If you ever worked in an office, you must have noticed that the most prominent thing which sets it apart from every other workplace is simply – the people in your team.
Employees are a true driving force of any business. Without them, there is simply no chance for success. Everyone has their own story, experience and knowledge that brings something important to the company so it can achieve more, grow, and expand further. It is crucial for each employee to be able to bring something unique to the team, whether that is a professional skill, speciality, expertise, or even personality and humour. Each individual needs to play an important role in the team, so as a whole, it can create, achieve, and deliver more than anyone could on their own. Teamwork is essential in any successful business!
According to the data provided by Office for National Statistics, nearly half of people in employment (46.6%) worked from home throughout 2020. Since then, there has been a lot of speculation and predictions in relation to the future of offices and so called, new normal. Various polls and surveys show that people do not want their job to become solely home-based.
94% of respondents said they’d like to spend at least one day in the office each week
– Jillian Smith – Envoy.com
One of the reasons for that is the lack of collaboration when working from home. Having to communicate with the rest of your team only via Zoom, or MS Teams (even though it does have its perks) simply doesn’t work in a long run. Collaborative work is all about bringing people together, so they can achieve more than they ever could on their own, which just isn’t possible via a video call.
Below, we have listed our 5 Ways to Improve Collaboration in the Office, so you can help your team achieve great things – together.
Bring people together.
While working individually can be the best solution in some cases, we can all agree that sometimes it just doesn’t work. Bringing people together, pitching ideas, brainstorming, feedback, it all works in a favour of your business. Of course, one could argue that emails and texting do allow some sort of collaboration, even when the team is working individually, but the most efficient and comfortable way to collaborate is simply by talking to each other, throwing ideas out there, and joining the discussion.
Studies show, that working collaboratively also improves employees’ wellbeing. We cover that topic in more detail in one of our previous articles – Mental Health at Work
Zoning – Creating spaces that work for people (not the other way around)
In a nutshell, zoning is a way of separating various parts of the office depending on their purpose, in an open-plan office. Adjusting the design, layout, and equipment, accordingly, can help promote a desired way of working in a specific zone. That could include, collaborative zone, creative zone, relaxed zone, or focused zone.
Zoning allows you to create spaces that work for people. Depending on their job role, seniority, or mood, they can choose the perfect space for them so they can truly achieve the best results of that particular task.
Get people involved in a process.
We are all experts in our fields. If you are truly passionate about your job, you’ll know exactly what is needed to make the most of it. That’s why it’s always a great idea to get employees involved in the process of creating their workspace. People often are limited to only work with what they have available. Sometimes there are even pieces of equipment that are never actually used! Asking employees what would help them achieve more, will make the entire team more engaged and as a result improve collaboration, and overall improve the team’s performance.
Choice of furniture products
This may be an obvious one, but for some, furniture is still just an afterthought. We always encourage our customers, designers, and architects to think of the use of furniture at the very early stages of the project. With so many great products, manufacturers, and designers out there, the possibilities for creating spaces that spark collaboration, are pretty much endless. It is not just the case of fitting the a few pieces of furniture in a room anymore. It is all about making each element of the space feel like it really belongs there, and the easiest way to achieve that is to think of the use of furniture as early as possible.
Bevlan specialises in Space Planning, which means our experts design the space to make is as efficient as possible. For more information on how we can help you plan your space, get in touch today!
Prioritise comfort.
In the areas designed for collaboration, it’s important that you prioritise comfort. That is simply because collaboration is a result of an effective communication – which cannot be achieved if we are not relaxed and comfortable. Think of the experience you want the team to have when they work collaboratively. Very often we see teams fail to collaborate effectively, because people in the team do not feel relaxed enough. Once again, our experts are here to help you if you want to create a space where your team can collaborate comfortably. Get in touch here.
So that is all we have for now. Follow Bevlan Office Interiors for more articles and information about the world of commercial interiors. Thanks for taking the time to read this article, and we will be back with more very soon!
01254 876666
Bevlan Office Interiors LTD
York Mill, Livesey Street
Rishton, Blackburn
BB1 4DX, Lancashire
