Chapter 20
Does Your Office Measure Up?
In This Chapter
Gaining a competitive edge is easier than you think
Reorganizing your office space
Studying the ming gua staff dynamics
Incorporating Flying Star methodology
Whether you own a large corporation or a small business, your primary goal is to generate revenue. Yet, to do this, you must first create a welcoming and comfortable working environment: a place where employees will be driven to succeed and that encourages camaraderie and teamwork. Often, we set aside this notion, viewing the design and layout factors as incidental and low priority.
In this chapter, you’ll understand how quite the opposite is true—promoting a harmonious environment is an essential consideration, a positively golden means to a lucrative end.
Labor Pains
Mr. Smith owns and operates a small insurance agency. He has nine full-time employees on his payroll: five sales associates, one accountant, two secretaries, and a receptionist. All are paid competitive salaries. After six months of service, each is eligible to participate in a retirement program and receive medical and dental benefits. Also, Mr. Smith rewards each member of his staff with a three-week paid vacation per year. He reimburses accrued sick days not taken at the end of the year. He provides holiday parties, tickets to sporting events, and other niceties. By most company standards, Mr. Smith offers a very generous package.
So why is his staff listless? Why does Mr. Smith himself feel sluggish? Why must he mediate frequent arguments among his staff? Why, despite all the incentives, is his staff unmotivated and unhappy? Desperate and frustrated, Mr. Smith seeks your advice.
First Things First
Even before you can determine favorable directions and appropriate remedies, you must first walk around the outside of Mr. Smith’s facility. Determine the building’s sitting direction. Take a compass reading. Evaluate the environment. In this case, no external factors are influencing the owner and his staff. Now, go inside. Scope it out. Draw up a simple floor plan and divide it into eight equal sections. Ask yourself whether the layout is partially responsible for poor performance and troublesome relations.
Disregarding the numeric qi map for the moment, focus on the floor plan. Upon entering through the eastern main entrance, you are greeted by a receptionist. Is there a problem here? Well, as you learned in Chapter 10, you should not sit directly opposite a door. Here, the receptionist is subjected to a surge of qi hitting her each time the door opens. Take a closer look. The wall in back of the receptionist, formed by two adjoined cubicles, prevents qi from circulating throughout the interior. No wonder Mr. Smith and his staff feel stagnant and tired. They aren’t being nourished by life’s breath.
Furthermore, the eight cubicles are set up so that the desks face each other. Even though the cubicle walls offer the staff privacy, they still, in effect, are “in each other’s face.” Also, is it good feng shui to sit with your back exposed to a doorway? Of course not! Plus, despite the close proximity, the staff is dissuaded from interacting with each other, with their cubicle entrances on opposing sides of the room. These factors could quite possibly contribute to the bickering and tension.
Feng Alert
It is not favorable to sit with your back exposed to a door. You are subjected to a surge of qi, which can cause a lack of concentration, nonproductivity, and illness. This position offers only unfavorable psychological and physical effects. Ideally, your back, like your home, must be supported by a wall or a mountain.
Regarding the western areas of the business, Mr. Smith’s desk is seemingly situated in an advantageous position against an unobstructed wall (we’ll examine this later). The back entrance, adjacent to the employee parking lot, opens into a tidy restroom/kitchen area. The conference room? It holds a proportionate oval table and chairs.
Dui Have a Match?
Born on April 2, 1948, Mr. Smith’s ming gua is Dui 7 metal. His west-sitting building also corresponds to Dui. An exact match, Mr. Smith and his structure are compatible. Referring to the ming gua chart presented later in this chapter, Mr. Smith’s best directions are the NW (F1), NE (F2), SW (F3), and W (F4). Notice that the agency’s main entrance is in the east. For Mr. Smith, east just happens to be his worst direction (H4), bringing unproductive careers and misfortune. The western entrance in the back of the structure is favorable. For Mr. Smith, west is his F4 direction, bringing peace and stability. Finally, his SW-W office (also located in back) corresponds to his F3 and F4 directions. So far, Mr. Smith’s office and the back entrance favor his qi.
Won’t You Please Come In?
