Establish boundaries in open workspaces

- There's one increasingly popular trend in modern workspaces, and that is to have an open work environment. The idea behind the open work environment is to create a positive atmosphere where there's more teamwork and there's more collaboration. It creates a culture of where people can feel like they talk to each other at any time. There is one major negative associated with that in that it can increase interruptions dramatically. How do we get the most out of an open work environment, and at the same time, maintain productivity by having less switches in our workday? Here are a few tips.

First of all, if you have any control over the layout of an open workspace, please designate one area for private work. In other words, a few cubicles or one particular quiet room. This gives people the opportunity to step out of the chatter of an open work environment, and focus on one project. Second, I recommend that as an organization, you sit down and talk about the rules for an open work environment. Talk about when it's appropriate to interrupt each other, and when it isn't, and put those ground rules in writing.

The problem is, often there are many assumptions about how and when people should interrupt each other, but they're not clear to everyone, particularly new employees. By putting them in writing, it makes it clear for everyone. Third, find some way to create a visual boundary for yourself. This visual boundary communicates to others that, hey, please don't interrupt me right now. For instance, I know of one person who would put the hood up on their hoodie. I even know one gentleman who would wear a sombrero, which was very clear to everyone that he wasn't to be interrupted.

Perhaps it's as simple as putting on headphones, but the idea is, let everyone else know that when you see this, please don't interrupt me. Fourth, you may find it helpful to create a sound boundary. This is a way to sort of shield yourself from the distracting noises in an open workspace. For instance, you may hear someone talking about a project that they're working on, or their personal life. While this might be helpful at times, when you want to focus, it gets in the way, so you could use something like, with those headphones listening to music, or if music isn't productive to you, listen to white noise, such as the sound of a waterfall.

This will help you stay focused. Fifth, give people an alternative to just interrupting you in the moment. Some of these alternatives include establishing a one-to-one meeting schedule where you both sit down and ask each other quick questions, or you may provide other people with the opportunity to schedule themselves directly into your calendar. This way, rather than having an open door policy, you have an open calendar policy. The idea here is to help yourself focus at the same time that you build a team.

By establishing a few of these rules, you'll find that you can still get great results from an open work environment.