It’s all in the sound
Agile working journey
On the hunt for the perfect working space you find yourself coming across many hurdles, things that never existed before, become a prominent part of your working day.
Like, the importance of acoustics.
I remember feeling slightly embarrassed when my Dad would go on and on about the quality of sound he gets with his new speaker system, what a ‘Dad’ thing to talk about. But now I get it! Sound is so important. Whilst trialling a co-working space in Borough I encountered the worst acoustics imaginable, cold hard surfaces, wide open spaces and no existing noise. Meaning, that each time anyone moves or speaks it echoes into the space and reverberates a couple of times before disappearing. What you realise is, silence is not your friend it is your enemy, sound absorbing surfaces and a low consistent sound is actually what you are aiming for. So that, when someone opens a bag of crisps there isn’t a cringeworthy space around that sound that draws all eyes up, focusing on the culprit.
On the Agile Working trail, I have come across places that actually pump sound into the work spaces (white noise) in order to create this lack of silence and avoid small sounds becoming a focal point and distraction.
We all have our favourite working spots, places that inspire us and enhance our focus. And this has a lot to do with sound, you may not realise it at first but the next time you are working in your favourite cafe take a moment to listen out and see what the acoustics are like, chances are that you are naturally seeking out your optimum sound level. Either that, or, like me, you are going to the place that does the best coffee and putting your ear plugs in!
We are all different, we have different working habits and as a business we need to respect and trust in our employees in order to get the best results.
This is important, I couldn’t go out into the world looking for my perfect working zone, without a true understanding of what it is that my colleagues are looking for. As we need a space that works for us all.
When working in the office, I found it extremely distracting when a colleague is on the phone, as I am absorbing every word, imagining what the person on the other line might be saying, pulling together the pieces of the conversation and in my mind joining the dots to get to the meaning behind what is being said. I’m not doing this intentionally, it’s just the way I work. Familiar sound is my kryptonite!
However, when I used to talk to my colleagues in the same space after the phone call, they had completely zoned it out, no interest what so ever and couldn’t give any information on what was said. We all work differently and we need to understand and respect this.
On a personal level think about how you work in a space and start to use your environment as another tool to aid your work. If someone is speaking next to you and you are finding yourself focusing on them, then move. If you don’t have anywhere to move to, find the person in charge and have a word with them about Agile Working, after all, it is the future.