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5 Signs Your Office Space No Longer Works For You (And How To Fix Them)

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Your ideas and the skills of your employees will push your company forward, but your office space will be the backbone that allows them both to thrive. If your office is no longer working for you, it’s working against you – and no good can come from that. Below, we take a look at five telltale signs that something the office needs to change, as well as offering some useful tips to fix the problems.

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Your Surroundings Don’t Match

In the early days of your business, you were not so concerned about where you worked. Any office would do: getting your business off the ground was the important part. There comes the point, however, when reputation starts to become a factor. If you look around at the companies in the neighboring offices and realize they don’t have the same ambition as you do, it might be time to begin looking for premises that the go-getting companies call home. It’ll help you step up your game.

Your Staff Are On Top Of Each Other

As a business owner, few things are more challenging than trying to gel your employees into a cohesive, well-oiled team. This is all the more difficult if your office is overcrowded and your workers are always getting in each other’s way; it’s a surefire recipe for workplace tension. If you have room, build extra office space on your premises and give people space to breathe. The relatively small steel building cost will be a small price to pay it if it leads to a happier workforce, and it’ll also enable you to add more employees should you need to. People always work better when they’re happy in their surroundings.

Relaxation Is a Memory

If you’ve got a cookie-cutter office space, then it’s unlikely to be relaxing or inspiring to your employees. But adopting the Silicon Valley approach of ensuring your workers feel comfortable at work can have real benefits, and it’s worth putting in the extra effort to create a space for them to unwind. Add a bigger kitchen, or chilled out reflection zone. It’ll be money well spent, as your employees will be at their creative best when they feel calm and relaxed.

Meetings Aren’t Productive

There’s a school of thought that says meetings aren’t productive even at the best of times, but there’s no denying that sometimes they’re just necessary. However, you’ll find them all the more difficult if you have to add extra chairs to a room just to accommodate people. If you have an important meeting, rent a conference room at other premises until you’re able to expand your office.

Targets Are Harder To Hit

If you’re failing to reach your goals or deadlines are getting stressful, your office might be playing against your worker’s productivity. If you have a big project that needs to be completed, consider allowing your workers to work from home. Studies have shown it boosts productivity, and you’ll also be freeing up office space for the people who need to be there.

Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Business Software

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When it comes to building up a business, there are many different factors that will determine your overall success. However, one of the least considered points that many business owners overlook is the way they utilise technology. In particular, one problem area that they fail to notice is the use of software. Now, it’s not to say that companies don’t use software. In fact, it’s clear that in order to survive in the current business landscape, the use of software is paramount. However, there’s a clear divide between companies that understand how to make the most of their software and companies that barely use 10% of the features.

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Common Examples of Underutilisation

Let’s take the common word processing software packages that companies use. The three most common applications (as of writing) are Microsoft Office, OpenOffice and Google Docs. We could write an entire article comparing the three and what type of businesses they cater towards, but that wouldn’t be the point of this article. Instead, we’re going to show how businesses fail to utilise their full list of features and how it’s both costing them money and time.

Collaborative Features

Despite Google Docs being a free-to-use cloud application, many people fail to realise the full potential of a cloud-based office productivity suite: collaboration. Google Docs offers one of the simplest ways for multiple people to collaborate on a single document. Whether it’s a technical document that is being written by several authors or a project document that has to be edited by several people, Google Docs offers the necessary tools to take advantage of it. Sadly, far too many people use Google Docs as a simple word processing tool and nothing more. This can, of course, be done with other office programs, but it’s a good example of how even a free piece of software contains unique features that are often underutilised.

Remote Working

A great feature that has been enabled by cloud services is the ability to work from almost anywhere. There are still people that save their work to flimsy USB flash drives and pass them around between the office. Those days are over (for the tech-savvy, at least) and it’s now possible to not only use the cloud to transfer files across greater distances and keep team members updated, but you can also access and edit files from virtually any piece of hardware. You can edit it on your Mac laptop, Windows desktop, Android smartphone or even iOS tablet. No matter what operating system or type of device you use, there’s a good chance that the software you use can actually be used across multiple different platforms. The industry calls this cross-platform compatibility and it’s something that far too many companies forget about.

