Amicis Ergo Dynamic Blog

The Go to Office Became the Go to Guy

Even with the mobility of today’s communication devices, most businesses are still dependent on stable locations for part of their operations, because people have to be someplace. Although we once dreamed of a paperless office, storage companies still make lots of money keeping old records dry. Most workers still need flat surfaces to work on, filing cabinets and specialized tools.

The situation has improved, after WWII office furniture was designed like battleships, grey and heavy; Bell Tell owned the telephones, laptop computers were called slide rules and you couldn’t bring a telephone with you. Businesses only changed locations when they had to.

Although many businesses are still location dependent, for many industries the shift has from their location being all-important, the corner store, to their team’s performance and technology being the power driving the engine. That is why it so important to be fluent in the language of design controlling work place dynamics. 

The Left and Right Message

What is the message in a desk position? If instead of facing the desk at the door we tilted it left, so the person’s right side is open to those entering, what does that say?

It says ‘I’m a mover and a shaker. I’m ready to jump up at a moment’s notice and head out that door to bring products to my customers. I’m the person who expands my company’s reach, market and power’. How does it say that? Because the right-side of the body is the muscular, armored side! In boxing you hold the left hand close to protect the body, while the right hand reaches out to attack. We offer our right hand in greeting because it is our less vulnerable side.  

 
‘Hi, my name is Ralph, can I sell you something? Trust me, you’ll love it’!

Let’s spin the desk the other way. What does it say when your left-side is open to the entrance?  It says, ‘I receive, I accept, I’m open to what you bring me and I’ll provide guidance and help because of our emotional connection’. The left side is where we feel our beating heart, it is the more emotional and responsive side of the body.

Think of it this way: We hold a new baby on our left side so they sense the beating of our heart, emulating the protective environment of the mother’s womb. You can’t get much more nurturing than that! Meanwhile the right side of the body is stronger and tougher, so that’s the side that we use to fend off the offers of others to hold the baby, until they start crying of course. 

Back to work, when we put our left side towards the entrance it says ‘welcome in, I’ll be here, I’ll listen to you, and together we’ll solve your problems. It is not about jumping up and leaving the space, it is about being there and accessible.

When you face the door, either directly, or angled left or right, it says you are facing the outside world ready to take it on. You are a problem solver.

The right side facing out = Expanding your horizons beyond your close circle. 

Directly facing at the door = Being in charge, yet balanced and adaptable

The left side facing out = Open to connections within your organization.

Who Should Face East?

The flexible office is good because individuals prefer specific directions; natural sales people work best facing east and philosophers like facing north. By allowing for directional differences you promote individual genius. That’s why we developed these guidelines.

Work spaces are oriented in dominant directions based on the main entrance. Traditionally bosses faced so they could see who was coming in the door. Symbolically the boss is in alignment with the company’s mission. With the boss on the 20^th floor they don’t see who is coming in, but facing that same cardinal direction keeps them in philosophical alignment! Using traditional methods makes us feel safe and confident.

Because of personal programming some people benefit from the work space’s orientation more than others. We say they are a good fit with the company. Their personality type describes what that direction signifies. Stable, dependable workers like to face south, so when you put them in a southern aligned work space of course they feel supported by their surroundings.  

Before wide spread electric lighting people had a more prevalent experience of sunlight and the night sky, the phases of the Moon and the constellations. They decided the timing of important activities and were illumination and guide posts for night time journeys along unlit pathways.

Recall that primordial sense of the cardinal directions when you plot the route that you want your business to travel. When have your whole crew facing the same direction they are navigating by the same stars. What direction would that be?

Television Sets tell it All

Television marketing messages appeal to emotions. People buy for emotional reasons and justify it later intellectually. Watch a TV commercial depicting any work place and look carefully at the set and you’ll notice that there is nothing random in their choices. When Ditech wanted to express ‘ no hidden fees in their loans’ they showed the woman answering your call in a transparent cubicle; no secrets there.

Mercury Insurance depicted offices with ridiculously low ceilings, desks and doorways with hunched over workers ‘inspired’ to lower prices. It was thoroughly silly but got your attention and delivered the message. The ‘doctor’ selling you drugs sits in an office set, the older the product’s target demographic, the more conservative the furniture.

Set designers know viewers are easy to pitch to because they know the visual language of TV which is similar but neater than life, reality has more random factors. That profusion of ‘doctor’ shows have transformed medical offices everywhere until they all look like TV sets. When you walk into a business or work space you read it the same way that you read a commercial, or situation comedy, or crime drama. Keep that in mind when you design your space and use that to your benefit.