Collaboration requires culture change. The physical environment does have a large influence on collaboration too but the way people agree to work together and the social norms held in an organisation even more so.
Really liked this piece by Paul Taylor Bradford
"Research by the Royal Society shows that open plan offices do not build teams or increase collaboration.
The reason why we don’t collaborate is far more complex. If we don’t teach, measure, encourage or reward collaboration it doesn’t tend to happen. [my emphasis] Office design is only a miniscule part of that."
We don’t require new workspaces but new cultures.
There is no unique formula for productivity or creativity. It’s now the role of the leader to work with others to find out what their own unique formula is.
I liked these ideas or bets that Paul suggests might work as a starting point to a more collaborative mindset and culture. The second one in particular sounds interesting.
That might mean:
Giving teams true autonomy and flexibility, rather than trying to micromanage their work
Providing funding for informal meet-ups to allow people to collaborate in ways that suit them
Giving people freedom over the technology they use, allowing them to make use of personal devices not company mandated relics.