Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
In the workplace, we can see that most companies and executives have their own independent offices.
Some companies, such as middle-level cadres such as department managers, also have their own independent office space.
So, should leaders have independent offices?
First, let's take a look at the benefits of having an independent office for leaders:
【1】Convenience of talks:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
In the working time of the leader, the meeting time accounted for more than half.
The interviewees were:
- External visitors: including customers, partners (including resource parties, suppliers, service providers, etc.), job seekers, and other visitors.
- Internal employees: including team members directly under the leadership, cross-departmental leaders and employees, etc.
Regardless of external visitors or internal employees, in an independent office, leaders can communicate, communicate and negotiate at any time, and can ensure that they are not disturbed by the environment and ensure that important conversation information is not leaked.
【2】Convenient work confidentiality:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
Most of the leadership's work involves important information, and the contents that need to be kept confidential include:
Written documents: including project plans, business plans, important business contracts, financial statements...
Electronic documents: including the electronic files of the above-mentioned important written documents, in addition, there are also some process documents of important work.
Independent offices, due to the large and private space, can not enter and exit at will, and can effectively play a role in confidentiality.
[3] Show the external image of the company's structure:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
Many people regard whether the leader has an independent office, office area and decoration specifications, etc., as the external image of a company.
The leader has a spacious, bright and luxuriously decorated independent office, which can naturally make visiting customers and partners feel the strength of the company.
[4] It is convenient to establish leadership authority:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
In the workplace, many people regard the independent office as a symbol of leadership power and status.
I believe everyone is used to seeing the scene where employees knock on the door and get permission, enter the leadership office, and ask the leader to sign.
How powerful, how prestige, how well-regulated!
[5] It is convenient for leaders to enjoy privileges:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
The company arranges an independent office for the leader, on the other hand, it is for the leader to enjoy special preferential treatment.
for example:
Leaders have the habit of taking a lunch break, and an independent office can give leaders a better rest;
The leader has the habit of smoking, and the independent office can enjoy it freely without affecting others;
Some independent offices (suites) have independent toilets, while ordinary employees need to use public toilets.
As the saying goes, there are advantages and disadvantages. Let's take a look at the disadvantages of leaders having independent offices:
[1] Increase in office costs:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
To meet the needs of the leadership independent office, a larger office space is required.
This undoubtedly increases the company's site rent. After all, most companies do not have their own office space.
Independent offices also require independent cooling and heating facilities, and the cost of hardware and energy consumption also increases.
Therefore, the more leaders, the more independent offices are required, and the higher the office costs.
【2】Provide convenience for employees to desert:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
With the rapid development of the mobile Internet industry, the fields of games, e-commerce, social media and other fields bring more and more work disturbances to the workplace.
When the leader is in an independent office and the door is closed, the employees will not be supervised and restrained. Due to the interference of various Internet products, the chance of desertion will increase.
In an enterprise with irregular workflow and loose management, this will further lead to a decrease in team work efficiency.
【3】Provide convenience for leaders to desert:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
Not all leaders are self-disciplined, and there are plenty of inactive leaders.
An independent office is like an independent kingdom of leadership. With the door closed (or even without closing it), the leader can do whatever he wants.
In fact, in addition to managing and supervising the team, the leader also needs to be supervised by the team. An independent office will undoubtedly deprive employees of this right.
[4] Set up barriers for communication between the team and the leader:
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
An independent office is undoubtedly a barrier to timely communication between teams and leaders.
The so-called "going to the Three Treasures Palace" means that few employees enter the leadership's office to communicate with the leadership on matters other than work.
Whether you admit it or not, the truth is, even when you have to find a leader, you're reluctant to knock on that door of the leader's office.
So? Should leaders have independent offices?
It seems that there are 5 advantages and 4 disadvantages. The advantages of an independent office outweigh the disadvantages!
However, I think:
The leader's office area should be moved out of the independent office and be with the team:
A few months ago, I was invited by a friend to work in his start-up company and became a business partner of the company.
However, due to limited office conditions, there is no extra independent space except for the general manager's office and conference room, and everyone has only one workstation.
So I sat down with the guys from the operations team.
Although it is a bit shabby compared to the past office conditions, it has benefited me and the team a lot.
[1] Leaders and teams learn from each other:
Since I'm used to the "Pomodoro Technique", in order not to affect the work of my friends, I turned the Pomodoro's sound to a minimum, but it still attracted everyone's attention.
So, I followed the trend and extended the "Pomodoro Technique" to the entire department. In less than a month, everyone developed the habit of "focusing on only one thing at a time".
