We’ve heard many managers compare their jobs to that of baby-sitter. The only difference being when the kids upset you, you can send them to their room, and the snacks and TV-watching options are better for the baby-sitter.
It is true that managers of people get dragged into all kinds of trivia, and much of it should be ignored. There seems to be no more emotional issue than that of the office layout. Several years ago, people were mourning the loss of office walls, as many organizations transitioned to cube-farms. Now people fight over the size and location of their workstation.
Unfortunately, most managers have very little time/patience/control over the office configuration, so the best they might be able to do is offer some advice to disgruntled cube-dwellers as to how to cope with the physical office reality. Here are some ideas:
Define Your Office Boundaries. This worked for Les Nessman at WKRP, and it can work for you. Don’t acknowledge anyone unless they knock at your pretend door, and certainly don’t put up with people walking through your pretend walls. You might even want to suspend wall paintings from the ceiling to line up with your pretend walls.
Engage in Closed Office Behaviour. Make loud personal telephone calls. If you feel the need for a nap, close your pretend door and sleep like you would at home (unless you sleep in the nude). Need to pick your nose? You’re in the privacy of your own office – go for it. If someone tries to talk to you through a pretend wall, look towards the pretend door, and shout, “I can’t hear you. Would you like to come in here?”
There’s No Place Like Home. Most people spend more conscious hours in their workplace than they do in their homes. You need to make the place comfortable. Buy a portable fridge to put under your desk, as well as some small kitchen appliances (start with a toaster, blender, and espresso machine). You probably don’t control much in your work-place, so make your 8 X 8 part of the empire a castle.
Of course with this new-found freedom, you will also have to respect and ignore others engaging in the same behaviour if the illusion is to be complete. Here’s a YouTube clip on office layout that outlines the perils of being too interested in what’s happening one row over on the cubefarm.