Setting up your Remote, Virtual Workspace. Do we want Cubicles or Conference Rooms?

Several times a week someone asks me,

“What is the best online meeting platform?”

“Should we purchase Teams or Zoom?”

If your team is asking the same question, I’ve got some ideas to help you best sort it out. (*I’ll remind you that I do not represent these companies. I weigh in from the perspective of principles for productive meetings and healthy workplaces).

First, let’s step back and consider what kind of functionality your team needs in a workspace. What about your in-person office space worked well and what didn’t? Check out pages 9-12 in , “The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures” by Keith McCandless and Henri Lipmanowicz.

“Whatever we do, there is always a structure to support or guide what is being done. Without structures, there is just chaos. We see this even in our most routine activities. When we have dinner with our family, the structures provided by the room, the table and chairs, the dinnerware and eating utensils, and more subtly by who sits where. Most of the time, we pay no attention to this structure because its elements rarely change… We take the structure for granted[.]”

“The Surprising Power of Liberating Structure” McCandless & Lipmanowicz p. 9

Nobody is taking their old office for granted anymore! Some of us are facing dramatic macrostructural shifts - the location of our work has moved from specially designed buildings into makeshift virtual offices from closets, laundry rooms, and sometimes a cleverly redesigned bedrooms. Those of us who work directly with physical assets (like the hospitality industry or hands-on physical and massage therapists) are having to completely reimagine our business strategy. For others, our internal operational processes have been replaced overnight.

Keith and Henri go on to say we know that big structures like buildings and policies support or constrain us, but we aren’t typically aware of their influence. Boy has that changed! We have the opportunity now to be especially attuned to the fact that all sorts of seen and unseen structures shape all of our undertakings and accomplishments.

Keith and Henri invite us to attuned to the tangible and intangible macrostructures, microstructures, and structural elements. 

Consider that different virtual meeting tools are like different microstructured office layouts and our office spaces typically had different sorts of rooms used for different purposes. Also, by now we’ve noticed that the tangible and intangible structural elements like agendas, presentations, and open-ended discussions work differently online.

I also urge to you STOP asking should we buy Zoom or Teams or GoToMeeting and START asking, “What is our purpose and how do we want to work together?”

Let’s walk through some of what our old, physical workspaces had (microstructures) that we might want to replicate or improve as we go online.

▪️The Cubicle
Semi-private, no doors. Ideal for work that depends on “cubicle hopping”

With everyone working from home, cubicle hopping isn’t possible, but certain platforms allow a similar sort of behavior. Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts (business or personal) allow for ad hoc meetings. “Kari, can you jump on video for 5 min real quick?”

💙Why people love it: whether you’re an external processor, or a workspace that depends upon very frequent feedback, this might be your favorite way to work.

❌Why people gripe about it: being interrupted and micromanaged are not usually the favorite parts of any job. Moving to remote work can allow people who benefit from quiet workspace a reprieve from coworkers cubicle hopping.

My recommendation: consider the purpose of office cubicles. For most organizations, it wasn’t to facilitate collaboration or co-working, but to maximize space while providing a bit of privacy. So while the live meeting functions of these platforms might feel familiar, I don’t find that they create usable structure that makes for skillful meeting dynamics. (you can interrupt each other with instant messaging apps).

▪️The Co-working Table
This easy egalitarian, innovation is often a happy accident of workplace culture. I think about the interns without defined office space, all relatively new and learning joining together in a study-hall-esque environment, occasionally asking the group for small snippets of feedback, but primarily focused on their own work. In office cultures that celebrate the co-working table, everyone opts in and is available, but there isn’t a formal agenda or even necessarily a shared outcome. ( you can also choose to not sit there).

💙Why people love it: the tacit agreement to interrupt or be interrupted is a welcome shift from cubicle hopping. The sense of accountability and ease in eliciting informal feedback feels like the group is collaborating, even if their tasking is unrelated.

❌Why people gripe about it: instead of taking a formal break or shifting spaces, sometimes the co-working table can create distracting, off task, and non-work-related conversation, which is disruptive to others.

