Office Design – Enclosed Offices vs. Cube Farm

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Office Types:

  • Enclosed Offices
  • Open Space Concept
  • Cubicle Farms
  • Alternative

Why Getting Out of Offices is Great:

  • More and better communication amongst team members
  • More direct contact – you end up knowing people better
  • Space can be modified quickly and easily
  • Usually people have more access to natural light
  • Some companies have found it reduces cost because you can put more cubes per floor than offices. (Cisco reduced costs by 37%)
  • It’s harder for employees to slack off

Why it Sucks:

  • Reinforces negative notions of hierarchy when some are in cubes, and others in offices
  • It’s not possible to close a door for privacy
  • Meeting in your “office” is more difficult
  • Constant noise and disturbances
  • To do it well, isn’t really any cheaper than building offices
  • It lowers morale and productivity
  • Unless the work environment requires a high level of interaction with others, the lack of privacy is a distraction that negatively impacts productivity
Making it Work:
  • Over communicate any office-space change.  This is a very big deal to people
  • Be very clear about your reasons for making a change, and make sure you consider the pro’s and con’s
  • You need much more meeting space in an open concept than with offices
  • Hire someone to help you through the transition
  • Ensure white-noise
  • If you go open – everyone must go, from the CEO on down
  • Research it well – there is no shortage of information arguing both for and against open office space

One Solution:

  • If employees spend the majority of their time working individually, put them in offices
  • If employees spend a great deal of time collaborating, put them in an open office configuration.  Perhaps in offices of four to eight people.
  • If you want you employees to spend most of their time reading Dilbert, put them in cubicles.

Last Word from Robert Probst:

  • Before his death, the inventor of the cubicle apologized for his contribution to “monolithic insanity”

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Office Design – Enclosed Offices vs. Cube Farm

What’s the best type of office design?  Enclosed offices?  Open space concept?  Cube farms?

Listen to the ‘Office Design’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

'Open Office Concepts' Podcast Slides

Take a look at the Office Design Cheat Sheet

Difficult Conversations

Most managers would rather die in a house fire than give someone personal negative feedback.  It seems far too painful, and it would be much easier to ignore the situation and hope it goes away.  Hope rarely works as a strategy, and failing to deal with these awkward situations usually comes back to bite you in the butt.

These types of conversations are never going to be fun, but by doing a few simple things, you can at least make it easier.  Check out the Wily Manager website this week for a podcast, written materials and other helpful hints on making difficult conversations easier.

Monday’s Tip: Don’t Wing It. Even Improv stars prepare in advance… you need to, too.  When planning for a difficult conversation, anticipate possible responses to your challenge, keeping in mind that the response may be shock or denial.

Tuesday’s Tip: Come With Evidence. Do your homework in advance, and don’t rely on rumour or hearsay.  Cite observable behaviours or concrete examples of the undesired behaviour.

Wednesday’s Tip: Don’t engage in small talk. Difficult Conversations are awkward enough.  The sooner you cut to the meat of this awkward conversation, the better for both you and the recipient.

Thursday’s Tip: Do not defend. In a difficult conversation, it is wise to explain your position as clearly as possible.  It is not wise to defend your position, or be dragged into a debate.  Be very clear about what you want to convey.

Friday’s Tip: Commit to tangible action. The purpose of a difficult conversation is to affect change.  Get agreement on exactly what will be different in the future.  What will be different, starting when?

Making Difficult Conversations Easier

How do you tell someone they smell? Or that they need to stop handing out religious pamphlets at work?  Maybe an employee dresses inappropriately at work.  Perhaps an employee’s spouse calls the workplace several times per day.  What about your assistant’s drinking problem?

You could do what some managers do:  ignore the behaviour and hope it goes away.  Now, hope rarely works as a strategy to solve a problem, but let’s give it a try and see what happens:

They Smell:  If you don’t act they’ll keep smelling.  If you’re in a retail business, you’ll almost certainly lose customers.  If the aroma is only affecting co-workers who have brought the problem to your attention, they will know for sure that you don’t care and/or that you lack the courage to deal with a relatively simple problem.

