All of the high-tech infrastructure within a conference room go flying out the window if conference room etiquettes aren’t in place! If you’re thinking that a conference room etiquette poster or conference room etiquette email may have the answers, that may not be enough. If you are not aware of how to behave in a conference room, it may not only be detrimental to your business but you may also come across as rude!

Here are 15 conference room etiquettes that you must bear in mind:

Adhere to the schedule

Meetings or conferences may sometimes not adhere to the clock and take longer than usual. If the conference room is a part of a busy office, chances are you may be delaying other meetings too. Therefore, one of the essential business etiquettes is to finish meetings on time. If you’re finding yourself having to continue, consider moving to a common area or reschedule for a later time or date.

Don’t leave behind a mess

Scattered chairs, paper bits, empty water bottles and trash around is a complete no-no in the meeting room. Imagine walking into a meeting room with your important clients, only to find an utter mess created by the previous group– it’s unsightly, and not something you’d like to pass on, either. Ensure that the room is in a tidy and presentable state as it counts towards one of the important office courtesy rules!

Don’t use the conference room without booking

Part of any meeting etiquette policy or company meeting room policy is booking a conference room before use. It is advantageous and polite– you’ll have the room to yourself to conduct important meetings without being disturbed or barged in on. In many offices and coworking spaces, making a booking also means you’ll have access to the room’s infrastructure like projectors, TVs or whiteboards.

Be prompt about making any cancellations

No matter how hard we try to keep with up with the schedule, sometimes things may not go as planned– the same applies for meetings, as well. If you have to make cancellations, don’t wait until the last minute, or worse, forget. Make sure you cancel your bookings as soon as you learn about any impending changes in plan– it’s a crucial rule under conference room do’s and don’ts. This polite action allows others to grab the slot and hold their meetings if you can’t.

Make sure you don’t overuse the space

There is any denying that large or open conference room tables can be inviting enough to make you want to spread your work out. However, when you are in a co-working space, sharing meeting space with workers from different companies, or indeed the same company, it will seem impolite to overuse the workplace for your benefit. It’s also infringing on their space, so form an invisible desk boundary­– and stay well within it– to work harmoniously.

Book early to get confirmed bookings

Don’t wait for the eleventh hour to book the conference room, especially if you are working in a busy office. Booking early secures the space, and it also allows other teams enough time to reschedule or find another meeting room well in advance.

Set the infrastructure back to default

Once you’ve finished using the room, leave it just how you’d want to see it if you were just entering– clean, orderly and ready for use. This would mean wiping down the whiteboard, closing all open displays on the screen and returning the remotes or other devices back to their place.

Be accommodating

Sometimes other meeting groups may require the room on an urgent basis to hold an important meeting. You can always offer to reschedule your meeting to help your fellow co-workers, if it’s a feasible option. On the other hand, you can also try to wind up your meeting early to facilitate your co-workers and keep things running smoothly.

Make sure the door is closed

You can rave about your new plan or argue over a proposal but not at the cost of disturbing the quiet of your workplace. Sometimes certain confidential matters are discussed, which need to be discreet and under such circumstances. What goes on in the conference room, stays in the conference room– so ensure the doors are closed! Many companies use training room door signs or meeting rooms signs have ‘Keep Door Closed’ sign on them for added measure.

Keep your phone switched off

One of the most important conference room etiquette signs that companies place in meeting rooms is barring the use of mobile phones during meetings. Let’s face it– few things are more disruptive than a buzzing mobile phone during an important meeting. If you absolutely have to take a call, slip out of the room as discreetly as possible to avoid disturbing the team.

Exit once you finish

As soon as the meeting concludes, make sure you leave the office space. Avoid discussing the meeting pointers or indulging in casual chit-chat as you may be eating into someone else’s meeting room time. Instead, head to the coffee room for a breather and a quick de-brief!

Be understanding towards others’ needs

If you’ve been requested by fellow co-workers to switch conference rooms because you are a small group of people they have a larger team to accommodate, meeting request etiquette dictates that you consider giving up the space. This not only boosts a healthy working environment but also influences people to make bookings as per their requirements, whether relating to group strength or infrastructure.

Bring the management in

In co-working spaces and larger offices, in general, there exists a staff member to monitor room bookings. If you’re having trouble with a booking or the room’s infrastructure, bring in the experts for resolution instead of attempting to fix it yourself. This way, they’ll have a log of what happened and you can conduct your meeting in peace.

