Growth is change and change is painful. Even when you are moving to a larger space because the business is expanding, you and your employees may still experience the stress of a significant disruption in workflows. Fortunately, you can learn from the mistakes of others and reduce the stress of an office move, no matter why you are moving or what other pressures are on your business.

Tip #1: Clean house and don’t move junk

Do you really need to move all that? Time and expense are considerations, but it’s really your energy level you need to protect. Moving trash that’s just going to be thrown out wears down your ability to cope with unexpected problems. Add time into the moving schedule for shredding documents and getting rid of items you won’t need in the new office. Get everyone involved in the purge and move lean. Don’t neglect the big picture. Maybe you don’t need the hardware and desk phones of an office phone system anymore. Consider the zero infrastructure business model, where your IT and your communications are fully digital.

Tip #2: Plan it all out like a military operation

The more organization you pour in on the front end, the less stress you’ll be under on moving day. Label every box according to a system that anyone can interpret – full words, not initials. Just a few seconds less cognitive dissonance in interpreting each box label can grant you clearer thinking overall. Keep a master list of how many boxes are going so you know immediately if one is lost or forgotten. 

Tip #3: Turn stakeholders into move announcement chain

People have a lot on their minds and they are not going to remember that you moved or where you moved to automatically. Make sure all of your partners, suppliers, customers and network connections know when you are moving and where you are going. Post it on your website, on social media, in the newsletter, etc. The advertising rules apply: people don’t normally remember something until they hear it at least three times.

Tip #4: Find out what the leasing company expects

Extra costs and complications often arise when the former tenant and the commercial leasing company don’t agree on what condition the property should be in after move out.  Document it well with photos and hire a professional cleaner. It may seem like overkill, but it’s certainly will result in fewer headaches when you are trying to ramp up productivity in the new location.

Tip #5: Look into moving insurance and what's covered. 

Expect the unexpected. Often fragile items get damaged or broken in a move despite the most careful packing and handling. Insurance can come in many different forms and coverage types, including office-to-office or just damages in the moving truck. Smaller items that are critical like teleconferencing speakers and mobile screen projectors should be moved personally, as accidental damage can hurt business productivity in ways that insurance won’t fix.

Tip #6: Rethink personal working spaces

Have employees bring home their personal items and approach the new working space with fresh eyes. Maybe the employee’s old plants won’t be able to thrive under the new setup or maybe activity based working concepts can open up new configurations. Forget about how things were set up before, wipe away all assumptions about what a workstation has to look like and imagine the ideal arrangement for greater productivity and efficiency instead. Make the office a place where people want to be. Gather employee ideas well before moving day and co-create a workplace of the future.

Tip #7: Eliminate possible stressors on move day itself

What if it rains on move day? Be prepared with a resource you can call to get extra umbrellas and people to hold them over the cardboard boxes during the move.  Maybe you might need to set up a temporary cover with a tarp from the back door of your building to the moving truck. What are the traffic patterns going to look like on that day.  Monday morning is a terrible time to move because rush hours it can add hours to the move while it takes years off your life.

Enter your new workspace with a positive attitude and productivity-first mindset. Moving is a time to reevaluate what works and what could be better. In the accelerating mobile global world we live in today, agility and flexibility are the keys to long term growth.

The agile, flexible phone system for the future of work

For more insights on what to do in the months, weeks and days prior to a move,  download our office moving checklist. This can help your entire team stay organized as moving day approaches. Throughout the transition to your new space, the Spoke Phone application can keep your business fully connected, even after you disconnect your old office phone system.. Port over your old numbers and deploy the full power of a mobile PBX to keep operations running at full speed during the move. 

Our mobile PBX platform can work as an add-on to your landline or you can digitially transform the communication experience. Spoke is virtually all you need to run your communications, on moving day and far into the future. Learn more about how Spoke can work for your business by claiming your own free trial or private demo and move on to the future of business communications.