When Office Silence is Golden

We’re taught from an early age the importance of being able to work with other people. There is strength and power in numbers, and when groups of people work as a team there is little that can stop them.  Even the New York Yankees, with their seemingly boundless financial resources, can’t field a winning team if the individuals don’t work as a team. The same concept applies to your team at the office. However, this doesn’t mean your team always has be together all of the time. In fact, having some alone time at work can make employees even more productive.

This article explains, “According to new research, the whole idea of working in an open office group environment may just be a fleeting trend. Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption, which an open office environment does not provide. Psychologists say that some of the most brilliant people in their fields are introverts that need to work alone.”

As with most things in life, the trick is to strike a balance. Unless you have a job that requires absolute isolation from distraction and input from others—like a novelist or perhaps a programmer—people need to interact with other people. In fact, even the novelists need to know people to base their characters on, and programmers frequently troubleshoot problems by consulting with their programming peers.  This doesn’t mean they don’t need privacy to do their jobs. They do. And so do office professionals.

Successful office professionals maximize the benefits from both the social atmosphere of working among colleagues and the private confines of working in a cubicle or office. There is a time for bouncing ideas around with other smart people, and there is a time for contemplation and getting things done. Knowing when and how to balance these times of productivity is up to the individual. So be considerate before barging into a colleague’s private time. It’s when many employees achieve their best work.  

Photo courtesy of allensima.