Your workplace is one of the most special aspects of your business. It is the center of everything, that is, for your business. It is ground zero for creative ideas, strategic planning, customer communication, vendor relationships, team building, and sales generation, just to name a few.
Oddly enough, it is the place that is generally paid the slightest attention. The workplace will go unloved for years without a second thought. When there is a thought, it’s usually centered around “what I can do to get by.” How can I spend the least amount of money and call it a job completed and check off items on my things-to-do list? Let’s postpone office renovation until sometime in the future when things are different. Let’s settle for less than how we see ourselves right now. How can we take the design we like and have it done for less? These are all common positions taken regarding the workplace.
The least obvious point of view regarding one’s workplace is the root effects of the design tree. Most people don’t understand the strategy of good office design, so they treat the proverbial leaves (symptoms) rather than address the purpose of design in the first place.
The cohesive nature of good office design drives thinking, creates impressions in one direction or another, tells the story, generates feelings, speaks to company detail, and addresses quality positioning.
Buying a single quality piece of office furniture, although a good start, is not the “all in” solution to excellent workplace design. A well-thought-out workplace will plan for internal and external thinking you want to generate. Not just an impression, is something you want to create, but what kind? Every design establishes some type of feeling, from high intensity to flat-out bored to death. It’s all in the details! How things are made and the thought behind the way it’s made speak to the level of thought you put into your company. There is a tremendous value in storytelling. Your audience wants to know your story, where you came from, what’s important to you, why you are doing “this,” where you are going, and what you are offering your followers. Design can help you get there without uttering a word. That’s the benefit of good workplace design.
“Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
Hunter S. Thompson
