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The Shape Of Your Office Is Not The Constraint
| Posted on February 19, 2019 at 3:15 AM |
As an Entreprenuer, whether you are working in a box or outside of the box, it is not the space that restrains you. Quite often it is the expectation of what to do with the size of the space you are confined to.
What is a place? In the full sense of the word, a place is a space where relationships are self evident and inter- recognition is at a maximum, and where each person knows here they and others belong. (Auge, 2010: 229)
Depending upon your type of business, this space may be limited by internet access (WIFI), foot and/or traffic noise, and importantly as an Entreprenuer starting out, what surrounds you in your work space. Don't fret about if you should have designer furnishings, you can make your service classy.
Entreprenuers are generally thought of as people who think 'outside the box', however it is the security of a box that one can take risks in, right? Take for example, a home business set up in a home office or garage. Most start up businesses (that do not require specialist machinery) are started up in such, as they provide a base and known cost for the action of a start up business. How you accommodate your business to fit around this space is vital for the success of your endeavour. Take for example, a virtual assistant. This business is reliant on reliable internet connection, and a lack of interruption, so the location of the start up is confined to where this is provided. At home? Then do not have your office set up in the kitchen if you can avoid it. Nothing like a dishwasher beeping or other distractions to keep you from your clients deadlines. Working for yourself to fuel your passion for the benefit of others has its challenges.
Next time you visit a cafe and note there is no seating available, take a look at the tables. Those who are huddled over their laptops are not doing a service for themselves or you. The cafe has lost a seat to a Flat White, and you are feeling flat that you cannot get a seat. Being an Entreprenuer does not give you the right to use another's space for your own gain. You must think bigger, outside the office you thought constrained you, and allow others to gain access to shared space.
Here and Now -Look around -Find a space -Decide what is interesting about it - What makes it a speclia place - How can this be revealed through performance?
Andrea
www.tempdirect.nz
When finding a fault, you sometimes must go past the noise
| Posted on November 13, 2018 at 4:55 PM |
I have experienced the frustration of knowing there is a fault in a circuit, but not knowing how or where to pinpoint it. To do so takes time, that is well worth the effort.
Living on a 6-acre block of land in South Auckland means that noise is not as easy to recognise as it was when living on a block of concrete in Auckland city. Generally, if there is a fault in the services you receive in the city, you can phone a business to report this fault and a fault finder or technician will be sent to fix the issue so that you can continue with your business. It is not always known to you why there was a fault, only that there is an (interim) fix and you can continue with business. The fault may occur again, and another call to report the fault will see it fixed. However, when living in a rural location, the business owner often becomes the technician, meaning that you have a better understanding of how your external units work to make up the smooth operation of your daily business.
Recently I noticed that the cattle were getting through the electric tape and into the young trees planted in the paddock. Of course, this observation happened to be on a stormy day, when I would rather have stayed inside and phoned a technician to sort out this problem. Only I own the problem and so I am responsible for finding the fault. Through experience I have learnt to leave the electrics on so that you can hear where the fence is shorting out. Sometimes it appears obvious as in this case, where the cattle had pushed the tape off the standards, and the tape was in the grass causing it to short. Feeling relieved that I had appeared to have found the fault quickly, I managed to get the tape back through the standards. Walking back to the electric fence unit, I was dismayed to see that the Red light was blinking, meaning that I had not fixed or found the fault. I then walked around the 6 acres of fencing to listen out for a shorting sound. Of course, the fault was not to be heard. I then went to the house and got my Fence Fault Finder and proceeded to test the fence to pinpoint where it was shorting out. After testing patches of fence for it to point forward, I managed to find the fault by going past it. Fault fixed and fences working again, meant the trees would live to see another day.
I believe when a business unit is not working to its full capacity, this has a similar effect on a business either up or down the line. If, as a business owner, you are so removed from your daily business noise that when there is a fault, you rely on an external source to fix it, this fix may keep your business working if only for the interim. Take time to listen to your business. It should pulse with a singular beat. Don’t get distracted by the acres of wire that deaden the sound, instead take time to listen to each unit (department). Ensure the units are set to reach the same volts using the same meter. If the Fence Unit is not strong enough to drive the energy required for the current fence, put in a stronger unit that can withstand the load when under pressure. Do not put in interim fixes that become permanent. These fixes will not keep the business strong when you need to up the energy in busy periods.
Listen. Look. Learn. Lead.
Andrea Smith
TempDirect
Take the Office Outside of the Square - Put a Handle On It
| Posted on October 26, 2018 at 11:00 PM |
Since it’s invention, the office has changed in both appearance and form.
From a humble briefcase to the walled in think-tank of today, here is quick look at the adapting needs of the office.
In its early day, the office was a place of work, where mostly women worked in a shared space, with the incessant clacking of typewriter keys.
In the years following World War II, Friedman wrote that most offices “… consisted of a vast open space, with rows and rows of identical desks crammed tightly together.”
(The diminishing size of the cubicle didn’t help its plummeting popularity. The average cubicle shrunk between 25% and 50% in size between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, according to The Washington Post).
Friedman described the open office as more “egalitarian,” in theory, but also rife with problems. “While open office designs may increase communication between colleagues, they often do so at a cost to individual work,” he wrote.
However, as most modern day employees know, it’s one thing for an organisation in 2018 to slap buzzwords like collaboration, egalitarianism, and teamwork on its office walls and website.
It’s another thing entirely to run a business based on such principles.
Today, the office can work within the confines of a wall or be productive without this constraint.
Andrea
TempDirect