Prepare beforehand

As a host or integral part of a meeting, ensure that you’re well-prepared before other members trickle in. This involves checking the cables, setting up your laptop and projector, making sure the air conditioning works fine, among others. By giving yourself this prep time, you can get any tech trouble fixed in time and won’t stall the meeting for longer than necessary. 

Don’t bring in any food

Coffee, tea and water usually pass the test but consider leaving eatables elsewhere. Not only is it distracting to have someone eating during an important meeting, it’s also considered rude and uncaring by many meeting-goers.

Conference room etiquettes show that you care for your fellow co-workers and are aware of how your behaviour or actions can affect others in the room. Follow these simple tips to win over your colleagues and foster a conducive work environment!

But has any of this really helped? Is dragging yourself out of bed to a multi-story behemoth in the din of harsh fluorescent lighting really helping you to be the best employee that you can be?

The end goal for an employee used to be a nice little corner office with a big desk and a cushy leather chair. But the game has changed. The current generation isn’t tied down to tiny offices and tiny ideals.

Spaces, like people, have evolved, and are in need of their own identity. A workplace has grown to be an extension of a company’s ideology and culture. And while many workspaces have grown to be more progressive in terms of organizational culture, the importance that should be given to interior design and decoration is always more of an afterthought.

With today’s ever-evolving industry and the fresh set of minds that are quickly becoming a part of today’s workforce, there is a tangible shift from extracting productivity from employees towards inspiring productivity. All that while maintaining an employee’s well-being and enhancing their experience in the workplace.

Tying in with the ideology that today’s young workforce thrives on systematic chaos, the design of a workspace should ideally encourage both interaction and immersion. An open floor plan allows for employees to engage freely and for ideation and discussion to happen without any restriction. Ample space, furniture, and an enclosure-free workspace make for a thriving community that loves to interact!

However, one must also understand the need for privacy in certain situations, and a workplace must facilitate that. A mix of both public and private spaces ensures that your employees can strike a balance when working. We all love social interactions, but nobody likes discussing confidential information in an open space. In this day and age, even coffee mugs have ears.

Apart from the layout, interior design plays a vital part in an employee’s performance. Lighting is one facet of this. Well-illuminated workspaces that also bring together elements of nature helps speed along the creative process and instills a sense of activeness in the workplace.

An increase with employee productivity and vitality has been observed with the implementation of natural lighting in the workspace, and in addition to being cost-efficient and eco-friendly, the installation of skylights and windows allow for a brilliant view of landscapes while adding to the design aesthetic.

Speaking of design aesthetic, the furniture in a workspace also contributes to an employee’s emotional well-being and their interaction with fellow employees. And with millennials driving much of today’s industry, colorful and minimalistic furniture helps enhance the identity of a space, ergonomics, and comfort aside.

Another aspect of how workspaces can drive an employee to be more creative and productivity is color. Colour theory is an interesting take on how a person can use colors to influence an employee’s productivity.

You know how people tell you to add some color to your life? Well, why not try it out at work too?

Dulux have understood the importance of Colour Theory, and have used their own paints to spruce up the aesthetic of their workspace with the goal of enhancing employee satisfaction and well-being.  Sonica Bucksteg, Dulux’s resident color expert, claims that “Businesses should always consider the use of color to promote a positive image, as well to establish an environment where people will prosper”.

Take the color red for instance. Sultry red dresses, wine, and blood. All of these lead us to associate red with passion, danger, and excitement. Subtle dashes of red at the workplace can stimulate employees to be more vibrant, and as a call-to-action when placed around a certain area.

Many colors have different qualities attributed to them in a workspace. Blue and green imbue a feeling of calmness and relaxation, which helps balance out stress and fatigue. Stressed out techies and burnt-out sales executives, take note.

Yellow, on the other hand, inspires creativity. Which is perfect for ideation and conceptualization, making it an ideal color choice for marketers, visual artists, graphic designers and anybody working in a creative capacity.

Blending colors while giving serious thought to the interior design of a workspace helps to bring vibrancy and personality to what would otherwise be a dull collection of four walls. While we’re not saying that this might solely be responsible for your employees upping their ass-kicking quotient, many studies show that there is an undeniable connection between employee satisfaction and productivity and the environment they work in.

So why not bring a little color and flair to your workspace? You never know, it might just be the level up your employees need.

Work culture is crucial to what sort of mood an employee is in, it may dictate their loyalty, how dedicated and invested they are in the role, how happy they are, how likely they are to recommend the company to others, and more importantly – how productive they are. Now, if boosting productivity at the workplace is something that keeps you up at night, you’d do well to read on.

Pop the pressure!

