Should you (the office manager) try to reorganize the office into a team?
As the office manager, organizing the office into teams will benefit the business operation as whole. Instead of managing and supervising the staff individually, which takes more effort in ensuring that everyone adheres to their responsibilities, it would be easier to create teams. This is because a teamwork environment enables close working relationship among its members and sharing of responsibilities will make the work easier for everyone. Since the core operation of the business is to sell insurance. Setting goals are much easier to achieve since there are more than one individual working on achieving such goal. Ideas to improve workflow can be shared by everyone and it is essential for the business to utilize staff inputs to improving the overall business operations.
Should the team include both the professionals and the clerical assistants?
Creativity is the key to the improvement of the office operations and ideas coming from both the professionals and clerical assistants are constitutes beneficial attributes to operational improvement. Therefore, the mix of professional and clerical staff when forming teams is an excellent strategy in diversifying the talents and skills that each team will need to perform well.
How much control and authority should you maintain over the team?
Allowing the teams to use their strengths in improving their performance presents an opportunity for them to strategize and such freedom is necessary in utilizing creativity. The chain of command will still remain intact as, the highest authority in the office remains in the position of the manager. However, to give equal chance for everyone to take the position where they make decisions, team leaders are to be assigned in each team to serve as the second arm of the manager in overseeing how each team performs. A scheduled rotation of team leadership is an example of a strategy where everyone can share leadership experiences.
