What's Your Office Persona? - News - CK Office Furniture

What’s Your Office Persona?

Thriving together in the modern office workspace.

Boosting productivity in the workplace is as much about recognising different personalities as it is about great office design. Are you creative? organized? outgoing? or a loner?

Creative types - may benefit from variety, so accenting a room with brightly coloured office furniture, art work and unique areas for different tasks, like a mixture of uncluttered tables, sit-stand desks, and open seating areas, can encourage them to flourish. Creative people often enjoy lots of space and natural light. Ensuring the floor area is easy to navigate is helpful so they can walk about, move things and adjust according to mood or thought. 

Organized  types - love smooth days that run like well oiled cogs on a wheel. Performing best if everything is well thought through, functional and uncluttered, they may get a kick out of space saving storage solutions. Organized people often benefit from clarity, anything that helps to maintain order and routine. They may feel reassured by good lighting, calm neutral colours, perhaps a white office desk, an upright chair, and a pot plant to tend as a matter of routine. Organized types are often those people turn to for advice, who know the ropes, they may love family and like to surround themselves with photos of loved ones.

Outgoing types - may need space to express themselves and freedom to interact with others; they make great team players, so an open plan environment with adequate break out areas, communal tables and benches will help them enjoy freedom of movement and thought. Modern office design may be thinking one step beyond… stepping literally out of the office! Outgoing types are often self-motivated and need less management given a good project to get their teeth into. Working as a team will help earth their efforts, and they may relish breaking new ground and be galvanised by added responsibility, engagement and a greater sense of work ethic may be of benefit to this personality type.

Solitary types- ‘Loners’ - may feel happiest if they can work at clear desks and inhabit comfortable, ergonomic chairs suitable for long periods of sitting. Loners often find it easiest to focus on the minutiae of a project and will pay attention to detail. They may not be able to see the big picture or envision change easily unless it is explained clearly. Loners are often diligent, hard working and dependable, often preferring to quietly get on with a job, ideally without disturbance. Offices with bright colours and patterns are likely to cause distraction, but an oasis can be created in the busiest of rooms with clever use of screens, corner desks and strategically placed bookshelves. Loners are often diligent, hard workers, and the backbone of any workforce; they will knuckle down and get the job done. Businesses might do well to pay attention and ensure their needs are met, as they may not speak up if dissatisfied and this can affect their output. Ensure these workers have access to dedicated safe workspaces to succeed.

Connecting people- modern office spaces, may blend in their diversity with simple unifying colours, repeating patterns and office furniture that everyone can share.  Warming natural light, rocks to touch, plants to tend, water trickling and puzzles to play may energise spaces and envelop everyone with a warm sense of wellbeing. Wellbeing is the very essence of productivity. A happy workplace is a productive one. Check out this contemporary office fit out video short and see how the designers have worked in colour and layout to effect the look and feel of the offices.

Focus on flexible furniture- Where in the past office furniture was functional and often single purpose, the modern office now has multifunctional furniture as diverse as the mix of personalities in an office, like seating that doubles as storage, its use in break out areas justifying the space.  As quick as changing under a beach towel, your office can transform from full office to open conference room in minutes with stylish design devices like moveable screens, sit-stand desks and flip top tables. Utilize outside areas and let the office spill into a garden break out zone if possible Studies show that the most productive workplaces are those with a mix of personalities that are nurtured in their diversity.

Wellbeing is key to a productive workforce. -Businesses are increasingly aware of the benefits of personality tests and more and more are using them in the hiring process. There is no time like the present to look at ways to enjoy life more, increase productivity, identify strengths and improve performance by ensuring everyone is happy and energised. Why not take a personality test like the famous Myers-Briggs or Holland’s hexagon of 6 personalities? Maybe the whole office would enjoy choosing a new layout based on their individual personalities. Better still, hand over your findings and hire a professional office fit out company to do the design thinking for you and sit back and enjoy the benefits.