Spaces for creativity in the company are essential to inspire new ideas, engage collaborative work and give a break from the monochromatic colors and repetitions of the corporate day-to-day. With this, productivity is also gained and in a qualitative approach with employees.
If you think that spaces for creativity in the company are just facades to attract millennials and the Z generation, rethink this concept. This is because there are already extensive studies on how the brain works, and how it is stimulated from these strategically planned environments.
A recent survey can be found at Haworth furniture company website, it highlights the differentials of two types of spaces for creativity in the company: one from the way focused on the concentration of individuals and the other, to inspire insights.
I.e: if your company's HR understands what should stimulate your employees' brains to drive good ideas, this post is a fundamental guide to contribute to the planning of the organization's environments. Check out!
The importance of spaces for creativity in the company
Beck Johnson, from Haworth's research and innovation team, says:
“Offices tend to promote just one type of workplace environment. They are open and collaborative or highly targeted. Therefore, it is a question of finding the balance between these spaces and, at the same time, providing areas for professionals to relax ”.
So it’s a converging opinion with what we said in the opening of the article, reinforcing the importance of identifying the profile of the company – and of the respective positions – in order to understand how the environment, in itself, can encourage employees to work with quality.
It is also a good idea to take a look at the whitepaper produced by Haworth with Dezeen, entitled a Brain Science for Smart Design, which analyzes how workplaces can be designed to increase productivity.
This is because, according to the studies pointed out here, a workplace must be designed to accommodate three neural networks of the brain, that are:
- salience network, which monitors external and internal stimuli and organizes priorities;
- executive control network, which develops new ideas in response to the focus work;
- standard network, which forms creative insights when emotions and engagement are low.
Understand the operation of these neural networks exactly helps to achieve the first step mentioned above.
The impact of technology in the design of creative spaces
Nowadays, it is difficult not to live with spaces for creativity in the company that do not have technological instruments around. For it is important, then, that this is used in benefit of your team's productivity, does not agree?
A survey of Gallup, from 2016, points out that 87% of workers look for companies that advance in the future and see the inclusion of technology in the workplace as an indicator of success. The study Steelcase Creativity and The Future of Work Survey denounces that 77% of employees believe that creativity is the work skill of the 21st century.
The good old useful to the pleasant therefore, with regard to the conception of spaces for creativity in the company and, thus, make them more receptive to the productivity and well-being of professionals.
When employees have the option of entering a flexible, vibrant space that accommodates your profile and needs, productivity goes up and creativity is unleashed.
Therefore, the implementation of new technologies, to actively create an atmosphere of relaxation and focus, has quickly become one of the most requested services in the development of workplaces.
Current requirements shaping the work environment
Until recently, the work was driven by efficiency. The process was intentionally linear, and divided into areas in which people could specialize.
But the problems we face today are much more complex – they demand creative thinking and a differentiated work process, which allows the divergence, convergence and interaction of ideas, processes and people.
So, it is time to change, blur traditional structures and shape them to receive the ideal conditions that stimulate creativity.
To do this, your HR sector must be able to imagine what the teams need, and assess the impact of the physical space in this relationship with their employees. Then, provide the means for them to naturally absorb the effects caused by the environment and respond accordingly.
Stimulation through boredom
Remember that we mentioned the default network earlier? Well then, according to the studies mentioned above, you do not need to reinvent the entire physical space of the company, but make the most of what has already been built.
For this, it is important to note the positive effect that the “boredom” has to add to creativity through the standard network. According to the study:
“When we want to ‘clear our heads', we look for a different space and activity (like hiking) or to do something ordinary. And in doing so, we let the brain feed on potential ideas ”.
To better explain the concept of the idea, just consider the following: how many ideas have you had when doing something ordinary, like going to work or while brushing your teeth?
The scientific answer to this is as follows: time and space, which promote relaxation and desired distractions from focus work, are needed. These are the moments of relaxation, which take your eyes off the computer, spreadsheets and reports, to offer a rest to the brain.
Thus, a simple environment dedicated to this can be considered one of the best spaces for creativity in the company. No stimulating colors, distractions and any other accessory: a mere direction of spaces for professionals to reach it and rest for five, ten or twenty minutes, to clear their minds and resume activities.
I.e: boredom is one of the most valuable instruments for spaces for creativity in the company!
Investment in transition spaces
There is also care to focus on rhythm and concentration, which change over long periods, in each state. When this transition occurs more quickly, the body and mind better absorb the information received.
Therefore, it is evaluate the construction of a space focused on that. Through various stimuli that contribute to the rapid recovery of concentration, you contribute to the stimulation of the elaboration of new ideas.
Here, the elements that allow concentration are concentrated – for example: quiet areas with as little interruptions and noise as possible – to ensure that employees can quickly return to the construction hook of their ideas.
Determining attention to the company's culture
Finally, a fundamental tip for you to create spaces for creativity in the company: no video games, for example, if employees do not have this profile. Nothing of warm and vibrant colors if the focus needed for good ideas is relaxation and silence.
Therefore, the company's culture is even more important than the elements mentioned here or in any other article. Without this, the spaces themselves can be contrasting with what one seeks to aim for. And then, productivity can be lower, as well as the creativity of professionals.
Realize, then, thatand the culture and environment of the office have to be aligned. If you have a space that encourages the behaviors needed to develop good ideas, success is a natural consequence.
Another interesting point: employees experience satisfaction in the workplace, when they find their values transmitted in a diversified way by the organization.
When we are free to create and innovate, good things happen for everyone. Is this something that your management already considers, when planning spaces for creativity in the company? Share with us in the comments field of this post!
