Designing for Team Work

We meet differently in different sorts of spaces according to the research and lots of workplace designers and managers make sure that there are a range of areas available for people to get together.  Studies have shown, for example, that we gather to share information, to make decisions, to come up with new ideas, solve problems, and to socialize with each other and workplaces need to be able to support each of these 5 reasons for meeting, but it’s definitely fine for one space to take on more than one of these responsibilities.

The research confirms what your kindergarten teacher knew all along:  when seats are arranged in a circle so that people can see each other’s faces, all are more likely to participate and the discussion isn’t as likely to be lead by one person.  The same goes for people sitting around a round table.  If a rectangular table is used, the leader will sit at one of the short ends of the table if there’s a chair there and act like, well, the leader.  If a group doesn’t have a leader and there are chairs at the short ends of the table, someone will sit at one of the short ends with a chair and take on the role of the leader.  If a table is square, whether it functions more as a round table or a rectangular one depends on where any leader chooses to sit. If you have to use a rectangular table and want a leaderless session, move the chairs away from the short end of the table;  few are bold enough to move a chair from the long edge of a rectangular table to the short one.   Smart designers/managers put something in the middle of any table that doesn’t block the view across the table but does give people something to divert their eyes to every so often.  We all need eye contact breaks every so often, just as a matter of course, and when the conversation topic is sensitive/touch-y/whatever you want to call it, we need them a little more often.  A plant is a mentally refreshing eye contact break, but a sculpture can also work, for instance.  When people are sitting right at the corner of a table, one on one side, one on the other, they are arranged as people generally prefer and are more likely to talk with each other and to bond with each other, the same goes for if a pair is sitting in the same sort of “formation” and there’s no table present.  A table or a desk between people, sitting on opposite sides of it, creates a psychological barrier just as it does a physical one, but that can be good if a sensitive topic may be discussed, for example.  There’s a time for chairs arranged classroom-style, in rows all facing the same wall; in this sort of configuration information can be shared more quickly and efficiently.  We’ve talked about the importance of everyone present sitting in chairs with the legs of the same length, etc., already so it’s clear that body posture makes a difference.  Researchers have also learned that when people are semi-reclined, as they are in an American reclining chair, they’re apt to think more creatively and also less likely to get angry when provoked than someone in a situation that’s otherwise the same except they’re sitting in a conventional chair.  Standing meetings are generally a little briefer than seated meetings, without sacrificing meeting quality (they may even improve group performance) and the most significant and consistently identified benefit of having a sit-stand desk is that it gives users some autonomy, no matter what else is going on as they work people with sit-stand desks can determine if they’ll sit or stand as they work.

There’s also a reason for the similarity from one conference room, breakout zone, etc., to another in your offices.  Research shows that people like to sit in the same seat (if possible) and the same relative set (if it’s not, this means they always want to sit in the seat right beside the door, for example).  If the same sorts of seats exist in each area, people will be able to slip into their preferred seat, and that makes all of us more comfortable; with more flexible, movable seating and tables, spaces can also be reconfigured on the fly to be more like the last area where a team worked.