Are you paying for spaces pressing in the business sphere?

We can be certain that in a business environment, there is no customer who would pay for the operation of pressing the spacebar and the time dedicated to it. Yet, millions create new, fresh spaces during working hours every day, regardless of previous back-up space hits, which can be seen as a form of waste production from a Lean management perspective. In an industrial environment, it is primarily avoided, but if it exists, it is recognized and eliminated as soon as possible.

The metaphor of spaces is equivalent to the silence in spoken language, the pauses in music, the space between spokes, and winter sleep, to name a few. From an industrial logic perspective, these phenomena are losses; they do not generate value, and it is worthwhile to detect and eliminate them in processes as soon as possible. On one hand, an organization continuously optimizes for capitalization and returns, especially in terms of the bottom line measurability. On the other hand, it speeds up events for the sake of quicker implementation and shortens processes by eliminating unnecessary steps.

In a profit-oriented environment, the thinking and decision-making space narrows into a constant (over)optimization driven by competitive pressures. It's only a matter of time, and in the company's life cycle, the profit status quo is not reached by rational questions or professional opinions, despite complete transparency. Mostly because, as a rigid belief, evidence lives in the organization's life. We talk about profit and its attributes in a way that excludes direct questioning about growth from our perspective. The orthodoxy of profit is not only fueled by compulsive growth mania but also by the absence of a space for dialogue, one that could ensure sustainability.

The optimization of efficiency can turn into maximization, which is intensified and reinforced by technological and digital systems. This mode of operation is typically legitimized and reinforced in organizational culture by well-developed incentive systems.

Yet, in a corporate environment, the syntax of spaces - sticking to the metaphor - plays a very important role in facilitating significant development. In that empty space and time, most of the conditions for development and improvement are met, where the organization's momentum slows down, and reflection strengthens, considering the next possible step or activity. The online space is an offline opportunity for regeneration, gathering strength, receiving feedback and feedforward. Insights, creative developments, and perspective shifts are born in the mindfulness of spaces. The timing of spaces is difficult to measure because we don't know how long it lasts – minutes, hours, days - as it is interrupted by the next active step or keystroke. The change in tempo is part of change management and organizational development, so it should be a conscious tool in the hands of middle and senior leaders.

Spaces are not insignificant, but rather a place for recharging, recreation, and well-being, a noiseless part of the organization where creativity and intuition can flourish. Success dresses up here for celebration, and failure generates energy and determination for moving forward. Excellence, talents, successors are born and develop here, and the power of collaboration sharpens. At every level of organizational culture - individual, group, corporate - there is a hunger for the re-creating time of spaces where work and career purposes and meanings can compete. In the introverted dimension of the organization, dynamics, fantasies, and self-catharses are elaborated, and everyday therapy sessions replace coffee breaks and dialogues.

Spaces are an integral part of organizational human capital, and although they cannot be separated from profit-oriented, utilitarian, return-driven corporate logic and environment, it is manifested as a professional question whether the organizational culture (HR strategy) provides enough human space to create the expected development ___________________?