If your company’s work culture is not unlike a ‘pressure cooker environment’, it most definitely leaves a lot to be desired. Work cultures such as these are famously prone to creating burnouts and also contribute heavily towards employees hating to come into work, Monday morning blues and ‘waiting for the weekend’ lifestyles. Besides, the crippling, incessant pressure hardly ever lets employees put their best foot forward. Therefore, as an employer, you should take every opportunity to ensure that your workplace is less pressure packed, thereby ‘unleashing’ your employees on the unwitting job at hand!

An encourager culture

The office of today is a rough place! There’s always too much to be done, and about half the time to do it in. Given this, it does help if the employer takes the time to encourage and reward his or her employees for a job well done. It takes the edge off work, and makes the employee feel celebrated and appreciated for their efforts. A timely word of encouragement or reward can push the employee on to bigger and better things. On the flipside, if that reward isn’t forthcoming, an employee may not feel inclined on meeting the challenge head-on the next time.

Switch off/switch on

Oh well, as much as you might wish, your employees aren’t machines! Therefore, necessary breaks, vacation time, emergency leave, weekends off, a breakout area, the ‘work from home option’ and so forth must be neatly woven into a modern work culture that’s worth its salt. This allows the employees the freedom, comfort and flexibility they so crave for. In turn, they will have a positive, enlivening and appreciative view of the company, and are likely to go that extra mile for the firm they love.

More power to them

Micromanagement is the ‘M’ word an employee loves to hate! As such it is almost insulting to their intelligence, and prevents them from thinking for themselves. Quite invariably, this results in them having a dull, mundane view of their job, and also prevents them from taking up any real responsibility. Instead, why not allow employees to make daily or lower management decisions? This will invigorate, and dare we say, empower them! Now, they will feel an overwhelming sense of pride in their work and feel truly contributory and responsible to the company’s success.

Returning to the sense of community and the fact that humans are a social species, it stands to reason that organisations, whether a start-up, a large company or a multinational, cannot ignore the community and the environment they exist and thrive in. To this end, some form of community interaction and community work is nigh on essential. Not overly convinced about this, or need more than a nudge in this direction? Why, your luck’s just come in! Let’s see if some of the reasons below cannot convince you.

Blinkers off

Being in business is tough, especially at the start. Besides, this aspect is even more evident at startups, where it’s like approaching ‘exam season’ all year round. Sometimes though, it feels like the people at startups live in their own world, without keeping a tab on the world outside. Now, while this feverish introspective, self-involved intensity is necessary and even a prerequisite in some cases, it does make sense for the people at the startup, to on occasion, take their blinkers off, so to speak, to slow down and sneak a peek at the world at large. And as taking the blinkers off and changing gears go, they hardly come much better than a bit of the good ol’ community service. This exercise will help widen their horizons, besides also giving them a new viewpoint which can be instructive and edifying in the long run. This knowledge, wisdom and understanding can then be ploughed back into the business.

Who are they again?

Having just discussed the importance of community service, and the unhindered ‘exposure’ to the real world it provides, we must highlight another advantage which this exercise could bestow upon startups in particular. Put simply, it is the ability to directly tap into the customer or your target audience! Let’s explain ourselves – as a startup, typically, you should choose some community work or service which has a connection to the type of organisation you run, or the kind of ideals you uphold. For instance, a startup dealing with kids, can do some work with schools and kids, and this will provide them with a treasure trove of knowledge which they can apply to their advantage. Interacting and learning from your customer has never been this easy! Now, you can re-connect, and re-engage for mutual benefit! This exercise will remarkably help you mine insights, and grow!

Perception is everything

There’s a primary reason why companies undertake community service, and it has much (or is it all?) to do with the way the world perceives them. Hardly anyone (By this we mean, government bodies, municipal councils, other companies, NGOs, the man on the street and so forth) looks down on a do-gooder, so why shouldn’t you be in on the action? And hey, let’s face it, if your heart’s in the right place and you really are participating in this to make a difference, go about it loud and proud, why don’t you? Now, when the opportunity to give something back to the community arises, do it, and do it gladly! You may even get some good press for it, and it’s something to crow about on your social networks as well. Oh, forgive is if we failed to mention that potential employees are more likely to fairly look upon employers who actively involve themselves in community work, so there’s that too.

Team, steam, esteem!

Let’s face it, some of us are fully invested (and fully paid up members) in a lifestyle that lives for and glorifies the weekend. Given this, don’t you think it’d be great for the whole start-up team to have a shared experience outside of the usual humdrum or the ‘pressure cooker styled lifestyle’? You can’t quite put a price on it, the sense of doing something which benefits the greater good bestows a sense of elation, bolsters a sense of self-worth, as well as camaraderie and team-spirit. All this, while blowing off some steam. We reckon that’s a two-for-one offer!

