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Collaboration is the number one way to make a business go from zero to hero within a matter of months. By working together as a team, we can pool ideas, learn from each other, and basically come up with creative answers to rather taxing problems.
In order to encourage this type of working, it’s vital to have the right type of working environment. A more interactive office is a great starting point, and one which encourages people to speak, open up, work in groups, learn from one another, and basically collaborate towards a common goal.
Designing this type of office isn’t difficult, you simply need to think about comfort, space, and encouragement. For instance, you can buy office furniture sets which scream collaboration, because they are wide, give you space within your office for people to roam around, and as a result, give you the interactive collaboration you require. Funky office furniture will capture the imagination, and push forward new ideas!
Let’s look at a few innovative ways you can design a more interactive office space, to allow your staff to collaborate together - after all, two heads are better than one!
Think About Food and Refreshments
We human beings are never happier than when we are near to food and coffee! (well most of us anyway). For that reason, think about collaboration bench desks which are close to the coffee machine or the water machine. Perhaps a snack dispenser, even.
Go For a Cafe Vibe
Freelancers head to coffee shops to work for a very good reason - there is coffee, there is food, and it has a chilled out vibe which makes it easy for creativity to flow. We mentioned about placing collaborative areas close to food and refreshments, but how about turning the entire canteen into something which resembles a pavement cafe? This helps your staff feel like they’re simply not at work, and could really be the difference between ideas and no ideas! Check out cafe seating styles, and think about your canteen tables and chairs, when designing your new cafe/canteen.
Embrace Random Seating Plans
Having a set desk for a set employee might work very well in regular offices, but it can sometimes tie people down. If you have desks without a set assignment, e.g. anyone can sit where they want, this encourages people to move around, talk to those they wouldn’t normally talk to, and collaborate on new ideas together.
Install Interactive Whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards are a great idea for team working, because it allows everyone to scribble down their ideas, show them, and for others to add their ideas onto the end of them. This can be a fantastic way to develop new ideas and plans. Throw in some comfortable seating, perhaps something like benches or cushions, and before you know it, you could have your new product idea brewing!
Embrace Comfort in General
As humans, we need to be comfortable in order for ideas to flow, this is simply a fact of the times. So, when you’re designing your workspace, you need to think about comfort at all times. This goes from the desks in your office, to the canteen, your reception seating, to your breakout areas - everything needs to be comfortable, bright, attention grabbing, and in-keeping with the theme and ethos of the workplace.
These are all smart and easy ways you can turn your workplace from regular to interactive, without much fuss at all. Of course, planning is vital, and you need to use the space you have in the best possible way. If you have a small workplace, you’re not going to be able to spread out as much as a large office, but if you do have the extra space, think about installing ‘zones’, e.g. a quiet zone, a collaboration zone, a working zone, etc. This will allow your staff to go to the part of the office they need for a certain task, and moving around they can collaborate and mix with other members of staff whom they might otherwise not have mixed with.
Being more collaborative and interactive has some major benefits for the entire company. Bigger and better ideas means bigger and better profits - there is nothing negative in the suggestion!
Do you have any new ideas on how to turn a regular workplace into an interactive collaboration zone? Share them, and let’s pool our ideas together!