How To Create An Office Space For Collaborative Working

Choosing your office design and determining which trend is right for you and your employees can take time and research. It’s beneficial to adapt your office setting to those of the workers, to ensure morale is high and productivity doesn’t falter.

Collaborative working is the new way to say working together or working as a team – except with a little more conviction. Each individual within the workplace has a different way of working. It doesn’t matter how fast you work or the strengths or weaknesses you have, collaborative working brings all skills to the table.

Turning your current office in to a collab heaven is easier than you think and can be achieved in many ways. Whilst adapting the surround will help, it’s also important to work with the employees and ensure everyone is working towards the same goal.

Below are 5 ideas on how to create a space and the working methods available, to help you get off to a promising start.

Seating

Working in the right environment can make all the difference to how we work. It’s essential that as a business you are able to provide the right tools in order to receive the expected results.

Designing the right setting for collaborative working is highly relevant. The area needs to be a place where you can have open discussions, work as a team whilst having the space to make notes and think big.

Invest in professional sofas, large seating configurations and acoustic pods. A configuration which encourages equal input and allows conversation, debate and ideas to happen in a comfortable environment is key.

Open Spaces

Whilst acoustic pods are recommended for group meetings, think about creating an open space for the collaborators to work in. An open space creates a feeling of freedom and can provide a fantastic buzz to enhance productivity.

Open spaces filled with plants and natural light touches on the design trend, biophilic design. With the use of natural accessories, light and greenery, you’ll heighten moods, support brain function and increase happiness.

The biophilic design has been successful for a number of years and continues to thrive in 2020.

Introduce Activity Based Working

Activity based working (ABW) is effectively another way of working. However, there’s no reason why you can’t combine the two as they go hand in hand. ABW allows your employees to choose their work location within the office based on the workload they have on that day.

Having the flexibility to choose your workstation is a great way to encourage the project team to find new places that push creative ideas and productivity. Being placed in the same room allows boredom to set in, with a low work rate.

Support the team by trusting them to work well outside of the normal working regulations as they settle down outside, in the break area or in designated acoustic areas.

Group Chats

As great as it is being in the same office and workplace all the time, it’s not always achievable for many reasons. With some working from home now and then, along with sick days and holidays, it’s ideal to think ahead and offer another source of communication when the team can’t physically be in the same room.

Source a group chat or online platform which allows the members to communicate via message, voice chat or video call in order to stay in touch and keep on track with actionable tasks. It’s important that all members are kept in the loop and are aware of changes and updates.

Social Distancing Collaborative Working

Collaborative working is about working as a team and being together, but with social distancing rules in place – is this still feasible? The answer is yes!

It may not be possible to be as close as before, but with the help of, it’s possible to return to work and pick up where you left off. Acrylic and Perspex desktop divider can be helpful in this scenario as the transparent material encourages interaction and provides the level of protection we all require at this moment in time.

Conclusion

With 5 ways to adjust your office and work processes, you’ll be on the way to create a working environment that’s tailored to your business.

It’s crucial to remember that the 4 methods mentioned are just a small step in the right direction and along the way you’ll find what works for you. Changes towards collaborative working are positive and will create a great foundation for your high performing team.