An employee is pushing an opinion or unwanted material on co-workers.  This one is a bit more tricky  — you need to balance an individual’s right to speak freely with his coworker’s right to not be harassed at work.  This one is a level of degrees, but suffice it to say that if you’ve received complaints, the behaviour is probably already perceived as being too aggressive.

An employee is dressed inappropriately.  When I was in university, I worked for a retailer who had a strict dress code.  This included a ban on earrings for male employees.  This was fine until one of the senior executive’s sons showed up with an earring, and the facility manager would not address it for fear of reprisal.  Now, there are a whole bunch of things wrong with this scenario, but needless to say, when the manager displayed his cowardice in this regard, he had a facility full of male employees wearing earrings out of protest within a month.  Rightly or wrongly, the dress code fell apart, and the manager lost all credibility.

In these, and in perhaps most cases, it can look (at least at the outset) that it is easier to NOT engage in these difficult conversations.  In the short term, it probably is easier.  Longer term, you create all kinds of problems for yourself as a manager if you don’t tackle difficult conversations.  You erode trust, you lose credibility, and frankly you’re not doing your job as a leader.  Consider this one of the “burdens of leadership”.

If you want help with this difficult part of the job, listen to our podcast, and visit our page on Difficult Conversations.

Difficult Conversations – You Smell and People Don’t Like You

How do you tell someone that they have bad breath or that they didn’t get the promotion?

Listen to the ‘Difficult Conversations’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Tough Talks Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘Difficult Conversations’ Cheat Sheet

Manage Your Boss — Don’t be a Brown Noser

“If a bulletin came out from head office saying that all managers had to wear a dress, he’d be the first guy in line down at the ladies-wear store” — Rick

Rick was a facility manager I interacted with many years ago who was an excellent upward manager.  He also disdained boot-licking as is evidenced in the quote above.  Most managers understand the importance of leading and managing well the people that report to them.  Unlike Rick however, these same managers have a huge blind spot when it comes to managing their bosses.

Rick was a good manager.  He knew his business very well, and he was very even-handed in how he managed people.  In some cases, he knew the business better than his bosses, and didn’t hesitate to tell them so:

“I’m not sure who came up with this idea, but they’ve never actually worked in this industry before.  I guess I’ll have to read them their fortune, and let them know it will never fly”.

Rick had no problem saying “no” to his bosses.  In many cases his boss would thank him for pointing out some of the ridiculous things that somehow made their way out of head office.  So how did he do this, and not get himself fired?

First – he picked his battles well.  The bigger the organization, the more people there are far away from the perverbial coal-face to think up stupid ideas.  You can’t possibly fight all the stupidity, so you need to choose wisely.

Second – he knew what he was talking about.  He didn’t offer platitudes and opinions when he opposed his boss.  He brought data and evidence.  It’s hard to argue with someone who has done his homework

Third – he offered good feedback to his boss as much or more as he offered constructive criticism.  He nurtured a “no BS” relationship with his boss, and constantly improved his credibility.  When it came time to challenge his boss, his credibility account was built up enough that even when his boss disagreed, he would still listen.

Give it a try – or you could just be an unbelievable brown noser.  Apparently that can work too:

How to Manage Up

Your boss is probably your most important stakeholder, but if you’re like most people you spend the least amount of time managing him/her.  The idea of “managing” your boss makes some people nervous, but by doing a few simple things, you can greatly impact the quality of this important relationship without being a complete brown noser.

Monday’s Tip: Figure out what your boss cares about. As a Manager, there are more things to work on than you’ve got time to do.  Make sure you do things your boss actually cares about.  There’s nothing quite so useless as doing something well, that nobody cares about.

Tuesday’s Tip: Ask to see you boss’s goals. You need to link your goals to your boss’s goals.  In order to do so, you need to know what his/her goals are.  If you’ve got a personal goal that is not aligned with your boss’s goals, then you need to reassess whether that goal is worth pursuing.

