Does your office space support a healthy accountability model?
I bet you’ve never heard that question before. It’s an important question, and one every business leader needs to stop and carefully consider. It’s possible that the space you use to operate your business is hindering accountability within your team, which can cause a ripple effect leading to unhealthy company culture and bottom line. Creating a culture and space where your business can thrive can be a challenge, but we think you’re up for it. Let’s explore this idea further.
Accountability starts with solid, professional relationships built on trust. From there, accountability serves as a warning beacon preventing harmful behavior and actions from putting a crack in your team and processes. When there is something wrong, your team should feel empowered to approach one another with a flare and say, “Hey, something is wrong here. We need to fix it before it hurts someone or our business.” When this happens, your team is holding one another accountable so your focus as a business leader can stay where it needs to: towards the future of your growing business.
But even with an accountability culture in place, a less-than-optimal office space can limit its reach and intended results. When you lack a space that fits your business needs, it stunts the growth of those who are trying to get the day-to-day stuff done.
Avoiding Accountability
The wrong office space can assist your team’s efforts to avoid accountability.
The biggest workspace offender that hinders a strong culture of accountability is a virtual one. When most, or all, of your employees, are remote, it’s much more difficult to build the deep professional relationships that are needed to support accountability. Even with video conferencing technology, virtual face-to-face interactions will never replace the bonding experience of meeting in real life.
Spaces that are too small for the team also stifle accountability. Yes, accountability conversations can be casual and easy. Popping your head into the cube or office of a teammate and asking how XYZ is going isn’t a big deal. But sometimes, accountability gets into the weeds and tougher, more private conversations are needed. Does your space allow for 1:1 meetings to happen without the entire office overhearing? The appropriate workspaces are important to allow your team to hold one another accountable, without fear of who’s listening.
You may think that your team has plenty of space like that, but also consider the scheduling of those spaces. Is there a waitlist to book a room? Your team should have plenty of opportunities to use the rooms, and not have to wait three business days before a time slot finally opens up. If you’re running into this issue, it’s likely because you need a better space for your team.
Embracing Accountability
While the wrong space for your business can hinder accountability progress, the right space can help it excel.
For example, a workspace that fits your business supports your team in getting their daily responsibilities done well. They have the space to work in a way that is tailored to their preferences while being able to communicate with the rest of the team to gain feedback on how things are going. Large meeting spaces are readily available for the entire group to get together and discuss their progress, findings, and opportunities. Smaller, more personal spaces are also available for project partners and off-shoot teams to meet with privacy and without typical office distractions.
The best business space removes obstacles that get in the way of a company culture that is fun, healthy and encourages the team to move forward together. No one should be fighting over workspace availability or whose turn it is to fix the printer. Those types of issues do not exist when your team is in a productive, perfect-for-your-business workspace.
Ways Your Space Can Support Your Accountability Needs
Now that we agree a workspace can make or break your team’s accountability needs, let’s discuss a few practical things you should make sure your space offers.
Your office space should provide:
- A place to be together. Your team should never struggle to find a place or time to meet face-to-face, as a team or one-on-one. As a business leader, it’s important that you regularly get your people all in the same place to establish a clear and concise goal and gather team momentum. Publicly declaring exactly what the team plans to achieve and complete together enables them to easily hold one another accountable.
- Privacy (not isolation). Your team needs their own space, and places to go when they need to have a private or sensitive conversation. But that doesn’t mean that everyone works in isolation until a meeting requires them to come out of their cave. A balance of privacy and a healthy community is key.
- Appropriate meeting space. Providing a cube and a chair isn’t enough. Your team needs to be able to comfortably meet together in a room that provides space to seat everyone around a table or provide 1:1 meeting space to encourage regular check-ins with one another. By regularly talking with one another about both progress, performance, and behavior, a team is able and more inclined to keep one another accountable.
- Ample resources. Your team shouldn’t have to fight for office equipment or resources to get their job done. It should be ready and available for them to use when they need it. Don’t forget, that means you also need the room to store all of those things. With this issue eliminated, you can focus on building stronger relationships and work together towards one goal.
- The ability to scale when you need it. With healthy accountability, your team is going to ditch dysfunction and grow the business – in numbers and dollars. Your space needs to accommodate the growth of your team and the resources needed to get the job done.
- A place to cultivate a community of like-minded professionals. Accountability will never meet its true potential in your organization without healthy relationships among your team. Creating a healthy community is more than just social hours – it’s about building trust through everyday routines and actions. Your working space needs to provide a safe place to cultivate that growth, with minimal obstacles.
Your Best Space May Be A Coworking Space
Does your current space hold up to the high standard of promoting healthy accountability? If not, consider joining MAC6 and the strong, success-driven community in our coworking space. We offer flexible space, which you can then scale to meet your needs when the time comes.
You can start with a single desk or office in our Desk+ Coworking space, then transition when you’re ready for a Growth+ package. Growth+ offers unique office desk combinations supporting a learning environment, with the flexibility to grow to your own private Commercial Office Space, accommodating up to 70 employees. All of these configurations are within the boundaries of our learning-together community.
The best part about our coworking space is that you have access to an abundance of amazing amenities, without the headache of maintenance. We take care of everything, so your team can focus on building relationships and accountability.
“My team and I absolutely loved working from MAC6. It was the perfect community where we felt supported, heard, and taken care of. We truly felt at home.”
– Drena Kusari General Manager, Southwest Region Lyft
If you think it’s time to get into a better office space, schedule a tour with us today!