Jack of all… master of SOME!

As an Office Manager (or in a similar, or hybrid role with office management responsibilities) you’ll be aware that there are many areas under your remit, and I’ve talked about it a few times now in previous blogs. 

I like to call it Jack of all and Master of Some because there are simply so many hats you need to wear to effectively manage your office, that you cannot be expected to be the expert in all areas.  If we look at a typical role of an office manager, you’ll likely be in charge of:

-        Facilities (at least within your space) e.g. toilets, air-conditioning, showers if you have them

-        Cleaning contracts and potentially the ordering of products and consumables

-        Security e.g. access control and door passes, CCTV and alarms or keys

-        Office products e.g. stationery, teas & coffees, crockery & cutlery, water coolers and many many more

-        Furniture e.g. task chairs, desks and new requirements such as sit/stand, kitchen stools and break out areas, meeting room set up

-        Health, safety – the list of this can be pretty endless with training, DSEs, fire alarm testing and drills, first aiders and accident reports not to mention the risk assessments and policy updates, training and proactive housekeeping checks

-        Life safety systems such as maintenance on smoke heads, fire extinguishers, sprinklers and so on

-        Insurances, office costs and budget management, lease and rent increases, business rates

-        Technology contracts, equipment and support

-        HR, payroll, accounts, procurement and finance if these fall under your role

-        Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery management

-        Wellbeing and culture

-        ESG (environmental, social and governance) which includes sustainability

-        Events and socials, plus anniversaries, birthdays and the like.

And this probably only covers half of it for most! What it means is you cannot be an expert in how your air-conditioning system works, how it should be cleaned and serviced, nor can you be an expert in what sort of chairs are out there and the many functions of them all or an insurance or rates whizz who knows exactly what the best products are out there for your business.

It's just not possible… what you can be instead is the “Jack of all” by leaning on and learning from the experts such as your insurance broker, rates advisor, furniture provider and engineers and pulling out the information you need to ensure you make the best possible, informed decisions or can channel that information effectively through to your manager in order for them to make a decision but also so that you can gather as much from them to learn and develop in your role and each of these areas you support or manage.

I think it’s really crucial in a role such as this super-varied one, to scratch someway beyond the surface to get to know why the AC keeps shutting off, or why it needs to have the ducts cleaned every 3-6 months costing your firm a small fortune, what exactly do core and non-core mean when you’re talking about stationery or other products, and just what is that acronym you keep hearing from your provider but have no idea what it means.  So, in short – ask why, what, how and get to know more about these areas than you perhaps already do… but don’t worry about being the total expert, because that’s not the job you have been given.

The Master of Some comes into play when there are areas you can be more expert in, either because you enjoy learning about these areas or perhaps because they are something you do more often than not, or it’s key to your business for you to become a master. Take health & safety as an example, you may decide that it’s both interesting and cost effective for your business to train you in this requirement than outsourcing it to an expert – there will of course be an upfront cost to get trained, but the benefit is that you’ll probably be able to handle 80% of the requirements in-house and only occasionally need an expert at reach. 

I always had an interest in health and safety, but also business continuity planning and procurement which is why I strived over time to master in these a little more, asking internally and externally what my place was in each of the processes, what happened before or after my bit and sat with each other the other teams and leaders to understand theirs so I could do a better job on my cog in the machine. Another area I loved to learn about was office moves and specifically, fit outs and renovations so really getting a handle on all the different terms, methods, processes and best practices was a passion project for me that also helped support my ability to manage and oversee these projects time and time again.

It’s probably also obvious that some of the responsibilities you have will need a qualification such as HR and employment matters, accounting and maybe even payroll. But you certainly won’t be needing to get on a ladder any time soon, poking your head above the ceiling tiles to check out the rattling AC unit! Leave that to the experts…

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