The following is a re-post from an article I came across a few weeks ago on Fastcompany.com entitled: 11 Ways You Can Make Your Space as Collaborative as the Stanford d.school. The article gives some very good suggestions for creating a collaborative workspace within an organization. (all 11 suggestions are below)
But what about environments such as coworking spaces or shared office spaces where many different companies are residing in the same space? As we continue to tour/interview founders and residents of coworking/shared office spaces, here are a few of the questions we will consistently seek answers to.
Is collaboration actively encouraged or does it happen naturally on its own?
Was the layout of your space specifically designed to encourage collaboration?
Have you made changes to the original design of your space to improve the interaction between your residents?
Does your space offer any special type of furniture/equipment that has increased the collaboration within your space?
We will compile all of our findings and release them as part of a future article as well as a new section on our interactive guide to leasing office space for entrepreneurs and startups. If have founded or worked in a coworking/shared office space, and can speak on behalf of the questions above, please email us: info at openofficespace.com . Of course we will give full credit for any participation.
Later this week we will be interviewing one of the top office furniture dealers on the east coast to discuss (affordable) new advances in workstation design, specifically as they pertain to maximizing interaction/collaboration in the office.
Here are the 11 suggestions from the Fast Company article:
1. Start with what you have. "We started in a trailer," Kembel points out, "with the 'd.school' as a sign on the table." Kembel's advice: Claim a space and label it.
2. Go to the people who are interested first. Form a crack team of true believers to spearhead your campaign. Revolutions start from the bottom up.
3. Empower your team to change their space. Somebody high enough up the food chain needs to defend this activity against facilities managers who may not be amused. Then, be willing to keep changing things. Try out different ways to configure space to see what works best.
4. Watch the behavior of the group and take notes. Have somebody in your band of innovators own this task. What's working, what isn't? "Try, reflect, modify," says Kembel.
5. Develop group-sized artifacts. Whaa? In short, forget the spreadsheets with the tiny type. "Get your ideas up in big enough form so that others can see and add to them."
6. Keep any prototypes, sketches, or idea-jam artifacts low-rez and not precious. "Don't get too formal too fast," says Kembel. Making things precious locks them in too soon, short-circuiting potential improvements.
7. Show your work in progress. "Put your underwear up on the line and let people comment. But keep it safe," Kembel says. No rude comments allowed.
8. Do something simple to surprise people. At the d.school, they painted the women's restroom lipstick pink, and hung disco balls. "That makes people realize that somebody cares about your experience," Kembel says.
9. Invest more in "we" spaces than in "I" spaces. Cozy nooks for teams, not plush corner offices for the alpha dogs.
10. Mix up seating options. Take the table out of the room and sit on the floor. Vary seat heights. Change customary positions at meetings. For example, put the group leader in the middle, instead of at the head of the table. Try holding a meeting where only standing is allowed. In general, work to lower status markers.
11. Make idea generation and capture easy. Any non-porous surface can be a whiteboard, says Kembel. Buy a sheet of sheer acrylic at Home Depot and mount it on a wall as a writing space. Keep markers handy. Put prototyping tools out where people can grab them when an idea strikes.
"Creativity follows context," says Kembel. The main idea, he says, is not to segregate creativity from other activities. "You don't need to be fancy to do it," he says.
Content Source: Fast Company
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