5 Ways to Make Your Office Space More Collaborative

Collaboration is an important part of the success of a company. When employees are able to exchange thoughts and talk about their ideas, more innovations are made; more time is saved; productivity is through the roof.

Okay, but how do you encourage more collaboration in your workplace? Here are a few things that will help:

1. Make it open plan

The most important way of making your office space more collaborative is making it more open plan so that your employees will be in close contact with one another, and therefore more likely to talk about their work and get input from each other.

That being said, employees do need some time to themselves where they can think things through and do any quiet work, which is why, having a few quiet office pods in your open plan space is also a pretty good idea – give them the best of both worlds.

2. Use configurable furniture

Modular workspace furniture, which can be moved around and reconfigured to suit any setup will make it easier for you to bring employees together when you need to collaborate while also allowing them to break off into smaller groups or work individually when that is required, too. So, ditch those big clunky tables that don’t give you much flexibility and see more collaboration flourish.

3. Move people around

Not having one person “own” one desk is a good way of encouraging people who may not have collaborated much before to do so. If anyone is able to use any desk, and moving around is encouraged, people will naturally start to mingle more. Just make sure you provide lockers or cubbies where each person can have their own space to store their stuff, so they still feel comfortable in the office.

4. Create a chill-out room

Having a chill-out space in the office, which is filled with comfy bean bags, games consoles, a speaker for music, and maybe a pool table or something like that, will not only help your staff to unwind and de-stress when things are getting hectic in the office, but it will also allow them to mingle in a more comfortable and informal way, and when they do this, you know they will get talking about all of their ideas and innovations, inspiring one another to achieve more when they head back out to their desks.

5. Have a garden space

If you can create a garden space, even if it is on the roof of your office building, you will find that your employees love getting out there to take in the fresh air and maybe do a little gardening when they have some free time, The combimatiom of fresh air, nature, and relaxation make the ideal situation for people to collaborate and enjoy working with one another.

As you can see, there are lots of things you can do to promote more effective collaboration in the office. You may not be able to implement them all but even switching things up a little can have a big impact on the collaborative process, so do what you can. 

5 Ways to Make Your Office Space More Collaborative