]]> https://www.cowrks.com/blog/438-2/ Wed, 22 Feb 2017 05:50:07 +0000 https://www.cowrks.com/blog/?p=438 Multiplicity, diversity and such is the very essence and spice of life, and much the same can be said for start-ups and businesses alike. Diversity in a company’s workforce and personnel is nigh on essential, and encourages creativity, progress and a more rounded and nuanced approach to issues, situations and scenarios. Homogeneity on the other hand is ho hum, boring and almost perverse. Now, if you’re running low on ideas as to how to maintain your diverse workforce, or even if you’ve come up empty in this regard, we have a few ideas that we’re sure you’d like, so stick around.

…Flock together

First up, once you’ve painstakingly put together this smashing smorgasbord of an admittedly diverse workforce that dovetails so wonderfully together, why not ask them to bring more of their friends into the fold. Birds of a feather and all that, but there’s no knocking it, it truly works! Besides, even if you don’t expressly ask for referrals, please note that if you treat your employees well and let them feel comfortable, welcome and respected, they will naturally gravitate towards bringing more of their ilk in, so that’s something to wrap your head around too.

Get your drum out, and beat it!

If you haven’t already, jump to it right away! What’re we on about? Well it’s an equal opportunity manifesto or some such, of course! This document will identify your enterprise as an equal opportunity company. Moreover, seeing it in black and white provides the resonance and recall you so require, and will inform all your audiences of your stance. Furthermore, we suggest that you to put it out there in your hiring material and website as well – let your HR persons speak to the outside world about this, and encourage employees to do so too.

Point them towards the bigger picture

Groups of people, and diverse people at that, don’t get along, do they? So, WHAT can you do? Well, for starters, get around it with some regular diversity training. But that alone won’t do the trick. Be more proactive in this regard, run a survey and test the waters to see if your HR person needs to step in and intervene or gently help the process along. Another great way is to actively involve employees into the process, ask them to come up with suggestions, ideas and programmes as to how to make the workplace more inclusive and welcoming to everyone.

Whatta feeling!

Often, nothing works like ‘feeling’ included, appreciated, valued and ‘one of the crowd’. An easy way to do this is to respect and encourage opinions and contributions equally. This will prove without a doubt that diverse values, ideas and opinions have a pivotal role to play in the way the company functions. Besides, team leaders and management should champion this cause in their day-to-day activities. Something else a start-up or company can do, is to promote diversity in the management positions and in the boardroom. This will further cement the company’s position on the matter. What’s more, once this feeling or emotion sets in, it’s very hard to shake it off and the company has definitely achieved its objective!

We do hope these tips help you maintain your diverse workforce. Given where the world is headed, the best we can do is understand each other and embrace our differences, and there’s no better place than the workplace to kick this off!

The more the merrier

Foosball is a multiplayer game. As there are two teams on each side, the game is one which is filled with energy, sportsmanship and coordination with your teammate. This game is especially good if you want to help teams in your company build a bond. Even if you don’t know the other person on your team, you get to know them through the game. Foosball games are good for ice-breaking sessions and helps people communicate with each other without getting all awkward. Furthermore, the communication is not limited to people only on your team but also extends to individuals who are on the other team. This helps accelerate teamwork and team bonding’s.

Take a break, play a game.

Foosball is good when you are overworked and really need to take a break. It is good fun and helps you relieve stress as well. As your stress levels come down, your productivity automatically pumps up. Bringing down pressure for employees who are tensed can be quite a task for the HR team, unless they have mastered human psychology. Thus, to make things easy, companies must always invest in recreational areas with foosball tables where employees can vent out and cool off. This helps them replenish on the lost momentum and get back to work with fresh energy.

Get some exercise

Foosball although doesn’t involve too much of movement, it does help flex some arm and wrist muscles. Also there needs to be a strong eye-hand coordination. The game further helps better your motor skills. Studies have also found that foosball helps treat arthritis and osteoarthritis by allowing players to giving enough movement to their shoulders, elbows, arms and wrist muscles. In addition, knees and feet are also constantly moving and don’t remain stationary while playing this game.

Play one, play all

Foosball is one such game wherein you don’t require expertise and practice. All you need to do is just play a few games to get the hang of it. Although there are a few ground rules which need to be followed, this game can be played by both young and old with the same fervour. As the game is safe to play by all age groups the teams can be a mix of young and old players.

So next time you want some time off, dust your palms and get set to swing those foosball rods and watch your stress vanish away!