Creating the Ideal Environment

In 2005, I (Mariano) co‐founded a small company called Three Melons, which focused on creating online games. After launching an online hit called Bola and spending some time on the market, we were lucky to be acquired by Disney in 2010.

No longer a small start‐up, we found ourselves collaborating between Buenos Aires (our home city), Mountain View, and Los Angeles. Now, we experienced the passive cognitive style of slide decks first‐hand: Our new colleagues leaned back and judged each bullet point. Rather than contributing new ideas and improving on what was there, they assumed what they saw was “done” and no longer open to discussion.

What we saw, however, was that slides don't invite participation or the exploration of concepts. They tend to lull audiences to sleep. We wanted people to participate, to feel like they could change and even “break” things without fear.

To solve our own problem, we came up with the concept of the Mural whiteboard, which we originally called “Medley Board.”

Medley Board was a concept for a two‐dimensional online environment that allowed participants to visualize their thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways. It made use of color and shapes and different formats, and participants could move around freely on a shared whiteboard. It was our always‐on, always‐available resource for teams, a space that could be adapted to meet the needs of our organization and our imagination. The effect was that people felt invited to iterate in a safe environment and not like they would risk disrupting a beautifully designed deck.

Original concept sketch for the Medley Board.

We already knew that tools are important and that they can shape our team interactions. What we learned from Medley Board and the explosion of innovation it created was more profound: It's really the broader environment that gives rise to connected teamwork.

And to be sure, research shows that the environment where collaboration happens is the single biggest factor influencing team success.¹

So if you want to improve collaboration behaviors and results, focus on setting up the right environments. Collaboration spaces power connected teams.

Our notion of collaboration spaces now includes both physical and digital spaces and embraces hybrid collaboration, VR, and beyond. It's really about the entire tool set a team has to collaborate. The term “space” itself here also includes the dynamic and metaphoric spaces in which collaboration occurs, the social boundaries of shared work.

Having observed—over a decade of working with hundreds of teams—that the spaces in which we interact have a deep influence on the nature of the collaboration that happens in them, we're forced to ask a necessary question: How can we organize the tools and environments of collaboration to foster exceptional teamwork?

The Spaces We Make for Collaboration

In the past, a single, monolithic collaboration tool loomed over the teamwork landscape: the office building. Some leaders relied upon the fact that their teams shared a physical space almost to the exclusion of other means of collaboration.

Except any knowledge worker will tell you that putting people in proximity to each other doesn't guarantee collaboration. And as new spaces have given rise to new collaboration opportunities, innovative organizations must embrace these changes to the modalities of work..

Authentic collaboration spaces, whether physical, digital, or both, offer teams a place designed to support teamwork. That means supporting not only interaction and productivity toward a shared, common purpose but also supporting relationships. Our conception of a common space is one that's shared, radically accessible, inclusive of the entire team, and adaptable. It's also agnostic to locale, and its modality is flexible and adaptive to the needs of the people who use it.

There are several fundamental types of collaboration spaces we've identified:

Physical Spaces. For many reasons, physical collaboration space is (to date, at least) generally seen as unparalleled in its ability to create spontaneous connection. Relationships can be nurtured before meetings, during breaks, and at the end of the day. Body language and tone of voice add a richness to communication that people crave. Fact is, interacting in physical spaces feels comfortable and normal for us as humans. But more and more, we're seeing physical spaces powered with digital technology. Touchscreens, monitors, and kiosks allow teams to collaborate online even if they are interacting together in a physical space. The benefit is a better ability to transition to other types of spaces and other modes of collaboration.

Online Spaces. Because teams are less often in the same building, digital collaboration online has become the new norm. Here, our interaction with others is mediated completely through software. In this sense, the space that is created really amounts to a collection of tools.

Hybrid Spaces. Common spaces are not an either‐or proposition. They are commonly combined in hybrid spaces, where some interact online while others are concurrently together in a physical space. While hybrid collaboration has become the dominant mode of working together post‐pandemic, it's not new. In fact, around 60% of the teams we've polled worked in mixed spaces most of the time.

We've run several experiments in collaboration directly comparing different spaces and the effect they have on how teams work together. You can try it yourself: Have groups simultaneously participate in the same meeting or workshop from different settings, that is, one team in‐person, one remote only, and another hybrid. Give them the same challenge and observe how the team interacts and what they produce.

In many cases, we've found a common pattern emerges: The type and amount of content contributed during a given session varies across groups. Teams together in a physical space tend to take more time discussing the topic at hand and therefore generally produce a lower volume of content (e.g., ideas during brainstorming) than online‐only participants, who have fewer conversations but outpace the volume of content generated greatly. Hybrid teams theoretically can have the best of both worlds, but often get more distracted with an imbalance of interaction that they can end up being less productive than other group types.

Regardless of your starting point, someone always has to pay attention to the pace and rhythm of the collaboration and how methods are used to guide the interaction. Collaboration design considers space, but extends beyond it to shape the overall experience.

