Don’t clutter your office with useless furniture

As part of the renovations to Taskmaster Towers, I’ve swapped offices with another manager. In the corner of my new office, there was a three-seat leather sofa.

Now you might call me a minimalist or a modern-day Calvinist, but when it comes to a productive office, you need nothing more than the basics. That means a desk, a chair, a computer, a telephone and a door that can slam shut. With a lock on it.

However, a look of surprised disbelief came over the face of the office manager when I mentioned I wanted the sofa out of my new office.

“Are you really sure you want to get rid of the sofa? What if you have a potential client or an investor in your office?” asks the sales manager.

When it comes to sales presentations, that’s what the boardroom is there for. Heavens knows that expensive A/V projector we had installed could do with some more use instead of sitting in the corner gathering dust. If a customer really wants to sit on a sofa, a lunch meeting in the cafe downstairs will more than suffice.

“But what if a supplier comes in?”

Well, they won’t sell many supplies if they deliver their sales presentation while sitting on a sofa, now will they?

“What about meetings with staff?”

Good meetings are like life in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan: Nasty, brutish and short. Who wants a meeting that drags on as the result of a staff member getting comfortable on a sofa? If anyone wants a convenient seat in my office, they can pull in a chair. Or stand.

“But surely excessive furniture in an office conveys authority,” an exasperated office manager finally retorts.

Well, if any of my staff doubts my authority, they won’t after they “accidentally” get put on kitchen duty every day next week. That also goes for office managers who ask silly questions when they should be moving sofas.

That sofa now sits in the reception – where it belongs. If there’s a piece of useless furniture cluttering up your office, I suggest you do the same.

Get it done – today!