Examples of Workspaces where Innovation Works
A lot of organizations are starting to understand how important it is to have a “creative” workspace. It is a hugely innovative idea to have a space like Google and Pixar offers, but it has been proven to be conducive to innovation overall. With more and more companies relying on innovation software to improve their business practices, it is perhaps no great surprise that many are also focusing on the physical environment. After all, research has proven that it helps the creative juices flowing.
How the Physical Environment Affects Collaboration and Ideas
Knoll recently completed an important study that demonstrated how collaboration has changed over the years. Businesses use innovation software as much as possible, conference rooms are informal, and CEOs now sit among their employees. The reason for this is that innovation and operational excellence are vital to the success of an organization, and this can only be achieved through collaboration. Get it right, and the business becomes hugely competitive. Get it wrong, however, and you will struggle to grow.
It is about striking a balance as well, however. Some meetings need to be held in bland rooms, with stakeholders sitting around a table. Not everything can be informal, after all. However, formal environments make people feel on edge, and it stops them from saying what they really think. Hence, they will also find it more difficult to come up with real solutions. Using innovation software is a way around this, because it enables people to share their thoughts where and when is convenient to them. But it is even better to combine this with informal spaces where people can speak face to face, freely.
We don’t all have to have offices with slides and rooms with lounge cushions. But a splash of color here and there can be really beneficial. Some managers, particularly those with more old fashioned management styles, worry that colors are distractions. In reality, however, they literally enable people to see things in a different light. The work space should be welcoming and accessible, and this encourages conversations to become more social and less structure, which equates to more honest and real.
What you achieve by changing the physical working space, is encourage your staff to be open and to share the things they think about, because they feel comfortable and know they are being listened to. They will be more inclined to properly work together, and they are more likely to embrace the innovation software as well. And, overall, this will help to improve your business processes.
Creating the Perfect Space
When staff can collaborate properly, you create a real team, in which the individual expertise of every individual is able to shine through. But how do you do this, when it is likely that you only have a limited space? According to the Knoll research, there are 32 different collaborative spaces to choose from, ranging from games rooms to meeting rooms of different sizes. What brings all the spaces together is that they have tools to help people share ideas – an uplink to your innovation management software, therefore, is vital!