How to improve your office experience

There are internal and external ways to improve your office experience. lets explore some ideas.

It starts with thoughtful planning

You are not just in the office for yourself but also in the service of others.

Improving the office experience is a study in externalities and a thoughtful consideration of how you impact the people around you. It doesn't matter if your office is in your home or a large corporate HQ- You impact others in addition to yourself based on your thoughts

YOU

Let's start with the internal and work our way out from there. You need to bring your best self to the office- even if that office is your kitchen table. This takes some forethought- You need to understand you can positively or negatively impact every person you come in contact with as you go through your day. Take a moment each morning and dedicate a part of your efforts to be in the service of others. This may be as simple as making one positive comment to each person you see during the day. Maybe you will decide to take an extra breath and consider how you can be just a little more understanding of those around you. It's not hard but it takes a small amount of effort. Just do it. You will get as much out of it as anyone.

SPACE

Now that you are in the team mindset let's look at what can be done to the physical space to improve the office experience.  Hiring an experienced Interior designer to take you through a comprehensive assessment of the priorities for how the space should perform is a critical first step.  

Most organizations are creating spaces to support work-from-home strategies.  This means a space should have many comfortable meeting areas with various levels of privacy.  Full conference rooms, sectionals, and quiet seating areas will allow collaborative and focused work to get done. Once these areas are created, it is important to consider which space is the most appropriate for the type of meeting or work you need to accomplish.  The more thoughtful you can be about how these resources are used will improve your office experience.  

The level of privacy vs the need to include team members should be carefully considered when selecting a space.  A sectional with ottomans that can easily be pulled up may allow more spontaneous collaboration than a booth or pod. This simple consideration of how you interact with the facility as well as how you can best leverage all the space has to allow will greatly enhance your workplace satisfaction. 

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