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Finding Problem Areas to Fix

Now that you understand the effect of software and how it can optimise your business, let’s take a look at ways that you can actually find problematic areas to fix.

For starters, always start from your workflow. From start to finish, your workflow should be seamless and without any hitches. You can’t just take a look at your workers and just guess if something is going right or wrong, however. The key here is to use analytics in order to get a better idea of what your business is up to or capable of. For example, keep track of where the bottlenecks in your business are. If a certain department or employee is constantly causing the rest of your company to halt, then it might not be their fault. It could be the fault of a piece of software or it could be that their job is just so tedious they can’t finish it on time. It might not be a case of getting an extra employee either—they could just need some new software

Realising What Software Can Do

At the end of the day, computers are dumb, Without input from somewhere, they don’t know what to do because they don’t serve a purpose. A computer that calculates numbers has a purpose, but even then, it needs input in order to function. You should think of software in the same way—it needs to serve a purpose and it’s often to make something easier.

Let’s say your financial department is having issues with calculating your incoming and outgoing money. As a result, it’s causing delays in paying and receiving invoices and you’ve even had a couple of complaints from the rest of your staff because they aren’t getting paid on time. You might think about hiring a new employee because it seems like your finance department isn’t being productive enough. However, there’s a better way to solve that issue.

Fixing the Issue With Software

Take note of how much it costs to hire an employee and keep it aside. Next, take a look at what the financial department’s workflow is like. If you find that they’re having troubles calculating numbers and filling out spreadsheets because they’re doing it manually, then it’s possible that a piece of cloud accounting software could fix the issue. If it’s a specific problem, such as payroll management or asset management, then things like fixed asset management software or a dedicated program to manage staff wages could be a great alternative. In other words, software is fantastic for fixing things or improving productivity as long as you’re willing to research the possible solutions and consult a tech-savvy employee for assistance.

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Some Final Words

This article has been brief, but it should have given you some insight into how you can unlock the full potential of your business software. It’s an expensive investment, which is why you need to make the most of your software. Read guides, learn if you find that you’re not utilising more than half of the tools available to you, then you might want to consider downgrading to another piece of software that will help reduce your business expenses.

Understanding Industry: Where We’ve Been And Where We’re Going

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When starting your business, the chances are that you did some research. Nobody entering into an enterprise does so blind. In fact, the months and years leading up to product release are heavy-going. As well as developing your product, you have to find the best materials, study what the competition is doing, and try to find a price bracket which works. It’s no easy task, and by the end of it, your research skills were probably pretty good.

But, most startups fail to consider one thing – the history of business. And, why should they? What does it matter what’s come before? Though few people realize, it matters a lot. Everything, including business, evolves. Nothing in this world is permanent, and the business world is no different. If you fail to consider what’s come before, you have no way of foreseeing what will come in the future.

To get an idea of how much things have changed, you only need to take a trip to the past. Four leading industrial moments are worth your consideration. We’re going to take a brief look at them here.

Late Eighteenth – Early 19th Century saw the first industrial revolution. When people speak industrial revolution, this is most often what they’re referring to. Before this date, production mostly took place in people’s homes. Businesses were small and local, and everything was produced by hand. But, why did things change so drastically?

Late in the eighteenth century, mechanization was, and arguably still is, the greatest game changer. Here, industry was born. Instead of small-scale operations, factories took charge of the market. People could produce more, and they could do it faster than ever.

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1870 brought with it the next remarkable changes in the industry. A variety of different inventions meant good news for business. For one, telephones were an option. People could speak long distance, and the new communication made business much easier. Automobiles were also coming into use. Business owners could travel vast distances for the first time. And, most notably for the industrial field, gas and oil were now an option when it came to electricity. As such, even larger factories were a possibility.

1970 onwards, things started to change in significant ways which should be recognizable to you. During these years, electricity became part of everyday culture. Televisions became staples in every home. A little later down the line, computers and mobile phones changed the way we communicate forever. And, in 1983, researchers started to consider how they could produce a worldwide network,  later known as the internet.

