CREJ - Office Properties Quarterly - April 2015
Embracing a work environment that offers a variety of choices to encourage collaboration is now a staple in the workplace. However, while it is important to promote collaborative areas, the need for a balance between collaboration areas and focus areas is crucial to create a successful workplace environment. “I think the key is to understand why clients want a collaborative space,” said Michelle Liebling, senior associate, design director, Gensler. “There’s a lot of discussion about innovation and how to foster innovation in the workplace, and a lot of that can be through collaboration.” The term collaboration might be too general a phrase to encompass the many aspects of creating a social environment. “By its very nature, collaboration is not easily managed,” said Mary Kay Sunset, principal, Semple Brown. “Groups tend to form spontaneously, thus participation is a self-motivated choice. The designer’s role is to help their client foster conditions that encourage collaboration and a sense of community to flourish.” This ad-hoc engagement is represented in a variety of ways, said Joy Ramsey Spatz, studio director, senior associate, Gensler. People may have the expectation that a conference room satisfies this need for a collaborative area, but the conference room alone does not, she said. Collaboration can be learning, meetings, one-on-one connections or focusing on something together. “Collaboration does not only happen in one room,” she said. The benefits of collaborative workplaces are a topic of a variety of studies and research. All three firms interviewed cited research to support that these environments foster worker satisfaction, innovation and productivity. “Our own research has shown that top-performing companies actually collaborate more and socialize more,” said Liebling. “The idea is to provide opportunities for people to do their best work, because when people are doing their best work, they’re satisfied, and when you have satisfied people, you have higher levels of engagement and this is a positive chain reaction.” “Its been fairly well substantiated at this point that collaborative environments tend to be more dynamic, creative and innovative,” said Amy Tabor, director of facilities planning, RNL. “They are also the norm for younger generations who grew up in educational environments that stress projectbased teamwork, and a technological environment where they are always connected socially and professionally.” Almost all of the clients of Gensler, RNL and Semple Brown are embracing some form of collaborative workspaces – however the environment in which they do so varies. “All of our clients are embracing better support of collaboration,” said Tabor. “Not all of them are doing it in the same way. For some, it’s an effort to increase designated spaces where collaboration can occur and be supported. For others, it’s an effort to make sure that collaboration can occur anywhere.” In order to create the best solution for the company, it’s important to understand that each corporate culture is different. Needs and desires vary from client to client and from one industry to another, said Sunset. “There is no set formula.” “Creative” professions, including advertising, marketing and sales, may embrace a community-based environment more enthusiastically than law firms or financial services, the designers agreed. “Defining what collaboration means to the specific organization is important,” said Tabor. “One company’s collaboration is not necessarily another’s.”