The Power of Personal Space

Regular readers of Heart Paths would know that recently I have had my dad living with me while waiting to move into his new house.  Last Friday the big day finally came (after much trauma and heartache in the process). He moved into his villa and I finally got my office back – just for me.

It got me thinking – how powerful is personal space as a determinant of productivity!  My productivity has skyrocketed (and it was always pretty exceptional to start with).

Everybody works differently, and where possible good managers should take into account individual preferences and needs when allocating workspace.

So – for example, when I had 25 superb HR professionals and organisational psychologists working with me, we spent a lot of time getting the personal workspace right for each person.

The team was organised into a “noisy quadrant” (their term) – a team of people who were all wonderfully extroverted thinkers. Their work-space was chaotic, noisy and full of colour, movement, toys, magazines and whiteboards to stimulate thinking and brainstorming.  One half of the area had people who loved mess and piles of paper and the other had people who liked order and neatness.

Another team organised themselves into the “quiet quadrant”. These people valued quiet space for reflection and thought. Their space had beautifully coloured art, brightly coloured lanterns and purple tablecloths on their lunch table where they could meet and mingle for tea breaks and lunch before returning to their quiet thinking space.