Before we make any changes, let’s consider what the Flying Stars have to say. Beginning in the center, traveling up to the facing cell, we’ll move clockwise around the floor plan as we examine the number combinations and possible remedies. Note: M stands for Mountain Star; W for Water Star; and T for Time Star.
Center: 5M (earth) 1W (water) 3T (wood)
Earth controls water. A dominating relationship promoting the likelihood of ear-, kidney-, and genital-related illness. Install a golden (metal) rug along the central path-way (see the “after” floor plan later in this chapter). This will weaken the ill-natured 5 earth star (metal reduces earth) and strengthen the 1 water star (metal produces water), an innately auspicious number.
East: 7M (metal) 3W (wood) 1T (water)
Metal controls wood. A dominating combination bringing potential robberies and litigation. Although you might think adding water restores balance, and thus, diminishes the unfavorable forecast, the reductive phase water isn’t strong enough to thwart the untimely and inherently bad number 3. Here, metal is needed to control the water star and assist the mountain star.
Southeast: 6M (metal) 2W (earth) 2T (earth)
Earth produces metal. Although productive, the relationship fosters financial loss due to illness, an unfortunate mishap that is being encouraged by the ill-natured earth time star. Add metal to weaken the disadvantageous water star.
South: 1M (water) 6W (metal) 7T (metal)
Metal produces water. A productive relationship bringing career advancement. No remedy is needed.
Southwest: 8M (earth) 4W (wood) 9T (fire)
Wood controls earth. A dominating relationship bringing creativity and harmony only if the conflicting situation is remedied. During Period 8 (February 4, 2004 to February 3, 2024), the ruling mountain star 8 must be supported by a mountain. The neighboring building serves as a remedy and will help bring good health and beneficial relationships to Mr. Smith and his staff. Install the fire phase to revert the cycle to a balanced one: wood-fire-earth. Fire will brighten 4 wood’s creativity and lessen the possibility of inappropriate affairs. Also, fire will enhance the mountain star’s ability to elicit teamwork and harmony among co-workers.
West: 3M (wood) 8W (earth) 5T (earth)
Wood controls earth. A combination bringing monetary gain only if the dominating relationship is remedied. During Period 8, the water star must be supported environmentally by a body of water or virtual water such as a roadway. In this case (and not illustrated) a parking lot is located in the back, the moving vehicles encouraging the wealth star to flow into the western entrance and windows. Inside, water is needed to activate the number 8 money star. (For the previous Period 7 [1984–2004], we would have suggested adding fire to connect the mountain and water stars.)
Northwest: 4M (wood) 9W (fire) 4T (wood)
Wood produces fire. A productive combination fostering writing and creativity. In this case, notice that the area contains two highly auspicious money numbers—9W in the northwest and 8W in the west. As you’ll soon learn, we recommend that Mr. Smith move his office here. Install a table fountain to activate the money (water) stars. Disregarding the phase relationships between water (the enhancement), 9 fire and 8 earth (the water stars), remember that water activates usable water (wealth) stars (8, 9, and 1 for Period 8).
North: 9M (fire) 5W (earth) 8T (earth)
Fire produces earth. Although a productive relationship, it is not a healthy one. Although the number 9 is encouraging the innately unfavorable number 5’s propensity for misfortune, the number 8 time star is warning his naughty earth brother not to misbehave. Just in case the 5 star disobeys, add moving metal to reduce the possibility of financial and health hazards.
Northeast: 2M (earth) 7W (metal) 6T (metal)
Earth produces metal. A combination bringing financial gain. During Period 7 (February 4, 1984 to February 3, 2004), we would have suggested adding water to activate the king money star 7. For Period 8, metal will strengthen the retired but still effective number 7 water star and reduce the bad-natured number 2 mountain star.
Sitting Pretty
Now that you’ve determined the remedy or enhancement appropriate for each area of the office, you can put the final piece in place. Look at how the desks of Mr. Smith’s staff are positioned. Depending on each staff member’s ming gua, you’ll reposition their desk so that they face either the east or west wall (see the “after” floor plan).
Moving clockwise around the room, let’s look at each employee, beginning with the receptionist (female 1):
1. Gua 3 female. The receptionist faces F4. As there is only one choice here, she’s fortunate.
2. Gua 4 male. Currently, this salesperson faces north, his F1 qi. Although auspicious, his back is exposed. We’ll move him to face the east, his F2 qi.
