Furniture that promotes efficiency. Balma.
From the series "Modern office buildings - trends 2021".
Long, boring, stealing valuable time, and worst of all - inefficient. Everyone has probably become a victim of a poorly organized and poorly conducted meeting at least once in their lives. But at the same time, the last several months have shown us that in some situations a personal exchange of views is essential and cannot be replaced by even the most technically perfect videoconference. Returning to offices after the pandemic is a good opportunity to refresh the formula of company meetings. Let's leave the issue of substantive preparation and psychological aspects to management specialists. Let's focus on creating conditions conducive to efficiency.
Meeting places can take many forms. | Bialmed
© Stan Zajączkowski
Success measured in concrete terms
For a meeting to be considered "good," it must be precisely effective. This is the basic goal, defined as achieving a valuable effect with optimally used resources: the amount of time spent, the size of the group of participants, additional costs (including those related to the operation of the facility and equipment). Success will be the creation of new proposals, the development of a concept and implementation plan, the discussion of a compromise on a difficult issue, the resolution of conflict. On top of this, the atmosphere and comfort of the participants is important, because a good mood allows you to focus on the substance of the meeting without straining your body.
Let's consider - how can the equipment of a modern office create conditions for effective, successful meetings? How does it affect the well-being of participants and to what extent does it improve their productivity?
Greenery, reclining chairs and soft seating bags. A place that stimulates creativity. | Livinnx
Photo: Piotr Mastalerz
Flexibility
Most meetings held in our offices are of a working nature and do not require full separation of their participants from their surroundings. In addition, they are relatively rarely attended by more than 3-4 people. So there is no need to move to a special conference room, it is enough to quickly arrange a place for conversation near the workstation. Modern office furniture solutions (an excellent example is the Balma PLUS and Balma STEPPS systems) give great flexibility in shaping such temporary places: comfortable, allowing acoustic comfort and... removable.
A wealth of colors and textures. A variety of furniture - something nice for everyone :) | Cafe Ole
Photo: Pawel Biedrzycki
Efficiency and punctuality
Resigning from the conference room avoids wasting time: on searching for an available room, on asking participants of a previous, prolonged meeting out of the previously booked room, on having to adjust the equipment to one's needs and then restoring it to its original state, etc. In this way, we reduce the amount of extra work, and the meeting can start on time.
Decisive color is conducive to stimulating creativity and breaking away from patterns. | IT company
Photo: Stan Zajączkowski
Time
We can be sure that the meeting time, organized at a meeting table, on a couch or in an acoustic box, compared to a typical conference room discussion, will be better utilized. The sense of "temporariness" that accompanies being in the space arranged just now will have a mobilizing effect and prompt the efficient conduct of the meeting. Not without significance is the fact of being in plain sight - no one is likely to allow themselves to sit down and talk unproductively about nothing.
Coffee meetings among greenery are a good way to relax during the day. | Green Genius
Photo: Pawel Biedrzycki
Furnishings
Conference rooms are usually equipped with an audio-visual system, allowing you to display a presentation, work in groups using a large screen or conduct a teleconference. Understandably, in some situations the use of such advanced infrastructure will be necessary (e.g. for remote meetings with contractors involving a company delegation of several people), but in most cases mobile devices, designed for quick installation and easy operation, will suffice.
Discover the power of color. Color matters. | Green Genius
Photo: Pawel Biedrzycki
Incidentally, the growing popularity of videoconferencing (triggered by pandemic conditions, but also by the natural development of technology) has created a new category of equipment items, namely special acoustically separated booths for remote meetings. An example is the advanced products of the Finnish company Framery.
Comfort and health
Getting out of the habit of using conference rooms also promotes comfort and helps keep you fit. Instead of typical office chairs or armchairs and heavy tables, we have soft, upholstered seats, sofas and cushions with light, functional tables of different heights or comfortable hockers on wheels (such as PUNG). This promotes movement, changes of position, relaxes the body, creates an atmosphere and builds a positive atmosphere.
A comfortable, well-equipped meeting room promotes efficiency. | Green Genius
Photo: Pawel Biedrzycki
We are not urging you to indiscriminately give up on meeting rooms. These rooms, even in the most modern offices, still retain their raison d'être, and in some situations they are indispensable. However, we suggest letting some fresh air into office habits and giving some freedom to employees doomed to frequent, routine meetings. It will certainly pay off!
link to BALMA website
furniture mentioned in the article:
BalmaStepps
BalmaPLUS
more about acoustics:
More information on the company's Fabryka Mebli BALMA SA page on the A&B portal.