My recommendation: for accountability and quick feedback, I don’t have a preferred platform because they all allow for the ability to mute and unmute as each person signs in to attend a meeting. One feature that makes me appreciate Zoom for this sort of set up is the “gallery view” option, the ability to start/pause your camera and mute/unmute. You can do a quiet “study hall” or work session on zoom where you only show yourself to ask a question or get quick informal feedback. Keep these accountability and feedback sessions time-limited, and invite-only to allow for the correct balance of feedback and silent work.

▪️The Conference Room
There is nothing quite like gathering 12 people around a table to hash out a problem, innovate, or strategize. There is typically privacy and a central table to allow everyone to be in the front row, and a specific goal or agenda of goals.

💙Why people love it: while I’m not sure I can recall a specific memory of people telling me what they loved about conference rooms, I can tell you that when a group of people feel trust, privacy, and focus, so much becomes possible. There’s a certain formality to it. Work gets done.

❌Why people gripe about it: the magic of a conference room has little to do with the room itself, unfortunately, so many unproductive meetings still happen inside their walls. The magic is in cultivating the right conditions for the meeting, but the cultivation is still necessary.

My recommendation: without question, Zoom is the optimal space for meetings about problems, strategy, and innovation. Zoom allows for many small rooms to be created and dismantled in an instant. Gallery view permits everyone a seat in the “front row” as they each receive equal size and distribution. Zoom allows us to amplify the purpose of conference room meetings: anonymity, a synchronous chat, and recording for bits and pieces (votes, discussions, and summaries). It is accessible by anyone (inside/outside of the organization, and does not require licenses to participate (just to host). 

▪️The Cafeteria, Kitchen, or Break Room
Informal place for social bonding, trust building, and communing around our human-ness

💙Why people love it: eating is a social activity for so many of us, and it can feel like a “back stage” spot in a workplace where people otherwise feel the need to perform. While rank structure might hold true in some work spaces, in others this room can feel like a great equalizer.

❌Why people gripe about it: in a space where it’s not always clear who is in charge or what rules apply. Chaos can rule. Whether it’s different standards of cleanliness or responsibility, grievances often arise in the ungoverned space.

▪️The Retreat
A retreat or “off site” is a special place that is separate from the attachments of our daily routine that allows for multiple days of in-depth work towards a goal, increased staff bonding, and often serves as an annual summit for presentations, awards, and shifting of responsibilities.

💙Why people love it: We can think better when we step back and interact differently with one another. We can show the people we lead that they are special and worth rejuvenation time and a little luxury (even if it’s just free lunch) - whether the retreat is in a beautiful natural environment or a destination city with novel sights and foods, what people say they love is the change of pace and the shift in perspective.

❌Why people gripe about it: these reasons are as diverse as the people and retreats, but can include an overwhelm of new information, expenses, an over scheduled or unproductive time, as well as the delicate balance between the fun and the work.

My recommendation: my invitation to clients is always to start with purpose before jumping into planning or returning to “what we did last year.” Taking a multi-day retreat online is not a 1:1, hour for hour transition, but a reorientation and discovery that can yield remarkable satisfaction with no sunburns. Again, for me Zoom is the clear winner for panel presentations, summits, discussion groups, social bonding. It won’t be the same as a trip together, but it can still be good. With sufficient planning, retreat social activities can involve a “group” cooking class where each person is provided the ingredients and access to create and share the same meal in real time. Or, send your team a care package of specialty teas and cookies.

▪️BONUS Bulletin Board

The original asynchronous work platform! Now we use tools like Trello, Asana, Slack, LinkedIn and Craigslist to fulfill the same sorts of needs, but not all workplaces have “gotten this memo.” Innovation does not always need a replacement. While email is a wonderfully quick and easy (and virtually free) medium for communication, there are times where a handwritten card makes a bigger impact. Many (many) meetings could be emails. And some could be short video briefings using apps like Marco Polo or WhatsApp

▪️BONUS Walk N Talk

Remember groups of 2-3 headed out for an afternoon cappuccino when everyone needs to step away from the desk, the phone, or the computer? We can still do that! Schedule meetings as a phone chat with a text agenda and walk in your own neighborhood or on your own treadmill while you chat through the final hours of the workday. (get a wireless headset and you can really move or garden)