Co-Creation – The Future of Collaborative Working Spaces

For a while now, there has been a big shift from segregated, cubicle type offices to open-plan, collaborative workspaces. This change has shown positive results, often leading to improved workplace culture, improved teamwork and, in many cases, increased productivity as a result of a free flow of ideas and the increased likelihood of communicating better and more frequently with one’s co-workers.   

However, most open-plan office set-ups and modern office design principles are still based on old ideas of sorting staff into departmental boxes, keeping certain departments within a business together, and separating ‘unrelated’ departments away from one another. The persistence of this method prevents a true culture of co-creation, which we believe will be the future of work and office design. 

What Is Co-creation and Why Is it So Important?  

Co-creation is a way in which to foster unity within an organization. It is a way of bringing each and every employee onto ‘the same page’ when it comes to your vision, mission, and goals. It is a way in which to work together to generate ideas and solutions that benefit the company as a whole, rather than only taking certain departments into consideration. Essentially, it is about transforming your business into a living, breathing entity that thinks and acts as one, rather than a loose collective of individuals on their own mission. It is about bringing your employees together and fostering the same passion for success within each and every one of them and encouraging everybody to work in the same direction.   

How can you create a workspace that fosters co-creation? 

The first step in putting together a collaborative workspace is to throw out any of your existing preconceptions about what an office should look like. The old approach, with its partitions, compartments and wall-facing desks is a thing of the past. Ultimately, in order to ensure co-creation, you will need the right collaborative furniture to assist you in building the perfect office set-up, along with an innovative layout design that will break through barriers and draw your staff together. In order to do so, you could use the skills of professional office designers – and constructive input from your employees would help too.

 Once the old furniture has been removed, the new, modernized version of your workspace will include a variety of open, welcoming spaces that encourage colleagues to face each other and interact. Where there were once tiny, pigeonhole-like workstations, separated by partitions that prevented workers even seeing each other – although they were sitting only a few feet apart – you could now have circles of comfortable seating, informally arranged, facilitating both discussion and productivity. Single desks give way to shared worktables on which colleagues can easily involve themselves in one another’s tasks, but also work on their own when necessary. The overall feel is one that your team will find more inviting and be happy spending their time in for several hours a day. In turn, happier, collaborative, more creatively stimulated staff will lead to better business results too. 

BE Furniture Can help you Design for Co-Creation

We can offer all the necessary furniture, as well the design know-how, to help you turn your office into a modern co-creation site. For information about collaborative furniture, contemporary office furniture, and co-creation workplaces in general, do not hesitate to get in touch with us at BE Furniture today!

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