interactively share, debate, and document the insights they develop as they develop them. When members lack access to the shared stream of thoughts and the progression of one anotherâs ideas, much of the value of using a group can be lost.
These constraints are not just a function of our digital environments. An organization development consultant recently told me about trying to help a group of administrators at a college brainstorm ways of improving student achievement and faculty satisfaction. She reported that the conference room had one small whiteboard, about two by two feet in size, mounted in an awkward place on the long side of the room, and half the participants had to turn their chairs around to see it. There was one dried-out marker for the board, and it spent the entire morning in the hands of the schoolâs dean. Clearly this was not a context for nurturing collaborative ideation.
Not Sharing or Documenting Insights
I often see innovation teams using spaces that, though pleasant, donât allow the capture of a variety of types of data and insights. Large windows are nice, but they donât let you display text, images, reports, or the resulting insights that they generate in the team. Even the physical position of documents can relay informationâfor example, by arranging them in sequence or priority order. Ideally the information being discussed can be displayed in a place that everyone can see, in a way that everyone can access it, and in a mode that best expresses that idea.
Understanding, comparison, collaboration, debate, and decision making in a group might be far better supported with a few pictures ripped from a magazine and taped to the wall, as opposed to a detailed thousand-word email that no one bothered to read before the meeting. And once you ask them to kindly pull out their BlackBerry to read the email, the meeting is doomed.
Overcoming Environment Constraints
Groups need a space where members can interact, and the places they choose will affect their interactions. Instead of letting facilities planners or geographic convenience dictate the nature of your interactions, choose and modify your space carefully to support innovation.
Reconfigure the Groupâs Working Space
The goal in claiming a space should be to create an environment that facilitates the behaviors dictated by the current stage of the innovation process. At times group members may be working primarily alone, and at other times together. At times the groupâs findings will be collected in the form of survey responses on a computer printout, and at other times they may take the form of hundreds of Post-its on whiteboards.
The most radical versions of effective high-end innovation spaces that I have used are those that are designed for creative interaction by MG Taylor Corporation. The tables come in a variety of nesting shapes and sizes and are deployed based on the group size, task, and need for interaction. When they are not being used, they break down and can be put into a closet. Rolling bookshelves are ubiquitous, as are power outlets and network connections. If a team needs them, large LCD screens can be rolled to the place where groups are working. Everything is on wheelsâeven the six-foot-tall whiteboard wallsâand it all looks inspiring.
However, I have also seen less expensive approaches that were equally effective. Starting with nothing more than a large bare room, some simple tables and chairs on wheels, some movable screens and partitions, and a set of portable whiteboards or easel pads, a number of start-ups, arts organizations, and corporations have easily and inexpensively gained the flexibility they needed to accommodate different phases of work by their teams. For some of them, all it took was a trip to IKEA, the Swedish furniture store, and an Allen wrench to assemble it all.
One expense I would not spare, however, is for porcelain-on-metal magnetic whiteboards; they are
These constraints are not just a function of our digital environments. An organization development consultant recently told me about trying to help a group of administrators at a college brainstorm ways of improving student achievement and faculty satisfaction. She reported that the conference room had one small whiteboard, about two by two feet in size, mounted in an awkward place on the long side of the room, and half the participants had to turn their chairs around to see it. There was one dried-out marker for the board, and it spent the entire morning in the hands of the schoolâs dean. Clearly this was not a context for nurturing collaborative ideation.
Not Sharing or Documenting Insights
I often see innovation teams using spaces that, though pleasant, donât allow the capture of a variety of types of data and insights. Large windows are nice, but they donât let you display text, images, reports, or the resulting insights that they generate in the team. Even the physical position of documents can relay informationâfor example, by arranging them in sequence or priority order. Ideally the information being discussed can be displayed in a place that everyone can see, in a way that everyone can access it, and in a mode that best expresses that idea.
Understanding, comparison, collaboration, debate, and decision making in a group might be far better supported with a few pictures ripped from a magazine and taped to the wall, as opposed to a detailed thousand-word email that no one bothered to read before the meeting. And once you ask them to kindly pull out their BlackBerry to read the email, the meeting is doomed.
Overcoming Environment Constraints
Groups need a space where members can interact, and the places they choose will affect their interactions. Instead of letting facilities planners or geographic convenience dictate the nature of your interactions, choose and modify your space carefully to support innovation.
Reconfigure the Groupâs Working Space
The goal in claiming a space should be to create an environment that facilitates the behaviors dictated by the current stage of the innovation process. At times group members may be working primarily alone, and at other times together. At times the groupâs findings will be collected in the form of survey responses on a computer printout, and at other times they may take the form of hundreds of Post-its on whiteboards.
The most radical versions of effective high-end innovation spaces that I have used are those that are designed for creative interaction by MG Taylor Corporation. The tables come in a variety of nesting shapes and sizes and are deployed based on the group size, task, and need for interaction. When they are not being used, they break down and can be put into a closet. Rolling bookshelves are ubiquitous, as are power outlets and network connections. If a team needs them, large LCD screens can be rolled to the place where groups are working. Everything is on wheelsâeven the six-foot-tall whiteboard wallsâand it all looks inspiring.
However, I have also seen less expensive approaches that were equally effective. Starting with nothing more than a large bare room, some simple tables and chairs on wheels, some movable screens and partitions, and a set of portable whiteboards or easel pads, a number of start-ups, arts organizations, and corporations have easily and inexpensively gained the flexibility they needed to accommodate different phases of work by their teams. For some of them, all it took was a trip to IKEA, the Swedish furniture store, and an Allen wrench to assemble it all.
One expense I would not spare, however, is for porcelain-on-metal magnetic whiteboards; they are
Similar Books
