Smart managers know that every workspace can be an effective business tool that not only mirrors and strengthens the core values of their company, but can also allow for effective business and team management. Ultimately, effective management comes down to a combination of making sure your team are able to perform to the best of their abilities and ensuring ease of supervision and provision of assistance when required.
Optimised Team Layouts
In recent years, open office layouts have become increasingly popular in both large and small office spaces. This is partly because they naturally encourage increased collaboration, as well as openness and transparency. Open plan offices also allow managers to supervise and successfully manage their team much more easily. However, most managers agree that there needs to be a balance of open collaborative spaces and closed quiet spaces for greater privacy and the ability to concentrate.
A smart and effective management solution is to offer your team flexibility in terms of available space, offering the possibility of both open and more private spaces.
A genuinely progressive workplace will always incorporate different design elements such as personal work booths for when employees absolutely need to work in isolation, as well as larger work areas that are more conducive to collaborative activities. If at all possible, the ideal office layout will also provide meeting rooms of various sizes, informal collaboration zones and areas that are purely social, such as break-out rooms where employees can take time out from their work and relax, free from supervision and the pressure to perform.
Although the size of some offices means this is not always possible, if you can manage this kind of balance of separate spaces, your employees are most likely to thrive and give you their absolute best.
Effective Supervision
An ideal office layout also maximises efficiency by facilitating ease of supervision. Successful office design will allow managers or supervisors to get on with their own work with no problems, but will also allow them to keep an eye on their team and importantly, to be available when their employees require their assistance.
One of the most obvious and widely used methods for achieving this balance of privacy, availability and ease of supervision is to have a private office space with glass walls. If as a manager you need the privacy of your own separate space but still need to be connected to your team, glass walls are the perfect way to provide a combination of isolation and (quite literal) transparency.
Another important thing to remember that benefits all employees but is particularly useful when it comes to providing supervision and assistance is ensuring that movement within your office is optimised. This means that all of your furniture is arranged in such a way that ensure fluidity and flow.
This is where Flow Office Co comes in. We are experts at creating spaces that ensure that all of the above elements are brought together perfectly, no matter how large or small the space at your disposal. If you’d like some new ideas about how you can more effectively manage your space and by extension, your team and your business, give us a call at Flow today.