The Essential Office Manager
by Don Tyler, Tyler & Associates
In my work with feed yards all over the country, it is a privilege to work with some of the best Office Managers in all of agriculture. There are consistent traits among them that make them appreciated and irreplaceable.
Their Key Skills
These great Office Managers share a variety of valuable characteristics and skills. They have an unwavering positive attitude, excellent phone skills and steadfast loyalty. They realize that they quite often are the consistent contact that vendors, customers and visitors have with the operation, giving them a unique opportunity to enhance the Company’s image on a daily basis.
The most effective Office Managers are always in control, nearly impossible to inconvenience, easy to talk to—and the one person in the yard that you never want to get crossways with….
They are organized. These people can find any piece of information—regardless of how ancient it is—in less than a minute. They never procrastinate and always plan for the busy times of the year well in advance.
Confidentiality is one of their core values. They keep critical information very private and can easily determine the best interests of the company when sharing performance and financial reports.
One of the most unique skills they develop is an ability to listen to every person that comes into their office and quickly determine what they really need—even if the person doesn’t know for themselves what they need. They have a keen sense for the employee who is just venting, vs. the one who actually has a problem that needs to be addressed by management.
They can read a caller’s personality immediately and adjust their communication style to accommodate them. “Gate-keeping” comes naturally to them. They can talk about the weather and markets for just the right amount of time before connecting them through to the person they need—then get right back to what they were doing without missing a step.
The best Office Managers are good representatives for the business in the community. They realize that this position is viewed as the “ultimate insider” so what they say outside of the business carries with it the highest level of credibility.
One other key observation of the Essential Office Manager is that their associates in the office tend to be just like them. They surround themselves with great people who are just as respected by the management, employees, vendors, customers and visitors. Anyone on their team can step in without notice and perform each job as effectively as anyone else.
How Do We Select Them?
Selecting an Office Manager requires some additional questions during the interview. We need to know about their organizational style, their approach to working with a variety of people, their ability to keep critical information confidential and their level of loyalty to the Company.
To glean this information during an interview, we need to ask “Behavior Based” questions that put the candidate in common real-life situations that they will experience on the job.
For a complete list of typical Behavior Based questions for Office Managers and others, e-mail me and I’ll forward them. ©
easy-to-read articles designed to increase overall awareness among the feedlot community.