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The present day sees us in midst of Industry 4.0, the fourth, and ever developing revolution. Digitalization is changing business. Though we have yet to see the results, social media, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things are sure to take things further than ever. In the same way that telephones once changed the game, the technology of today promises to do the same. With the use of these technologies, your business reach is broader than has ever been possible. You’re operating during a time which promises to go down in the history books, so make the most of everything that’s available to you.

So, where do we go now, and what does it mean for your business?

As you can see, things change fast. Inventions have the ability to alter the face of business as we know it. And, each time things change, companies which fail to keep up go under. During that first revolution, many small business had to close. They couldn’t keep up with the production of factories. And, the same could happen to your enterprise if you aren’t careful. Things are changing at a faster rate now than ever before. The development of the Internet of Things means we will soon have smart homes. As such, successful business is no longer just about keeping up. You also need to be one step ahead of the game. Here’s how.

Forward thinking

Now that you’ve taken the time to look back set your eyes firmly forward. You need to always think forward with everything you do in business. Never settle for a method, because it could go out of date in no time at all. Always look for better ways to operate. Never be afraid of trying new things. Software developments and new technologies should be top of your agenda. Sure, they may be untested now, but they could be the next big thing. And, if you’re using them when that happens, you’ll get big too. Just remember; the internet was untested once upon a time.

Keep up with news

Back during the above-mentioned revolutions, signs of what was to come were in the news all the time. And, some smart business owners will have noticed that. But, the ones who failed to pay attention won’t have made it past the big inventions.

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Don’t make that mistake. Keep an eye on world news, and in particular, tech news. That way, you’ll be well aware of the latest big things. If any major game changers are on their way, you’ll know about them. Get into the habit of checking the news each morning. To save time, download a news app onto your phone. Most of these include a few different sections, including technology, and business. You should be reading both. It’s also worth making a note of anything that catches your eye. Then, you can do your own research into the issue.

Watch your competition

Watching your competition is, of course, always important in business. But, it’s even more so if you want to stay at the front of your game. While none of us like to admit it, the competition sometimes does things right. And, when they do, you want to be hot on their heels.

They too will be doing everything possible to stay on trend. And, they may spot things you don’t. Take note of any sudden popularity heading their way, and get to work determining what they’ve done right.

Streamlining Your Business To Save Time And Money

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Running your own business is no walk in the park. There are a lot of things to think about, and if you have sole responsibility for many business areas, things can start to get messy. Having too many tasks and processes can start to make things complicated, and could be costing you valuable time and money. If you think that your business could do with some efficiency, read on for tips on how to streamline your business.

Cut down your paperwork

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Paperwork is the bane of many office environments, whether it’s a home office or an actual office. It builds up quickly, has to be filed and quite often it’s unnecessary. Having a lot of paper around means that it’s likely that important documents get lost, while also slowing down your ability to carry out tasks while hunting around through various bits of paperwork. Assess the paperwork that you have and ask how much of it is really necessary and how long it needs to be kept. If you can combine some forms and do away with others entirely, you might find that you can reduce your paperwork (and workload) easily without having to sacrifice on the quality or output of your work.

Use software to simplify

There is a lot of great software out there that can help make your processes simpler and automate many tasks, saving you time and money. Some good examples include contract management software from this website, accounting software and people management portals. Investing in software may have some initial cost to your business, but having it can free up your time to do other tasks as well as limiting the room for error and inconsistencies between documents.

Join the Cloud

Everyone is moving to the cloud. There are many advantages for those who embrace cloud computing, including more flexible working and overall cheaper running costs for your technology. Cloud computing enables people to work seamlessly on documents, which can save a lot of the time spent going back and forth amongst other benefits. Cloud computing is also better for the environment and reduces how much energy and paper you use around the office and can make your company run more efficiently. It’s also a secure system with backs up your data constantly to prevent any loss of data which could come from a regular server.

Improve your digital offering

If you find that your website is looking a bit lacklustre or isn’t fulfilling its purpose, it might be time for an update. Improving your website of boosting your social media activities could help you to engage better with more customers and give them more of what they want. Think of digital as not only a marketing tool but a listening tool that can help you understand your customers better and build a better relationship with them.

