This week, I'm going to share with you how you can use information obtained from super-imposing the Eight Squares of Business over your office floor plan to gain a snapshot of which aspect of your business or which division of your organization, is putting a drag on your bottom line. For readers who may have missed last week's article, you can read in on my website, along with step-by-step instructions on how to grid up your office space according to the Eight Squares of Business.
Essentially, when a particular sector has positive features in the space, then the aspects (i.e: departments, divisions, business activities, personnel) that relate to that sector will generally have fewer glitches, problems or issues or show better progress or profitability. By contrast, if a sector has negative features in the space, then the aspects that relate to that sector will have a disproportionately high number of problems, challenges, obstacles or require an inordinately high amount of attention, at the expense of other areas of the business or organization.
For example, Office A has certain negative features in the East area. The East sector relates to action, execution, operations and implementation, as well as the business development team, staff engaged in fulfillment of services or orders, and the COO of the company. Any business occupying Office A will experience a great deal of problems, snafus and mistakes that relate to the execution, operations and implementation aspects of their business. For a simple trading business, this could manifest in frequent and costly mistakes made by staff delivering the wrong orders to customers, or failing to send orders in a timely fashion. In a more sophisticated organization, the COO may find he/she constantly runs up against challenges or obstacles in attempting to improve the business processes of the organization.
Spotting 'Negative Feature' In Your Office
So how do you know if a particular area in your office has negative features? Negative features come in many forms but here are a few of the more common variants:
- Exposed overhead beam in the area or an uneven ceiling
- Protruding wall columns in the area
- The area is dark, dank or musty, windowless and airless, making the area very Yin.
- The area is very cluttered, or the space is very tight
- The sector is a closet or storage area
- Thick foliage or trees outside the area that result in the space being dark or very shady due to lack of natural sunlight despite windows in the room/space
- Pylons or lamp posts outside the area - this is irregardless of whether it is visible from inside the building or not
- A T-junction right outside the area (if the office is on the ground floor)
External negative features (typically, negative features found outside the building or office space, such as thick foliage, pylons or lampposts, T-junctions), tend to have a greater impact as it is harder to minimize their negative effect, since they tend to be larger structures or public structures.
By contrast, internal negative features can usually be corrected with renovation, or the careful positioning of office furniture or potted plants. An exposed overhead beam can be covered with an artificial ceiling. Exposed columns can be covered/evened out using heavy furniture such as filling cupboards or built in cupboards/storage, or artificial wall. Very dark, extremely Yin Qi spaces can be brightened using more lights.
The Case of the Missing Sector
For small and medium sized businesses operating out of a single office unit or a floor of a shop lot, sometimes there can be the problem of a missing sector. This is usually the case if the office unit or shop lot has an odd design, or is set at an angle, resulting in a space that is not a square or rectangle. An office or business premise has a missing sector when one of the squares of the eight grids is missing.
This does not mean that the office space is automatically bad. But it does mean that the aspects that relate to that sector be it people, divisions or departments, or business activities, will often be the bane of the business or the most problematic aspect of the business. For example, Office B is located in a shop lot that has a missing South sector. The South sector relates to an organization or businesses branding, public relations, reputation and status. Since the South sector is missing, the business occupying Office B will find they either are unable to find a good staff to assist them in branding and PR efforts, or the business' services of products lack awareness amongst the public, or do not seem to be top of mind amongst the target market.
|