Using Space to Stimulate Your Creativity

Where you work is how you think; physical space matters. Colors and lighting, scents, sounds, and layout – all have effects on our alertness, blood pressure, judgment, energy levels, and interaction with others. In fact, aspects of office design have been found to affect job performance, job satisfaction, and communication to the degree that a well-designed space can improve productivity by as much as 15 percent. Firms that offer facilities to help other companies with product or idea development pay particular attention to creating a stimulating environment.

Your immediate surroundings determine your mindset, the way you generate ideas and solve problems. You can’t break institutional barriers within the walls of your everyday workspace. If creativity or radical change is what you seek, create your own idea space–a discrete location away from workplace distractions where you can cultivate and share new knowledge. Think of it as a retreat, a refuge, an escape from the constraints of office culture.

At Hallmark, MacKenzie asked his designers what would be an ideal environment for them to work in – and made it so. More and more frequently, companies recognize that people have to work in the way that they work best. For example, IDEO, a leading design firm, encourages employees to customize their work environment. They surround themselves with materials, tools, and reminders of past inventions that will help them do their work. IDEO’s leaders value such efforts because they recognize that their largest investment is in people. As IDEO’s general manager Tom Kelley says, “Why shouldn’t you pay the same attention to how you create spaces in which this talent must perform? Athletes need proper facilities. Why not workers?”

Tom Kelley might be on to something. The work environment may be far more important than politics or economics when it comes to making creativity happen. Maybe it's time you focused on viewing employees as investments in your organization and help develop the programs to achieve that. Isn’t it time to take your A-team off the bench?

Please fill out our quick survey on space, linked below. You will receive a FREE download of Mastering the Five Levels of Creativity at the end. The survey can be found at www.surveymonkey.com/r/innovatrium.