One core tenet…

… that has kept me at Steelcase for some 30 plus years,… is the growing evidence that ‘SPACE MATTERS’…! I just don’t question anymore that my work setting makes a difference in my output, even my satisfaction.  To say I should be able to work just as well regardless of the space is a bunch of bunk.  I’ve seen literally hundreds of spaces that are beyond crummy, for anyone to work,… and hundreds of really cool spaces, where work is at a buzz.  I’m convinced,… the impact can be positive or negative,… but never neutral.  While my work focuses on spaces where office tasks are done,… I would claim the exact same thing – it matters - about other spaces I hang out (restaurant, theatre, museum, etc.).  Last week I was at a conference on Design Strategy at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago,… a remarkable architecture in a wonderful location.  I’m certain it enhanced the value I got from the conference.

Defining and designing great spaces, figuring out why some work and some don’t,… is how I spend my days (and more nights and weekends than I care to admit).  It’s not easy and continues to get more and more complex, due to all the stuff that’s changing, and the effect this has on individuals and teams as they work.  Just one example,… mobile technologies and wireless connections, let me work anywhere I choose.  But with an unlimited number of options, WHERE I CHOOSE TO WORK, is a much more important decision than it used to be when everyone just went to the office.  How do you decide…?

For me, it depends on the type of work I’m doing.  Is my need an ‘individual’ need, like concentration (review a series of articles), or contemplation (evaluate an idea).  Or is it a ‘group’ need, like collaboration (create a research proposal), or communication (present my budget).  Depending on the type of work, I look for a different space.  If I don’t, I’m just not as good, and it shows in my output.  I hate it when I have to struggle to do the right task in the wrong space.  Just yesterday, I was trying to read a patent application at my desk. After re-reading the same section a half-dozen times, I walked out and went to breakfast.  Maybe it was the omelet, maybe it was doing a familiar task in an unfamiliar space, all I know is if I match up the task to the space,… I do better, and I’m happier, it’s that simple.  Evaluate your space.

Comments

[Mark Greiner]

Sean,... I could not agree more. I too am part of a creative group at a large company,... and the challenge of accommodating wide variations in work styles is difficult (and we're a furniture company...!). I think it is because we try and design a person's workspace to 'do it all',... the swiss army knife approach. The problem is that it just can't do it all, and still do it all well,... at least not anything on the market today. A better approach is to design a variety of spaces, all optimized to a particular use,... and let people, all much more mobile than furniture, move between these spaces based on need. We call this 'community based planning',... where the space takes on the feel of a community, with each location tailored for the intended activity. It may sound like you would have a mess from a facilities standards perspective, but not really. Each tailored space could be repeated many times throughout a building or campus (e.g., you design/develop a great teleconferencing space,... then duplicate this a half-dozen times across your enterprise). Not many companies have designed their offices this way,... but when they do, I've seen them gain the flexibility you speak of.

[Sean Houston]

You will get no arguments from me to the idea that my space affects my work. But how my space affects my work is quite different from how my teammates work is affected by the same space. I think the biggest challenge is finding out how to create systems that are flexible enough to accomodate as many of us and our work styles as possible, while keeping enough standarization to work within a corporate environment (physically and financially). The next challenge is to sell the idea to all the people who have issues with these kinds of fundamental changes.

I work in a creative area in a very large, very corporate environment and this can be a real struggle here.