For the most part, productivity is about passion and motivation. If you care about what you do, and feel motivated to achieve certain goals, productivity should follow.
However, your environment plays a big part in how productive you are. The right environment can improve your mood, help you focus and inspire creativity.
Here are 4 ways you can optimise your office for productivity
1. Dim the lights for creativity
Researchers have been studying how light affects productivity for decades.
Unfortunately, there isn’t one single optimum level or type of lighting that will make you more productive. However, there is plenty of evidence suggesting different types of lighting can be helpful for inspiring different types of work.
One recent study published by the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that darkness, and dim lighting, improved creative performance.
According to the researchers…
“Darkness elicits a feeling of being free from constraints and triggers a risky, explorative processing style.”
Next time you’re planning a brainstorming session, why not try turning off the fluorescents first?
2. Get more plants and restore attention
Plants are a great way to brighten up the office but did you know, having plants in your line of vision could be helping to improve your focus?
Studies have shown that people perform better when they have plants on or around their desks. Some researchers believe that catching a glimpse of plants in the office can have a similar restorative effect on our attention to taking a break.
3. Keep the office toasty for fewer mistakes
Finding a temperature that keeps everyone in the office happy is pretty much impossible, but if you want to get the most out of your team, keeping them warm could be the key…
A study by researchers at Cornell University found that when the office temperature was increased from 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit, typing errors fell by 44% and typing output increased 150%.
Researcher Alan Hedge estimated that, based on these findings, increasing the temperature to a comfortable 77 degrees Fahrenheit could save employers up to $2 per worker per hour in lost productivity!
4. Get a dog to improve team collaboration
Having a dog in the office could have greater benefits than the occasional “awwww” from passersby.
Researchers at the Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant asked 12 groups of 4 participants to brainstorm a 15 second ad for a made-up product. Some of the groups had dogs nearby while others didn’t.
Participants who had worked near a dog, ranked their team-mates higher on trust, team cohesion and intimacy than those who had not been around a dog.
Why not try inviting one of your team to bring their dog into the office next time you want to inspire some serious collaboration?
**How do you make optimise your workspace for productivity? **