At the same time, I also learned the specific situation of the company, business and customers from the old staff of the team. In the public office area, it is obviously faster to get familiar with it than the independent office.
In addition, in my daily work, I also learned the shortcuts of design software operation, background construction, store product release and other aspects from the team's design, customer service, operation and other personnel.
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
【Experience】
Leaders need to teach team members by "words and deeds". In independent offices, leaders can only "words", while in public office areas, leaders can better "educate" employees by example.
Employees need to learn, and leaders also need to learn constantly. In the public office area, leaders can more directly obtain front-line information, as well as specific work skills and methods that employees have.
The leader and the team work together, which is conducive to the rapid improvement of the team's overall work skills.
【2】Leader and team supervise each other:
Since I am in the same office area as my friends, in order to set an example, I need to be more self-disciplined.
When I first arrived at the company, I continued the work and rest habit of flexible working hours in the past, and came to the company late every day.
Two weeks later, HR told me that employees in our department had been late lately.
So, I adjusted my work time and went to work on time like everyone else. Since then, the team's lateness has improved significantly.
And I enjoy this "with everyone" constraint even more.
Later, according to HR feedback, some employees in the past department used to habitually deserted their work, and this problem has no longer occurred recently.
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
【Experience】
Leaders have an exemplary role in the behavior of team members. In an independent office, leaders and teams cannot form effective supervision, which is not conducive to changing bad work habits.
When the leader and the team work together, they can form a mechanism of mutual supervision and make the team more efficient.
[3] Instant communication between leaders and teams:
In the information-based modern society, communication channels and tools are more diverse, which also brings communication barriers to many people.
In the past in an independent office, my teammates and I had only a handful of communications per day.
Employees are accustomed to coming to the office to find me at one time after accumulating a few things, and some things may be delayed without mentioning. In a concentrated period of time, feedback on multiple tasks makes me feel physically and mentally exhausted, and I often make mistakes.
In the new company, we work with the team, customer complaints or consultations, cross-departmental coordination, work progress feedback... Almost everything, we can communicate in real time and solve it in a timely manner.
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
【Experience】
The leader and the team are in the same office area, which can save the time for employees to go to the office to ask for instructions and report, and also avoid information errors and artificial filtering that may occur in the process of problem reporting, which enables leaders to deal with problems faster, more directly, and more effectively. .
Instant face-to-face communication can free some employees of the team from dependence on communication tools and psychological barriers to verbal communication.
On-site communication of all issues, customer satisfaction, and cross-departmental collaboration satisfaction can be significantly improved.
【IV】Leadership and team meeting time is reduced:
In the past, in an independent office, the frequency of communication with employees was not so high. In order to ensure smooth information and orderly scheduling, I had to rely on higher frequency meetings.
However, for employees, the most annoying thing is probably the meeting!
Meetings not only take up the time of employees' execution, but also can easily kill the minds of employees and leaders.
Now, on the one hand, I can communicate in real time because of the problems I encounter. On the other hand, I can use the fragmented time between everyone's work to conduct "informal" work exchanges with the team.
Sometimes, you can use the whiteboard in the public office area to help small partners with simple work sorting.
In this way, the formal meeting between me and the team is only a regular half-hour weekly meeting.
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
【Experience】
When the leader and the team are in the same office area, the original meeting time can be "broken into pieces", and the original fragmented "garbage time" can be turned into treasure.
Only by moving out of the independent office area can leaders implement "what can be said standing up, never sitting down; what can be said on the spot, never in the conference room."
Meeting time is reduced, team satisfaction increases, and work enthusiasm increases.
【V】Leaders and teams have a deeper understanding of:
When I was still in the independent office, it was difficult to get a deep understanding of the employees.
Employees have a subconscious "precautionary" mentality towards leaders, and it is difficult for leaders to understand the real situation in limited communication.
It is also difficult for me to participate in the small talk of employees after work.
Whether it is an employee or a leader, there is no guarantee that a small talk will unknowingly turn into a meeting.
However, with the move to a common office area, that changed.
After the office distance has been shortened, employees no longer regard me as the leader in their spare time, and we can easily chat together.
We got to know each other better because of this, and every time I raise some topics, I always get a positive response from everyone.
Should leaders have independent offices? You will understand after reading it!
【Experience】
The distance between leaders and employees can break the boundaries of levels and ages, and shorten the distance between hearts, so that they can be more familiar with each other, have more harmonious relationships, have more language, and work more tacitly.