Streamlining your business is easier than you might think. You’ll find many simple changes can reduce workload and costs to make your business easier to run so that you can focus your energies on the more important parts of your business.

Young Business Owners: Gain Respect From Older Employees

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When you’re working with a team of people who are older than you, it can be difficult to get them to take you seriously. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are or how much experience you’ve gained in a short amount of time; an older generation will always believe that life experience is more valuable. It’s a tough situation to be in, but you won’t be able to achieve your goals if your team can’t view you as their boss. The fact that youth doesn’t necessarily equal inexperience is something your employees will need to learn. Here’s how you can prove it to them.

Show Your Knowledge

There’s no point walking into a room full of older people with plenty of knowledge and only knowing bits and pieces. You need to demonstrate that your knowledge of the industry is second to none. Make sure you’re doing thorough research and staying abreast of innovative ideas. Subscribe to reading material with the latest trends and make connections with people of influence. Most importantly, focus on doing your job well, instead of showing off. If you’re dedicated to your job and willing to go above and beyond, you’ll gain more respect than if you were to spend your time competing against employees.

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Lead by Example

There’s no doubt that every business owner has to be a leader. If you’re managing a team of employees who are older than you, you need to be the best leader you can be. Perhaps you could benefit on a leadership MBA online to brush up on your skills.  When you want to set a good example, you have to be the first one to arrive at the office and the last one to leave. You have to do your fair share of work, but you also have to have others on your mind. The point of being a leader is guiding people in achieving their goals.

Allow Suggestions

No matter what your age is, no-one likes a boss who thinks they’re better than everyone else. If you’re working with a team of older people, you’re in a prime position to gather valuable advice. Don’t get so preoccupied with proving yourself, that you forget to take advantage of the expertise of your team. No-one knows it all, and trying to demonstrate that you do just because you’re young is a fool’s errand. If you want to be taken seriously, learn to listen. People are far more likely to want to work with you if their suggestions are used.

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Be Determined

One of the barriers to working with an older generation is that they may be used to using different methods in their work. As a young boss, you may have more insight into how to move the business forward. You’ll have a fresh perspective that some of your workers may not agree with. This is when you’ll need to put your foot down and demonstrate the benefits of your ideas and overrule anyone who disagrees with you. However, if there are instances when your ideas prove to be wrong, it’s important that you admit your mistake instead of making excuses. Your staff will respect you more, even if you feel embarrassed.

Stay Calm

There are many times when business doesn’t go to plan. You’ll be faced with difficult decisions and stressful times. You may be under a lot of pressure, but it’s important you remain calm and don’t let the pressure effect your mood or your relationships. As a boss, your staff will be judging you on your behaviour during the most testing times. So, show them you can handle stress as well as they can and you can come up with solutions when they’re needed. Your calm attitude will reassure them in times of high stress.

Dress Appropriately

If your staff members are turning up to work in a suit and tie, well-groomed and ready for anything, and you’re turning up in a t-shirt and jeans, you’ll inadvertently be making the gap between you and your staff even larger. If the older members of your team are putting a huge effort into the way they present themselves, you need to do the same. You won’t necessarily have to wear a suit every day, but it’s important you show up looking smart. You can also try introducing a more relaxed dress code for work so you and your team meet somewhere in the middle.

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Your Business Persona

The way you behave in work may be very different to the way you are outside of work. As a boss to older people, you may not have the luxury of being their best friends. You need to present yourself in the way you want people to see you. So, if you want to be respected leader, you need to act like one. Ask yourself how you want to be viewed in your job role and create a business persona accordingly. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with your natural personality. If you have to act your way through to getting the respect you desire, don’t be afraid to do it.

Expectations

Lastly, start off your new team with an open mind. It isn’t safe to make assumptions because you may have one older person on the team who is determined to find fault in your leadership and one older person who’s determined to help you reach your goals. It’s important that your employees know what you expect of them and you listen to them when they tell you what they expect of a good leader. Always keep the lines of communication open and never forget how much an older person can bring to a team.

At the end of it all, the best way to show your team, no matter what age they are, is to achieve your desired results. It’s only when the business reaches desired outcomes that your employees will see the benefit of working hard and working together. So, as a leader, be patient and let your work speak for itself.