Every office has different dynamics and has their own way off doing things.\u00a0 Not only do different companies have policies that affect these dynamics, but each manager has their own view on how an office should be run.\u00a0 These differences in management styles can affect workspaces in a variety of ways including the office layout and how \u201copen\u201d the workspace is.<\/p>\n
Plantronics takes advantage of the open office workspace to its fullest extent, using the new acoustic furniture, and adjustable desks.\u00a0 Desks can easily be adjusted up and down so that employees can sit or stand if they prefer to work one way over the other.\u00a0 This allows employees to work in their comfort zone, but still in the space they need to be.\u00a0 They also heavily use Bluetooth headsets paired with their computers and smartphones to maximize their communications while both in and outside the office.\u00a0 Plantronics goes by a slogan, \u201cprivate, but not isolated.\u201d \u00a0This is how they approach their office space, so staff who need to do work in private still can operate, but without becoming cutoff from the staff they need to communicate with to be effective.<\/p>\n
Open workspaces are becoming very popular, and spreading to a multitude of companies.\u00a0 Even the Valve Corporation, the video game developer of the popular Half-Life and Portal series has adopted their own form of an open workspace.\u00a0 Every desk at the Valve offices in Seattle has wheels, so they can easily be rolled around to join another group or project team.\u00a0 Instead of offices, Valve has what they call \u201ccabals.\u201d\u00a0 These cabals can shrink or grow based on how many people are working on a project at the time.\u00a0 Valve supports their employee\u2019s concepts, and encourages them to speak out with new ideas for projects.\u00a0 If an employee feels they can contribute to a project, they are encouraged to roll their desk over to the cabal and start working.\u00a0 Here is what the cabals look like<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier I mentioned that managers can have an effect on how offices are run.\u00a0 I once had a manager, let\u2019s call him Larry, that said that if you ever left a person alone in a box that they would do one of two things; 1. Go insane or 2. Waste time to keep from going insane.\u00a0 He forced us to work together on projects, often in groups or pairs, and we sat together in what I can only describe as a mound of chairs surrounding a trapezoid like shape of tables.\u00a0 Larry had a few rules for our small office, one being that we had to sit in a different spot than we did the previous day.\u00a0 Larry said it would keep us from becoming too complacent, and would remind us to think on our feet every day.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t a typical manager, and at the time we all thought he had lost a few marbles, but there was something profound in what he taught us.\u00a0 We all learned that just because something has been done one way for a long time, doesn\u2019t mean that it has to be that way forever.\u00a0 Larry showed us that communication was a keystone of productivity, and although his methods were odd, his results were positive.\u00a0 The year I worked for him was interesting to say the least, but I will always remember the lessons he taught me and I still recommend some of his methods today.<\/p>\n So whether your office is designed by corporate policy, or perhaps a manager who is making his own rules, remember that there is always a way to improve on efficiency.\u00a0 If you find yourself dreaming of life outside your cubicle, look at what these companies are doing and take action!\u00a0 For those of you who have already started an open workspace; what unique things is your office doing to improve the environment around you?\u00a0 Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every office has different dynamics and has their own way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[651,652,392],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![cabals look like<\/a>.<\/p>\nEarlier I mentioned that managers can have an effect on how offices are run.\u00a0 I once had a manager, let\u2019s call him Larry, that said that if you ever left a person alone in a box that they would do one of two things; 1. Go insane or 2. Waste time to keep from going insane.\u00a0 He forced us to work together on projects, often in groups or pairs, and we sat together in what I can only describe as a mound of chairs surrounding a trapezoid like shape of tables.\u00a0 Larry had a few rules for our small office, one being that we had to sit in a different spot than we did the previous day.\u00a0 Larry said it would keep us from becoming too complacent, and would remind us to think on our feet every day.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t a typical manager, and at the time we all thought he had lost a few marbles, but there was something profound in what he taught us.\u00a0 We all learned that just because something has been done one way for a long time, doesn\u2019t mean that it has to be that way forever.\u00a0 Larry showed us that communication was a keystone of productivity, and although his methods were odd, his results were positive.\u00a0 The year I worked for him was interesting to say the least, but I will always remember the lessons he taught me and I still recommend some of his methods today.<\/p>\nSo whether your office is designed by corporate policy, or perhaps a manager who is making his own rules, remember that there is always a way to improve on efficiency.\u00a0 If you find yourself dreaming of life outside your cubicle, look at what these companies are doing and take action!\u00a0 For those of you who have already started an open workspace; what unique things is your office doing to improve the environment around you?\u00a0 Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every office has different dynamics and has their own way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[651,652,392],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/hw1.pa-cdn.com\/par\/img\/editorial\/v11.jpg\"){kind=link}