If you and your staff are constantly feeling the weekday blues, it's time to give your space a team-friendly makeover. Whether it's a break room or a snack drawer, every office needs something that encourages staff to congregate and get the creative juices flowing.
So, we asked six entrepreneurs the following question:
Q. What's one thing you have in your office that sparks creativity and collaboration among employees?
1. Music
At our office, everyone gets to select their playlist on rotation. Music inspires creativity, collaboration, team building, and movement. We often hold mini-dance parties, especially for those sitting at a desk. It makes the day more fun, gets everyone laughing, rids everyone of the 3 p.m. slump in energy, and increases productivity. —Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group
2. An open floor plan
At Aligned Signs, we value a having a healthy work environment, so working as a team toward the same goals is imperative. To encourage communication, everyone sits around large tables with an open floor plan to address questions quickly and easily. And when working, we request that everyone be available on chat so that they can be messaged. —Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs
3. A creative common room
I've always encouraged my employees to communicate with one another—the more interaction is encouraged, the easier it is to foster collaboration. To that end, my office has a common room where staff can sit down and chat. You'd be surprised at how much of a difference that makes. —Steven Buchwald, Buchwald & Associates
4. An elephant statue
Our meeting space has a small elephant statue in the corner. It symbolizes that there is only one elephant allowed in the room at a time, and if there is an unstated tension in the air, it has to be brought out. This yields a culture of open communication and a jovial reference point so our team is free to be creative and accomplish great things. —Tony Banta, Venture Greatly, LLC
5. Chocolate
We are big fans of chocolate. We like to keep it regularly available on desks and in meetings. When someone reaches over for some chocolate, it often sparks ad-hoc conversation and collaboration on whatever topic is top of mind. Often, it's the challenge "du jour" that a person or two might be working on. They also say that glucose is food for the brain. We like to think chocolate helps loosen any blocked paths in our heads. —Arry Yu, GiftStarter.com
6. A graphic of our tagline
We keep a graphic of our tagline (People+Technology+Art) on our office wall. It reminds us that although our web development company is tech based, we're working with people first and foremost. Technology is our medium and art is the creativity we express. Our goal is to use tech to help businesses grow, and not focus on tech as the goal. This keeps us motivated, inspired and engaged. —Uchechi Kalu Jacobson, Linking Arts Web Design & Development
