A good friend/previous co-worker of mine gave this small sign to me on her last day of us working together. It makes me laugh, and I’ve kept it on my desk ever since. I’ll get back to that.
The office I work in adopted the “workplace of the future” for our new office back in the summer of 2012. In our case – this concept embraces an open plan, with bench-style workstations and countless collaboration areas. Overall it has been a very well received change and I can’t complain. My desk is in the middle of a six-desk cluster that includes our entire marketing team, and we tend to keep a running dialogue throughout the better part of the day. This environment of openness has helped me to become more creative and get to know my co-workers on an entirely new level.
On the flip side, there have been several occasions when I’d like to share this mantra with others: “Just so you know: everyone around you is being forced to listen to yer conversation.” Casual exchanges once reserved for the water cooler now occur virtually everywhere: people passing by on their way to the living room; meetings going on in the conference space behind my desk; and project teams conducting proposal kick offs in the open studio space. Don’t get me wrong – it’s great to see this interaction, and it really brings out the culture of the firm. But suddenly “yer conversation” has become mine and everyone else’s.
But enough ranting – the origin of this card is from the Society for Handheld Hushing. I love the creativity and humor in their series of “SHHH!” cards. You can check out the rest here, I know they will make my fellow marketers laugh.
communiqueso.com 