5 ways to improve your working place

There is almost always something you can do to improve the place where you work each day, no matter where you work. If you work in an office, is there a place where you can focus, enabling quiet concentrated work? Do you have a place to hold a meeting with colleagues without disturbing others? If you work from home, do you have a professional place to meet with clients? Or a way to interact with others in order to keep up with your professional skills?  

Here are 5 ways to improve how you do your work each day:

Here are 5 ways to improve how you do your work each day:
1) Choose from a variety of working areas
The most important thing you can do, every day, is think about the kind of work you need to be doing right then, and find the most suitable workplace to support that. This can change during the day, so ideally you have a quiet space to concentrate, a collaborative space for meetings, and a social space to regularly gather informally with colleagues. Even if they are not located specifically in your main 'office' location, having easy access to those spaces, and using them, is great too. Which leads to the 2nd suggestion: 
2) Flexible working
If you work on your own, then you are the boss, so make sure you get out of the home office regularly, or at least change up where in your home you are working so that you change your perspective. Also give yourself permission to go where you can solicit input and feedback from colleagues, and meet with clients in professional settings. If you work in an office, then encourage workers to move around to the most appropriate spaces to support the work they need to do. If you are the boss, lead by example. If you are not the boss, then suggest how the flexibility will help staff be more productive and effective. Suggest trialling new working styles with a small group first to see how it works, then it can be rolled out more broadly.
3) Create (and use!) informal meeting places 
This can be as simple as putting chairs next to the kitchen/break room. A cafe table and an adjacent whiteboard create the opportunity for colleagues who randomly meet in the kitchen to work through a new idea right then and there. No need to miss out on those moments of serendipity! If you work from home, why not try working from a coworking space once or twice a month to change up your perspective and create the opportunity to meet new colleagues who may help you spark new ideas.
4) If you work in an office, try to minimise silos or neighbourhoods of people with the same function. Whilst in some cases, it makes the most sense to cluster workers in the same discipline, mixing people up gives everyone the opportunity to 'eavesdrop' on other conversations and learn about parts of the organisation they might not know about. Amazing knowledge transfer and insight can happen this way!
5) Co-design with your colleagues
Finally, if you are in an office organisation, before you make any changes to your space and work practices, work with your staff and make sure they co-design the space with you. The worst mistake you can make is to impose a new design without any input from the people who will be working in the new environment. By seeking input from your staff, the new design will reflect their concerns, and hopefully that means it will work well for them. 

How do you make sure you are in the right space to get your work done most effectively?