Making The Most Out Of Christmas – With Your Office Design

Christmas is (almost) here! By now, offices up and down the country will be decorating their office design with all sorts of Christmas paraphernalia. Or at least thinking about it. The chances are most offices have already got their Christmas party plans in order and excitement and joy is filling the air as time ticks down to a couple of festive days off!

If you run your own office, you can be forgiven for thinking that such things will lead to a downturn in work as concentration will be placed elsewhere but work. In fact, you can actually harness that Christmas spirit and the excitement that surrounds it by using the season as an opportunity to foster some genuine togetherness and rapport between your staff – after all, they DO have to be able to work alongside each other. As they're your greatest asset, your staff members being able to work alongside each other in perfect sync may prove vital in your business being a success.

The Importance Of Fostering Teamwork In Your Office Design

The obvious advantage of creating a team is to combine the abilities of individuals and shape them towards achieving your business goals. In the workplace, different people will have different ways of thinking, different ways of working – therefore, each individual will have diverse ideas, skill levels and attitudes towards their work. Any good manager is able to analyse these strengths and weaknesses, ultimately creating an environment that can get the best out of each individual.

In order to create this effective team, the office design plays a big part – being the physical environment that they will be working in for more than 7 hours a day, the need for the facility to be comfortable and functional should be of the utmost importance. In terms of fostering teamwork, many workplaces have been transformed to cater for this – the introduction of a breakout room, for staff to undertake meetings and to relax, will help them to throw around ideas away from the pressure of the work arena, as well as also helping to foster that all-important working relationship between them. You could say that the aim of a breakout room is something that Christmas is perfect for.

Fostering Teamwork At Christmas

As Christmas draws closer, it's likely that most offices will start to slip into more 'informal territory' – rather than looking at this as a negative, there are a number of different things that you can put in place in your office design that would ultimately be of benefit to the business and the team in general. These include:

• Collective Seating. No matter if people are using the breakout room to have their meetings, to relax or even to eat lunch, the opportunities for interaction are endless. In order to take advantage of the season and the teamworking opportunities it presents, having communal seating in your breakout room is a great way to encourage interaction throughout the year. Now imagine the relationships that will be built up during such an exciting time as Christmas, when everyone can sit together?

• Play Games. Taking a break from work to play some table tennis or a game of cards may have been unthinkable many years ago, but many offices are now understanding the need for their staff to be able to break away from the stresses of work and concentrate on something else for a while. Believe it or not, feeling happy and refreshed after a set or two of table tennis will help someone to refocus and refresh – they'll then be ready to tackle that workload. In terms of teamwork, playing games can help people to get around a table and continue to build up their relationships – if you have to use a game as an excuse for them to do so, then so be it. Christmas, of course, is ideal to play games and let off some steam!

• Decorations. The breakout room should be able to offer a different environment to that of the working areas; anyone who may be feeling a little stressed simply won't want to be reminded of their work environment whilst they're recuperating! Of course, Christmas is the perfect excuse to go all out and decorate – whilst the working areas may not be the best place to go mad with trees, tinsel, baubles and other decorations, the breakout room certainly is. Remember that the two environments must differ – a Christmas grotto-like breakout room will help to foster excitement and improve relationships during the season. As such, lacking as much decoration, the working area will help to foster more actual work, simply because the two environments differ, with a distinct tone set between them.

• Cheers! With Christmas offering the perfect time to unwind and relax, why not take advantage of this by getting staff together to celebrate? The breakout room offers the perfect informal facility for this – many offices even have their own integrated bar area that allows them to host social activities. Not only does this help to keep external catering budgets down, it's also a great idea to encourage networking with external clients or agencies.

However you shape your office this Christmas, there are always improvements you can make to your office design to in order improve levels of teamwork, comfort and functionality for your staff. Why not consider a better design of your office as a Christmas present to yourself?

Thinking of Improving Your Office Design? Get In Touch With Oaktree Interiors

Here at Oaktree Interiors, we are a vastly-experienced office design company that has carried out a wide range of refurbishments, fit-outs and relocations across the South-East of England. Our work has helped our clients to possess their ideal working environments that have offered inspiration, comfort and the functionality needed to complete the work in hand.

No matter the requirements of your business, we are able to undertake the ideal office refurbishment that will help you to progress to the next level. As part of our service, we are able to offer you a completely FREE no-obligation consultation service that will take into account your requirements and current office space, and incorporate it into a 3-D presentation of what your perfect office would look like.

If you would like to learn more, why not get in touch with us today? You can give us a call on 0845 474 3556, or alternatively, you can send an e-mail to us at hello@oaktreeoffice.com