The Workspace and Productivity

About 20 minutes ago, I came across a great article by Tanha Patel on Designing for Organization Effectiveness.  Imagine then my inspiration when I go to Steelcase's homepage and see the above image staring back at me. "67% of workers feel their current spaces do no support a variety of activities". It must be a sign that today's blog should be an ode to creating a flowing workspace.

Patel discusses three key elements to foster efficiency: People, Systems, and Tools.

"Workplaces today are being perceived as a space that fosters creativity and transparent communication. And, organizational effectiveness doesn’t mean utilizing more space, but it means using the physical space more wisely". Additionally, she gives tips and strategies to create a balanced and more productive workspace (check out the full article here).

• Reflect the goals, purpose, and culture of the organization
• Maximize organic, and multi-directional communication
• Maintain equilibrium between flexibility, privacy, and collaboration
• Accommodate multiple generations of workers and their work styles
• Encourage high employee engagement

Steelcase also has some tips for gaining efficiency and creating harder working spaces (click here for full article - quite long, but very informational):

• maximize real estate utilization
• foster and support collaboration
• help attract and engage talent
• reinforce the culture and build the brand of the organization.

Both Patel and Steelcase acknowledge that a more efficient workspace creates a better, more productive environment for businesses of all shapes and sizes. If your company is currently looking for new ideas, I highly recommend checking out http://www.workspacedesignmagazine.com/ and http://www.360.steelcase.com/. Both are great resources!

~ Kendal