3. Gua 6 female. Facing her H2 direction (north), position the accountant’s desk to face her F1 direction, west.
4. Gua 6 female. Currently, this secretary faces north, her H2 direction. Reposition her desk to face west, her F1 direction.
5. Gua 8 female. Facing north activates the secretary’s H3 qi. Move her desk to face west, her F2 qi.
6. Gua 3 male. While facing his F1 qi (south) is auspicious, his back cannot be exposed. Reposition the sales associate’s desk against the east wall, facing his F4 qi.
7. Gua 2 male. Currently, this sales associate faces his H2 qi (south). We’ll move him so that he faces west, his F3 qi.
8. Gua 9 female. Although south (F4) is favorable for this salesperson, we cannot expose her back to the door. Reposition her desk toward the east wall, her F1 qi.
9. Gua 9 male. Now, this sales associate faces south, his F4 qi. Move his desk to the east wall, his F1 qi.
By making some simple adjustments, Mr. Smith and his staff should think and feel better.
Staff Dynamics
Let’s see how Mr. Smith gets along with his staff. He’s a gua 7 metal person. As you learned in Chapter 8, gua 7 people are quite stern. They’re efficient, effective, and often argumentative. All in all, Mr. Smith is hard to get to know. His own kind (metal people) understand him, as do earth people (earth generates metal) and water people (metal generates water). Mr. Smith is especially hard on wood types—gua 3 and gua 4 people. He controls them. He does not like fire people, who seek to control him! All things considered, Mr. Smith gets along best with the metal accountant (female 3), the two secretaries (metal female 4 and earth female 5), and the earth sales associate (male 7). The wood receptionist (female 1) fears him. He micromanages the two wood sales associates (male 2 and male 6). In turn, the two fire sales people rub him the wrong way (female 8 and male 9). They challenge his qi. Innately, Mr. Smith is compatible with four staff members. He’s incompatible with five of them. If a position becomes available among those he’s incompatible with, Mr. Smith should find people with whom he’s attuned. They will work with his qi and not against it.
A Means to an End
Taking into account the interior layout and the ming gua and Flying Star systems, form a conclusion. What recommendations would you suggest? Consider …
Whether the entrance should be relocated.
Now that you’ve determined a favorable sitting direction for everyone (we’ll discuss Mr. Smith later on), how the cubicles can be positioned so that the design fosters harmony among the co-workers.
How the cubicles can be positioned so qi can easily circulate.
Given what the Flying Stars destine, whether some employees should switch desk positions.
Whether Mr. Smith’s office is best suited to him.
The following illustration shows our recommendations.
Based on this new floor plan, we suggest …
Relocating the main entrance—it is the key feng shui solution in this case study. We suggest moving it to the northeast wall. Currently, the door’s location corresponds to the building’s and Mr. Smith’s H4 qi. By moving the entrance, it will bathe the owner, staff, and clients in an auspicious qi combination (2M-7W), inspiring financial gain. Northeast also corresponds to the building’s and Mr. Smith’s F3 qi.
The cubicles should be arranged so that a middle corridor allows qi to circulate freely. The corridor will also give the staff more privacy.
To facilitate harmony among the co-workers, entrances should be along the corridor.
The accountant in Room 3 should switch with the salesperson in Room 6. The auspicious water stars (8 in the west and 9 in the northwest) are great for administering the company’s finances.
Mr. Smith should occupy the west-northwest office. Corresponding to his F4 and F1 qi, respectively, orient his desk so his back is against the north wall (as illustrated). Although he’ll face his H3 qi (south), he’ll also face the 8 water (money) star. This takes precedence.
In theory, if Mr. Smith applies our suggestions, he and his staff should coexist peacefully. He should notice an increase in motivation and production!
In Part 6, you’ll learn about the Chinese Zodiac and a method of Chinese astrology called The Four Pillars of Destiny.
The Least You Need to Know
Design and layout play an important role in a business’s success.
Study your co-workers’ ming guas to determine how compatible you are with them.
An employee’s desk position within a particular design/layout can affect his or her job motivation and productivity.
Preventing qi from circulating fosters misfortune and illness.