Today we are experiencing a cult of beautiful workspace, with games tables, beer, decompression areas and, why not, a ball pit. However, within the ACE expertise, space alone does not mean innovation. Innovation has to do with culture, processes, people and values.
Companies often have a wrong view of the function of the creative environment. An example: betting on an open environment to emulate a more transparent company - when, in fact, one thing has nothing to do with the other. There is no point in changing physical space if you do not change the culture.
When we talk about innovation, companies soon associate the adoption of new technologies, agile methodologies and creative space. If that were innovation, it would be easy to become an innovator.
Best example that beautiful space does not make an innovative company the startups themselves, whose first office is always a draw.
Environment and culture
The environment can - in fact, it should - express the company's culture. A good example is Amazon, which reuses doors as table tops: a symbol of financial conservatism. Or Google, created in the image of Stanford University dormitories, which was the reference, at the time, of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Curious fact: in Silicon Valley, the increase in the sale of ping pong tables is directly proportional to the increase in investment in startups. You can read here.
These “fun areas” are intended to develop team building among startups employees. But, for this, there is no need for gaming tables. There are other ways to stimulate the connection between people and teams. Pixar, for example, organized the office so that people's paths would always cross. A good example here is the Magalu space, which has modular rooms that adapt according to the needs of the squads who work there.
Open spaces
Companies may have a wrong view of how modern spaces work. For example: betting on an open environment to be a more transparent company. The two concepts are not necessarily linked. There is no point in changing the physical space if you do not change the culture.
Research by Harvard showed that people are - believe me - less sociable in open spaces, and that communication starts to happen in digital channels, losing, then, the direct interaction. These types of environments can even increase the level of stress due to noise and interruptions, resulting in decreased productivity.
There is an even worse scenario for open space: being applied only to functional levels of the company, while the board and the C-Level continue in their rooms. In addition to promoting distance, this format ends up forming castes within companies.
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