Create an Office Space that Encourages Teamwork

  • Share
  • Read Later
Business today requires collaboration, but we rarely design our workspaces to support this. Here are three ways your company can restructure your office to better support people working together.

  • Vary the types of workspaces. Employees need group spaces for co-creation, but there should also be areas for concentrated work (unassigned individual workstations), emergent social exchange (free-flowing hallways), and learning (rooms equipped with technology and tools).
  • Provide the right tools. Make sure meeting rooms include tools like whiteboards that allow employees to record ideas and create a visual, side-by-side review of alternative solutions.
  • Give project teams a dedicated space. Returning to the same workspace each day, keeping meeting notes on the board, and leaving work on tables between meetings can help teammates maintain a shared mindset, sharpening their focus and speeding up the collaborative process.

Adapted from “Better Teamwork Through Better Workplace Design” by Anat Lechner.

Visit Harvard Business Review’s Management Tip homepage

Purchase the HBR Management Tips book