Distractions, part 3 or “Knock Twice and Barge In!”

I apologize for the long gap between my blogs on this subject…frankly, I have been distracted working on projects about distraction in the workplace! My fascination (some might call it an obsession) with workplace distractions is the result of surprising observations stemming from a study we did several years ago, looking at the work processes of two different organizations. One was a law firm, the other a bio-tech company. We wanted to know where employees did their focused concentration work. Each organization was full of knowledge workers, and the work setting provided for their focus work was individual offices with fully closing, wooden doors.

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The Unsung Office Hero

With startling consistency, predictions of the future workplace envision open, densely populated office environments full of constant interaction, collaboration, and teamwork. In this vision of tomorrow, the cubicle and private office are extinct, and dynamic, barrier-free workplace layouts spur innovation and push employees to perform at their highest levels. That’s great if you’re an extrovert who feels comfortable spending the majority of the day interacting with colleagues, but for the estimated 25 percent* of the population who are introverts, that future workplace is a daunting prospect.

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Focus on Focus

The places where we work have dramatically changed over the last thirty years. At the extreme, we have gone from private offices in the 60’s to open work benches that are not dissimilar to workspaces from the Industrial Revolution, a time of wrenching change, challenges and opportunities much like today. So much of this change has been driven by the need to facilitate communication, enhance collaboration and break down the silos that have paralyzed many organizations.

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Collaboration is here to stay—Let’s deal with it

Group work, by nature, is a messy, chaotic process for which there is no reliable template. The nature of group work changes from project to project, group to group, and at times its unpredictability can exasperate participants.

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ME Space to WE Space: An Online Case Study

Last week, I shared some thoughts about the shrinking American workspace and the shift from individual ME spaces to collective WE spaces. This week, I’d like to share a project that illustrates how this phenomenon applies to office design.

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