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Management Tips for Office Managers

By: Daryl Cowie

In today’s high-paced, competitive workforce an effective office manager is key to successful business operation. As an effective office manager you need to understand your role, and your key objectives.

The key responsibility of any office manager is to ensure the smooth operation of day-to-day business. There are three levels required to accomplish any large task (like running an office)

1. Strategic Planning and Monitoring

2. Tactical Planning and Monitoring

3. Execution of the Plan

An Office Manager is a tactical manager. As a tactical manager you normally have the following key responsibilities.

1. Understand the strategic plan. This is harder than it sounds. It is not always easy to get a clear vision of your objectives from your leadership team. Keep asking for it until you get it, and accept and understand that you may never get a clear answer on this. Ask how your performance will be measured. If you can’t get a straight answer on the objectives, you can often figure them out by what you are being measured on. Strategic planners measure their staff on things that reflect what they want done. Your real objective is to meet not just the measurements, but also to meet the intent of the measurements.

2. Communicate your objectives. Start by writing down your best interpretation of what you think you are supposed to accomplish. Always pick 2 or 3 key objectives for the year. Communicate them to your boss (this is what I’m planning to do, tell me if you want any changes) Communicate them to your team. Don’t wait for your boss’s approval (unless additional spending is required).Start. If your boss disagrees, then make the necessary course corrections. Show some initiative. This is your team. If you’re struggling with where to start suggest looking at ways to reduce office costs and ways to improve making accurate time estimates and meeting them. The main thing is that you put together a plan and show that you have an organized direction. Tactical managers must be able to organize details and turn objectives into plans.

3. Motivate your team. Tell them what the objectives are. Tell them what they will be evaluated on. Ask them for ideas on how to accomplish the objectives. Listen to them. Whenever possible give people credit for their ideas. Whatever you do, don’t try to keep all the planning to yourself. The more you modify your plans with the ideas of your team, the more cooperation you will get in achieving them.

4. Monitor progress, communicate progress and deviations, and make course corrections. Your leaders want measurements. It’s the only way they know something is happening.

Understand the strategic plan, communicate your objectives, motivate your team and measure your progress.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_9033.shtml

Home Refinancing Is More Than Just About Interest Rates

By: Alan Lim

Knowing whether now is the right time to refinance should be more than just considering current interest rates. Find out some factors which you should consider when deciding home refinancing.

If you are like the rest of us, you surely would like to take a break on your monthly mortgage. Home refinancing just seems to be one of the most, if not the most promising solution to this problem. However, you probably know how this should be done at the right time in order to achieve your desired goal of financial freedom. You need to consider whether the interest rates now and the mortgage market are showing good indicators. There are factors that you also need to consider such as your mortgage insurance and your long-term goals for paying off your mortgage. You need to know beforehand whether debt consolidation is part of your financial strategies for getting a refinance. These are just a few of the considerations you need to make before you go through any refinancing. Success can only be assured if you evaluate all the critical factors and you know how to choose the right time and manner by which you refinance.

The monthly payment you need to make on your mortgage is directly related to the interest rate provided by your lender. If your existing mortgage is based on a fixed rate, it is easy to compare the interest you are paying for with that of the current interest rates and know whether home refinancing now will make sense. All other factors held in place, if your fixed rate loan provides interest that is lower than the current rates, then there is no reason to refinance.

On the other hand, if you have an adjustable rate mortgage and you are beginning to feel the interest rates rising with your increasing monthly payment, you might be better off refinancing to a fixed rate now. However, note that while it may sometimes be a good decision to refinance based only on interest rates, these rates should never be just your sole deciding factor. What does this mean? This simply goes without saying that your individual situation is the best indicator whether refinancing today is a good decision.

You may be paying unreasonably high mortgage insurance or have built-up enough equity to drop those insurance charges with home refinancing. You may have signed a five-year adjustable rate mortgage, your introductory term may be ending soon but you still do not have the means to revert to a regular amortized loan which pays the principal along with the interest payments. Or, you may need some extra money to pay off high-interest debts, send a son to college, or needing a renovation for your leaking roof. These situations call for great opportunities to get some home refinancing.

Refinancing can be your ticket to relief from many burdens during this time. However, this is not to say that you only refinance on a per need basis. You still need to consider whether the market and the interest rates are ideal to ensure that you are making the right decision when getting some home refinancing. Sure, to refinance should be more than just about interest rates. It should also be about right timing, proper financial planning, learning your options and making the right decisions.

Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_9018.shtml