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Open concept design areas inspire creativity
I now had 2 senior level designers who needed a bit of separation from the large design team so that they could be at the helm of planning and strategy for us.
They needed their own workspace with larger areas for working with their teams. It was also important that we elevated them into spaces that empowered them as well. They are both valuable to the growth of our design team and needed to know that we acknowledged that.
For our additional design team, we made a huge change from how we had previously been situated. We ditched the idea of cubicles and instead built out large open environment spaces with full walls of windows to provide natural lighting. The team would have large spacious work desks and overhead shelving.
We would also be set up with central printers so as to get rid of some of the excess printer clutter at the designers’ individual work desks..
I know that it will initially be difficult for our design team to get comfortable with the idea of such an open working environment, but we are such a collaborative and design driven company. I really feel that this will be such a help in getting the teams to groove together, share ideas, and help to motivate each other.
I’ve seen the open environment work in other companies and I think it’s a positive change for us. My goal is to make sure that they each feel as though they still have their own individual “space”.
The rough beginnings of our design work spaces with large banks of windows
Storage spaces
The new office would have a few storage areas that we would have to carefully manage so that we could maximize every inch of space. We needed this valuable storage space to maintain certain tools needed by our company to function—sweater knitdown swatch libraries, fabric libraries, racking for new samples purchased on trend shopping trips, storage for traveling cases, shelving units for every person in our company to store items not currently in use, everyday kitchen and cleaning supplies….it was truly unbelievable the amount of nooks and crannies that needed to be carved out wherever possible to support our company.
The Office & Cubicle Challenge
Assigning spaces to employees
With our new space, we luckily had large clean cubicles that had been left behind from the previous company. These would house our sales, production, and I.T. staff. These cubicles were more spacious than what our employees currently had. This would just be a matter of painting, cleaning, and placing employees in proximity of their teams
For our executive employees, the new space had 10 large beautiful offices all with windows. They only required patching of walls, painting, some new carpets and blinds—but not much work. The large corner offices were assigned to our company presidents.
I received the office closest to my design team, 2 went to our current sales executives, 1 went to the newly acquired company’s president, 1 was split for my 2 senior designers, 2 had to have their common wall torn down and turned into a fully operating sample making room with cutting tables, sewing and pressing machines all brought over from the new company, and 1 had to be left as a holding area for current projects as we would now definitely be short on storage with the new company taking some space.
Although I make this part of the process seem relatively painless, the most challenging part was deciding which person would receive which space. I equate it to planning a seating chart for a wedding. There are pros and cons to every seat assignment and arrangement.
Handling the Actual Move from our Old Address to our New Address was Made Easy with Experienced Movers and Strategy
Distributing the new floor plan layout to employees early in the week along with instructions for how to make the move gets them busy and invested in the move
As our deadline day started to approach, we scheduled our move to be handled by a large moving company that specializes in these types of moves. We had used them before for our last move. They operate so quickly and efficiently.
The week before the move, they had reviewed our new floor plan and coded each area with a number so that they could match up where every piece of furniture and box should be delivered to in the new space. They delivered large bins that could be stacked 4 high on a rolling caddy.
Each person in the company packed their personal effects in the bins and stickered them with the corresponding number on the floor plan. Any furniture they wanted to keep also received a sticker with their number. Anything in the office NOT stickered didn’t make the move.
At the very beginning of the week before the Friday move, we gave everyone a copy of the new floor plan and directions on how to pack for the move. No one had previously had access to the final floor plan.
My company president who had been involved throughout the whole process explained to me in the early stages of the process that he had learned from his prior mistakes. Although initially he had thought it would be helpful to let employees see the progress and be a part of the process, it was not a good idea. No matter where you assign people their space, they will never be happy with the choice and he was right.
They don’t like who they are seated next to, you gave someone of lesser seniority a “better” spot, why did I seat them next to the smells of the kitchen, why did the new company need so much space, ….the excuses could go on and on.
I learned a valuable lesson in that regard. People who were given some of what seemed like the choice spaces were still upset. And there is just no way to make 40 people entirely happy about moving. The bottom line is that choices must be made in the new space that serve the functionality of daily operations. The seating chart was not made with the thought of anyone getting a “bad” spot.
Also, limiting the amount of time employees had to go see the space right before the move, kept them in check with getting prepared for the move as opposed to giving them too much time to try and argue their reason for why they should be moved to another space. Many of them also wanted to commandeer other areas in the new space that they felt were available.
All they could think about when they went over to see the space was that there were still some “open” cubicles and storage spaces that they soon wanted to request for their own use. And once again, it was necessary to explain that not everything was yet installed in the new space—and that everyone was given an allotment of space.
We had already reminded everyone on a regular basis that they MUST edit down their effects. We were not just going to hand out any extra open space. The goal was to get everyone in and unpacked and make smart decisions as to what any unmarked spaces need to be utilized for once we saw the reality of getting everyone in with their stuff.
The very beginning of the move…this is nothing….just wait for the massive desks, credenzas, shelves, and racking systems to get packed up!
Next- The Day Before the Move