The single most vital employee to the success of any serviced office center is its manager. The person in this role is responsible for driving the operations, finances, sales, and marketing functions of the business, so there are often times where their task list can seem insurmountable. If you’re a serviced office center manager, and you’re in search of some tips on how to prioritize that endless scroll of To-Do’s, then this blog post is for you.
1. Stick to the Strategic Plan
The first tip on my list is to stick to the strategic plan for the serviced office center. This plan determines how time, staff, and monetary resources are allocated to achieve various business goals. The managers that I work with are all major contributors to the strategic plans for their serviced office centers. Because they help develop the plan, they have a detailed understanding of the overall vision for the business and can prioritize based on the targets outlined. So, if you’re removed from strategic planning and goal setting for the serviced office center you manage, then you should work to be involved in those processes. Your participation will naturally influence how you prioritize your day-to-day activities going forward.
If your strategic plan has already been established by the center owners or other shareholders, it should still motivate how you prioritize whether you’ve helped with its composition or not. If your strategic plan makes customer growth a major focus, then dedicate the appropriate percentage of your time in sales and marketing. Or, if the major focus is improving efficiency to better serve your current client base, then shift your time to process improvement and/or technology upgrades. Again, the strategic plan’s purpose is to guide resource allocation decisions toward business objectives. As the business’s most valuable resource, you must do your part to make sure your time and talent is used accordingly.
2. Hone your Routine
With so many responsibilities on your plate, it is imperative to have a well-crafted routine. As a serviced office center manager, you should have the autonomy to develop that routine to best carry out your job function. When developing your routine, you should ensure that each recurring task adds value for current clients, drives new business development, and/or ensures that the business functions optimally. You should exclude tasks from your routine that can be delegated–tasks that another employee is or can be trained to complete. If you’re the only employee, as is the case for many small serviced office centers, you don’t have the option to delegate. In these cases, you need to prepare your routine so that the tasks that require your skills the most are done first and other more general tasks are left for afterwards.
Remember that your routine is not set it stone. You should assess the tasks that you accomplish on a routine basis regularly to ensure that they are still appropriately prioritized. When you established your routine, you might have had filing paperwork on your to-do list for every other week. But, you’ve recently hired a part-time assistant who has time to file once a month. You can now delegate that task even though it will occur less often. You can then increase your time spent on tasks that can only be accomplished by you.
3. Outsource What You Can
Outsourcing is a great tool for center managers. There are businesses dedicated to accomplishing some of the tasks that can clog up your day. Providing reception services, for example, can be burden on the time you should be using to generate new business or better serve your customers. At Workspace Strategies, we offer Professional Receptionist Outsourcing Services, PROS, to provide outstanding call answering service to serviced office centers. PROS helps serviced office centers effectively grow their businesses and improve their productivity by removing the constant distraction of a ringing phone. If you are interested in adding PROS to your tools for effective prioritization, please contact us to learn more.
