Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Jeff Taylor on Office Space

In the presentation I went to yesterday, Jeff Taylor mentioned that the staff at Eons had just given him an office, but that he didn't know what to do with it. He said his office at Monster was five comfortable chairs and a coffee table. Now that's an open-door policy.

Think about what you use your office for. In general, leaders need to get out of their offices more and go work with people. Very little leadership happens in your office. These days, it's not totally clear that leaders need one. Laptops are portable, files are on-line, and we all have cell phones. But, there is no need to be extreme.

Take the lessons from Taylor: Be accessible and work with the people.

2 comments:

James Todhunter said...

Hi Ken,

At my last company, we did the totally open office thing. None of the executives had offices--not even the CEO. Frankly, I wouldn't do it again. It sounds neat, but there are many practical issues that make it a sub-optimal arrangement. You don't think of all the reasons an exec needs an office until you don't have one. What may work for Mr. Taylor does not work universally.

Cheers,

Jim

Anonymous said...

i agree with james.
At my current company DSH, no one has an office none of the managers or the CEO, my last office most people had offices. I enjoy offices alot more i just like this company better!

Theres a reason execs have an office its hard to work in cubicles, you hear everyone and it is uncomfortable.


Cheers,
Kelly