Virtual reality spaces. You've heard the hype by now: Virtual reality is coming. But is there a real benefit to VR? Will it have a meaningful place in work settings? Most importantly, can VR enhance collaboration? We believe the answer is yes—though exactly when VR becomes a regular channel for collaboration is still to be seen. From what we've observed so far, VR can add great value to teamwork and to creating human connection. Core to the benefit of VR is the immersive experience it provides. If the medium is the message, VR packs a powerful one.

Many benefits of VR have come to light in our work with the medium:

VR removes constraints. Teams can do things that weren't possible when they were limited to current spaces and tools. It's the best of both worlds: a sense of physical space and the intimacy of in‐person communication along with benefits of digital technology.

VR increases connection. The immersive experience of VR gives participants a heightened sense of awareness of others. Our experience indicates that teams can connect in VR at a level on par with in‐person interactions.

VR accelerates problem‐solving. The design of the space can support team activities in a way that makes a strong impression in VR. Team members tend to have greater comprehension, retention, and alignment.

The upshot of these benefits is that the quality of the results we've found so far when testing with various audiences is generally better when teams collaborate in VR.

If your team is ready for it, use VR as a complementary mode of collaboration when it makes sense. As our colleague Douglas Ferguson, president of Voltage Control, a leadership consultancy specializing in facilitation and collaboration, reminds us, “A headset is cheaper than a flight.”

No one expects employees to wear a headset eight hours a day. Instead, the key is to recognize that VR has its time and place. It's also important to keep in mind that work done in VR isn't trapped in or limited to VR spaces. Systems currently integrate with other tools to work outside of virtual spaces.

With this in mind, a key issue to consider is the transition in and out of the VR spaces. It's not just a practical issue, but also a cognitive one. How do you guide participants into the right frame of mind? How to set new expectations when moving into VR?

Storytelling is a large part of the process. Don Carson, design director at Mighty Coconut and VR design expert, told us in a panel discussion: “VR isn't a linear type of storytelling, rather it's an environmental way in which you design and layout spaces so when people enter they have a sense of familiarity and can relate to it. One way to do that is to show that someone else was there or already living in it, or activity has happened.”

We've found creating storyboards of the collaboration in VR helps tell an overall experiential story. This way you can grasp the various elements and parts of the interaction before creating a VR experience.

For instance, teams at Mural have been focusing on using VR for team building and forming deeper connections.

Designing Collaboration Spaces

How does a collaboration designer start intentionally designing the optimal environment teams need to thrive? Building from some initial observations, you can conceptualize updated spaces within the span of a short workshop. Here is a recipe of methods we recommend to begin your journey:

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  Fly‐on‐the‐Wall Observation. Innovation begins with keen observation. This method is an unobtrusive way to get a real‐world view of how teams in your organization collaborate. It's simple: Select a few teams to follow, and go out to watch them in action (e.g., during meetings and working sessions). Focus in particular on the spaces in which they work and the tools they use. Silently observe as they interact and take notes, screenshots, and photos. (This takes place over several hours across multiple days.)
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  Concept Mapping. From the findings gathered during your observations, map out the various concepts you identified—people, places, tools, and so on. Illustrate the relationships between them by drawing a diagram of the objects (nouns) in your model connected with relational links (verbs). Circle and label related groupings and themes that emerge from your diagram. (1 hour)
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  Rose, Thorn, Bud. Reflect on your insights of your concept model so far by noting the positives (roses), negatives (thorns), and things that have potential (buds). Do this in a group to gather diverse perspectives on the collaboration spaces you're evaluating. In an additional step, you can cluster the roses, thorns, and buds by theme to see what patterns emerge before brainstorming solutions. (30 minutes)
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  Creative Matrix. Generate many wide‐ranging ideas using a large grid to guide brainstorming. Designate different types of collaborators in your organization across the top; then designate themes or topics for solution in the rows. The rows can be the jobs to be done of any collaboration space. (30 minutes)
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  Storyboarding. Select ideas from the creative matrix to develop in a series of images to show a scenario of use. In a story, describe how improved collaboration spaces might look in your organization. (1 hour)

The Jobs of Common Spaces

From our research and observations, we've identified a core set of jobs to be done that teams need from the space they share to collaborate in. As you design collaboration spaces, keep these in mind regardless of where and how teams interact. The nature of the different tools that are used for each job puts a boundary on and defines how collaboration will happen in common space:

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  Share, store, and archive materials in a central location. Teams need a way to exchange information in different formats.
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  Make decisions together in real time. Team members need to speak directly with colleagues, both individually and in groups.
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  Communicate asynchronously. Keeping your team's momentum going in between touch points can be challenging, especially if you're working across time zones.
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  Plan, track, and manage workflows. Collaboration requires coordination. Having good planning methods keeps your team more efficient.
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  Enable creative visual problem‐solving. Mapping out your team's collective thoughts is key to fostering common understanding and decision‐making.

We can group these jobs to be done into four major and connected categories: dynamic communication, visual collaboration, playful spaces, and adaptive spaces.

