going on out there in the wider world, sector or area we are residing in within our business.

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You need to find out what you don’t know. My word – this is why I set up The Office Management Group and it still sometimes surprises me when I learn what people don’t know about their role, duties or responsibilities, especially when, for example health and safety is concerned. It is true, that you don’t know, what you don’t know. But don’t be ignorant or arrogant around it – I’ve met a few people who are, and have never challenged themselves or the status quo to find out “am I doing it all, do I need to do anymore, can I do anything differently, should I… could I, how can I, why” and so much more. If this is you and you’re thinking, hmmm never done that – start now (and a little tip, The Office Management Portal is a good place to start!)

Side note: Don’t expect that your line manager, the directors or partners will know what you should be doing to protect them or the business either, they won’t! And they’ll be looking at you to advise them and bring on the best that you can in your remit.

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I’ve already talked a lot in blogs, articles, webinars and our training courses about the top skills I believe it takes to be an effective office management so I won’t go there too much but you must, must, must without a shadow of a doubt be proactive. Get ahead if you can, plant tools at your fingertips, build relationships and maintain them, get trackers and planners in place to stay on top of all your responsibilities and costs and contacts and more and more (see, I can go on about this one!) Use that wonderful Portal I mention above if you're not sure where to start...

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You need your network, internally and externally. Relationship building, as hinted at above, is so crucial so you don’t feel isolated because that is an all-too-common theme and feeling us office managers have. I know I did, and one of my first ever blogs starting out this business 7 years ago was on this very topic. Get to networking, speak to fellow tenants in your building and grab the office manager for a coffee, or wine if that’s your preference, lean on your suppliers and services providers – they are, after all the experts in their remit and you can learn so much from them.

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And finally, office managers as a collective and as individuals are some of the kindest, most generous, personable and giving human beings I think I’ll ever be able to surround myself with.

This tribe is just immense, it’s inspiring and it’s harmonious. Everyone is willing to help out, support and share. I truly believe it is the people within our network that make it this way, and as much as I would love to take the credit for every event that’s been amazing to date, I can’t because it’s not me. It’s you. These people are my friends, my family and my career home. Even without a permanent office now, I feel like I have such a brilliant workplace and culture with this extended group of colleagues and clients. I couldn’t be more grateful and can’t wait for the next 40 (no, that’s pushing it, I want to be retired on an island), perhaps 20 years together… cheers to you, the wonderful un-sung, multi-tasking, jack-of-all (master of some), Mary Poppins, pen-knife, superheroes. The Office Manager.