Wednesday’s Tip: Create expectations for your boss. Tell you boss what you need him/her to do for you to be successful in your job.  You may not get everything you ask for, but at least s/he’ll know what you need.

Thursday’s Tip: Never surprise the boss. Unless you’re 7 years old and it’s Christmas morning, nobody likes surprises.  Your boss is not different.  You need to provide a heads-up if things are starting to derail, rather than waiting until you’ve got a bona fide disaster on your hands.

Friday’s Tip: Understand the style differences between you and your boss. Bad News:  If you end up in a bun-fight with your boss, you’ll probably lose.  Figure out what style s/he uses, and adjust your own behaviour accordingly.  Complement his/her style where you can.

How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing

Why is it important to manage your boss?  What are 4 key strategies for managing up?

Listen to the ‘How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing’ podcast:

: Download Podcast (MP3)

Managing Up Podcast Slides

Take a look at the ‘How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing’ Cheat Sheet

How to Manage Up Without Brown Nosing

Members Click Here for Additional Tools

Get Instant Access to 200+ Cheat Sheets, Videos, and Other Immediately Usable Tools for Busy Managers – Try Out a Wily Manager Membership Today!

If you want to get ahead, then you need to manage up.  But how do you do this without brown nosing?

Learn to manage up the right way:

This is important because….

  • Your boss is probably your most important stakeholder
  • Problems often arise from style differences that are easily managed
  • It’s costly in time, effort and credibility if you get it wrong

Figure out what your boss cares about:

  • Ask to see your boss’s goals and ask about his/her top priorities
  • Link them to your own
  • Set up a recurring meeting if one is not currently in place
  • Assess your boss’s world-view

Create and manage two-way expectations:

  • Know what is expected of you – preferably in writing
  • Communicate what your expectations of your boss are
  • Ask your boss about his/her style
  • Never surprise your boss
  • Make your boss look like a star

Ask for feedback:

  • Actively seek out feedback from your boss and others
  • Listen and act on feedback that you get
  • Give feedback generously to your boss and others

Adjust your style:

  • You can only control your own behaviour
  • You are accountable for your relationship with your boss
  • Communicate in a way that is most meaningfulto your boss
    • Media
    • Level of detail
    • Frequency
  • Look to complement how your boss operates

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Business Training Seminars? Watch Children’s TV

Because I am a freak of nature, I can’t remember what happened yesterday afternoon, but I do remember the name of Marsha Brady’s first boyfriend (Harvey).  For the uninitiated, Marsha Brady was the stuck-up, know-it-all character from the early 70s sitcom, The Brady Bunch.

This, along with Gilligan’s Island, Mr. Rogers, The Electric Company (incredibly starring Morgan Freeman, and Rita Moreno), The Partridge Family and Sesame Street, formed the basis of some fundamental lessons that guide me in business and in life to this day.

Here’s what I know:

Gilligan’s Island: In a survival situation, where life and death are at stake, people will still revert back to comfortable roles.  Gilligan was always an idiot, Mary-Ann bakes Coconut Cream Pies (when she wasn’t busy getting baked herself – google Dawn Wells), and Ginger could easily manipulate anyone with a Y chromosome to get her own way.

Mr. Rogers: Most importantly, he liked me just the way I am, but also, interestingly the only civil servant (the mail man) had a two-decade old problem balancing his meds.

The Electric Company: Who knew reading could be so much fun?  And… always treat those around you with respect.  You never know when one of your co-workers is going to win an Oscar, Grammy, or Tony award (see the stars listed above).

The Partridge Family: Sometimes you can fake it till you make it.  For evidence ask Susan Dey to sing, or watch Danny Bonaduce strum a bass guitar.  For those who don’t know – The Partridge Family managed to knock the Beatles off the number 1 Billboard Chart, even though they were lip-syncing to the work of studio musicians.

Sesame Street: I’m not sure about this one – even as a five-year-old, I had a hard time accepting life-advice from a six-foot tall, ambiguously gay canary.  Perhaps the lesson from Sesame Street is that it is always, all about marketing.

Enjoy

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