‘Lavatory reading’ and the art of choosing your space wisely
Wednesday, 04 May 2011
I came across a blog by Seth Godin, best-selling business author of The Dip and Small is the New Big (among many others) the other day. His opening statement was "It might be a garage or a sunlit atrium, but the place you choose to do what you do has an impact on you." How true and how apt for the serviced office business.
He goes on to urge companies and those who make the vital decisions about 'space' to "pay attention to where you have your brainstorming meetings. Don't have them in the same conference room where you chew people out over missed quarterly earnings." He also makes a good point about noise and smells, effectively saying that when they're wrong or just too intrusive, they can be extremely disruptive and therefore costly. When they're right, these elements can become strongly associated with good outcomes and with success (the smell of leather seats is an obvious example of a scent that spells success). I would go so far to say that even textures and finishes are important. At our office business centre at One Heddon Street we occupy a beautiful and distinguished Grade II listed building. It's a very handsome and striking workplace and even touches such as the toilet door handles and the meeting room seats have all been chosen for their quality, durability and comfort. We believe that these very fine details are why our clients keep coming back to use our facilities. Who doesn't want to be associated with quality and with things that actually work? We've certainly heard enough horror stories from clients who've used serviced offices and meeting rooms elsewhere to know full well that the devil is in the detail.
Toilets are a prime example. They should always, always be clean and healthy, in good working order and with all the fundamentals such as the flush, the lighting and the toilet roll holder functioning as they should. You'd be surprised how rare this is, so my top tip whenever you're visiting an office business centre to check out the office or meeting room space is be sure to visit the ladies or gents whilst you're there!
Philip Parris, Chairman, Harvard Managed Offices
