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Collaboration happens anywhere.

IBM recently produced a white paper entitled, “The New Collaboration: Enabling Innovation, Changing The Workplace.” According to the IBM document, “People increasingly work in places other than their offices — and on teams that draw expertise from virtually anywhere in the world. They access applications, data and subject matter experts live and across networks — and others tap into the same information. They employ whatever end-user device is right for the job to improve productivity — while enhancing the work experience for themselves and their employees. Today, collaboration is the name of the game.”[1]

In the knowledge economy, sharing experience, information and expertise is critical for individual and organizational success. That’s why high-performance organizations increasingly emphasize collaboration and look for ways to design opportunities for interaction — great ideas don’t necessarily occur when seated at a desk or table. New kinds of workspaces are appearing — and it’s not just about a cool office with a coffee bar and a pool table. The trend is towards more collaborative spaces designed to help people share information more easily. Finding the right balance of variable planning — containing costs through shared space while addressing the occasional need for privacy — is a challenge. Generally speaking, organizations are opting to dedicate more square feet to public spaces vs. dedicated workstations and private offices.

“Quiet rooms” offer a place where employees can use their phone or laptop without being disturbed. A major global architecture, design and consulting firm recently published its 2008 Workplace Survey for the U.S. Among its salient points, the survey noted that success in a knowledge economy requires a workplace defined by varied and dynamic interactions. Productivity is no longer characterized by long hours of solitary research, analysis, writing and creating with the occasional break to confer with colleagues. In today’s most successful companies, more time is spent collaborating, learning and socializing.

This behavior seems to come naturally to younger workers — the next generation of business leaders. “These people may already have been global collaborators at school or at home. They embrace technology more readily than many of their predecessors. And they are generally more mobile, contributing to a rapid growth in the numbers of people working outside conventional office settings.” However, collaboration is a less familiar work mode for many Boomers and Traditionals bred to see creativity as a solo act and individual achievement as essential to their place in the organizational hierarchy.[2]

It’s not always easy to balance the desire for privacy with the need to collaborate. Interaction has to be “designed in” not only as discrete areas for large and small meetings, but by creating an entire environment conducive to communication, creativity and innovation. As an example, if one has to book a conference room in order to meet with fellow team members, the opportunity for collaboration may be lost. Companies require design that invites contact and participation throughout.

1.See, (www-935.ibm.com/services/us/cio/pdf/new-collaboration-white-paper.pdf)

2.See, (www.gensler.com/uploads/documents/2008_US_Workplace_Survey_10_21_2008.pdf )