““…You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all. No plan! You know why? If you make a plan, life never works out that way. With no plan, nothing can go wrong and if something spins out of control, it doesn’t matter. Got it?””
Ironically, this quote from Kang-Ho Song, the protagonist in the 2019 Best Picture of the Year, reflects the prevalent attitude of paralysis-by-analysis for many companies trying to figure out their collaboration strategy for maintaining business continuity just before the virus outbreak at the end of 2019. It used to be considered an advantage to debate the pros and cons on implementing a strategy that could be wrong even if it has the potential to be the right. Now we have learned that it’s more important to have some type of plan in place, even it’s not exactly the best solution, because you never know how soon you are going to need to rely on it.
The new reality unfolding due to the pandemic provides us an opportunity to disrupt the misconceptions around remote work and unleash a dramatic fresh start on the design of collaboration spaces in the workplace of the future. Exercising physical distancing and emphasizing virtual connectivity should result in remote attendees finally being treated as equals to the participants seated around the table in the conference room. Including a video link in the calendar invite will no longer be an after-thought for meeting organizers. We shouldn’t have to convince clients to spend the money on acoustics, lighting and cameras; investments previously considered secondary to the quality of the furniture and the physical fit-out out of meeting spaces. This will be the new normal.
Before the Covid-19 Pandemic (BCP), I would have asked you the dear reader to please keep an open mind about positive changes coming to the workplace. I would have had used the three-pointer revolution in NBA to remind you that there is change on the way; that threes have always been worth more that twos, and that a team can miss more shots and still score more points. Before the outbreak, millions of fans watched Steff Curry make a dramatic change to the game of basketball in just short five years, to a sport that has been around for 128 years. It’s not like he figured out the physics for shooting 3 pointers any better. Simply put, players started shooting more and making more.
I don’t have convince you that dramatic change is inevitable, considering our new remote-work reality came about in less than three weeks. We can all appreciate this will lead to fundamental change to the future of collaboration and the design of office meeting spaces. There are millions of new expert collaborators turned workplace planners and there are an infinite number of opportunities to make a difference. With this much brain power, the building out of effective tools for collaboration and applying these to physical meetings spaces should emerge like wheels on luggage: solutions may be plain sight.
““Work is not where you go, it’s what you do””
I am appealing to everyone who is remotely collaborating from their living room or den, and those family members watching these virtual meetings take place. Now is the time to think about the tools and processes that are making it possible for you and your team to be effective at home (or not effective) and figuring out how to translate that knowledge into making a difference in the design of future collaboration spaces when you get back to work.
““78% of the world is completely impractical; 78% of the world is uncomfortable. You feel it…you sit in chairs that are very uncomfortable and it’s crazy. You imagine, if you design a million chairs to date, or how many chairs have been done in the world, why on Earth would we have an uncomfortable chair?””
The same over-due expectation for comfortable chairs applies to designing effective collaboration spaces. How do we take the lessons we are learning right now and make real change? What factors are contributing to you being able to get more work done remotely than you previously did sitting around a table in conference room? Please share your thoughts in the comments section. What scenarios are you not able to creatively address remotely that otherwise require face-to-face meetings?
Granted, we’re all going to appreciate in-person meetings when we finally get back to the office, but I’m certain we’re all going to make sure these meetings are as effective as possible. I also expect the focus will be on the processes, such as the methods for preparing for the meeting and the ability to access to content during the meeting and after it over, and less emphasis on the physical technology or even the web collaboration platforms.
Consider that when first notebook computer came about in the 1980s, the focus was on at physical design elements like the way the lid flipped open. The designers soon realized the whole experience was actually occurring between the user and what’s behind the screen, not with the physical device itself. I feel the same unfolding reality occurring as I collaborate today with my teammates from our homes instead of huddle rooms. The challenge isn’t about designing the physical thing, it’s figuring out and implementing the most effective processes.
We are all now suddenly finding ourselves “living” through the remote collaboration design process. What we are experiencing goes beyond having the right camera or being on the right web platform. When we apply what we’ve learned to getting it right in the design of meeting spaces, it will feel inevitable.
““Of course, that’s the way it should be. Why would it be any other way?”
Mark Peterson leads the audiovisual practice for Shen, Milsom & Wilke. Our goal is to help clients amplify creativity, increase collaboration and revolutionize how they work.