Create visual spaces for collaboration

Can you imagine playing chess without the chess board? In a scene from the hit miniseries The Queen's Gambit, the leading characters engage in a game by calling out moves verbally. Very few people can actually play chess in their heads: the board helps players to offload cognitive processing of possible moves by visualizing patterns. It's a critical part of the problem‐solving process.

The human brain processes visual information differently than text. We're able to understand patterns and relationships in a unique way when we see concepts visualized. But the brain also ties vision and language together. Since we can talk about what we see, it makes sense that these systems must connect.

Visualizing thoughts makes them tangible. That makes it a whole lot easier for teams to share mindspace and build on each others’ ideas. Visual spaces naturally lend themselves to the dynamic communication that teams need to explore ideas, understand problems, and innovate.

In this sense, visual tools are like “idea colliders.” In physics, innovation is achieved by smashing particles together in particle colliders. With imagination, we need the right technology and techniques to combine and recombine ideas in unique ways.

Visualization has many impacts on team collaboration:

Visualization makes it real. If it's not documented, it didn't happen. Visualizing work together makes it tangible. Teams can then find new ways to create context, explore nuance, and make sense together.

Visualization invites participation. Diverse perspectives emerge from visual collaboration because everyone can join in. Often, people who might be reticent in meetings and workshops are suddenly the “loudest” in the visual conversation. Getting people to mobilize their thoughts empowers everyone to contribute on equal footing.

Visualization is playful. It's just fun to work with pictures, shapes, and colors. People can express themselves and their thoughts in a playful manner.

Visualization builds shared understanding. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say, and visualization goes far to build alignment across team members. When imagination is expressed visually, perspectives are aligned and reality can be negotiated collectively.

Imagine enhancing the brain power of all the members of a large company with the added capacity to process ideas and information visually. What if teams were equipped with tools and skills to solve challenges together better visually? What if they were able to make decisions quicker by seeing solutions in front of their eyes? What if you scaled efficient visual collaboration from team to team across your whole organization?

Consider how Zapier, a service that allows people to connect applications to one another online, helps its teams work toward the same objectives with visual collaboration. When senior product manager Richard Enlow's teams conduct user research, they bring raw user feedback from a variety of sources into a visual canvas, making it easier to identify patterns, form groupings, and share reactions. It's this visual work that transforms the raw data into critical insights. And everything—the insights alongside quotes from the original research—is ready to share with the downstream stakeholders on the marketing and product teams.

Not only is our visual perception fast, visual collaboration can also happen quickly. It's easy to visualize a conversation on the fly and record a conversation graphically as it happens verbally.

Richard also leverages user‐journey mapping and service blueprinting to determine opportunities for improving customer experience and planning new features. By visualizing data in these frameworks, his whole team is able to determine gaps in the product or experience that need to be tackled.

Working visually is key to getting alignment. As Richard told us, “We can ensure that the decisions that we're making are the right decisions, both for our company and for our user.”

Design space to play

In his book Serious Play (2000), Michael Schrage contends that “the key to successful collaboration is the creation and management of ‘shared space.’” But conversations and analysis are not enough for innovation. It's ultimately about play.

Play helps teams collaborate better by sparking curiosity and wonderment. Giving your teams space—and permission—to play is a critical step in unleashing their collective imagination. This kind of “play” doesn't just mean having fun in a frivolous way. No, as Schrage shows, play is serious business.

Beyond making work fun and engaging, having space for serious play delivers real results. Numerous studies show improved ideation and innovation when play is involved. Playing to win generates a certain drive in teams.

Deliberately guiding play in common spaces with collaboration methods builds alignment and fosters learning in a team because of “procedural rhetoric,” a concept popularized by Ian Bogost.² He argues that repetition of games makes people learn better than other modes of learning in a type of embodied process. Think “learning by doing”—not only at the individual level but also at the team level. A group learns and reaches goals by acting and behaving together, more so than through conversation and words alone.

Play helps disarm fear. Collaboration designers can use playful methods to build psychological safety within a team because play helps build trust and embrace change. Beyond the team level, play can help us to imagine a different way of doing business. We don't know what the world will look like in 5 or 10 years, yet organizations are expected to prepare for an uncertain future. Play is essential to moving forward.

Enable space to adapt

Today's companies strive to be agile and nimble. With uncertainty baked into an increasingly global, hypercompetitive marketplace, organizations have to embrace change and the ability to pivot quickly.

Michael Arena, author and leading expert in organizational network analysis, has done some of the most interesting work to find patterns of collaboration in organizations that amount to what he's called an “adaptive space,”³ detailed at length in his book by the same title.

An adaptive space isn't a physical or virtual space, but one that exists in the networks of collaboration across an organization. It's the energy that is generated from people connecting with each other in unique ways—across silos and departments. It sits between traditionally managed spaces of operations, on the one hand, and strategy, on the other. Think of adaptive space as a free trade zone in which the currency is ideas. It works when a sense of connectivity encourages and enables more creative interactions within and between teams.

Connection is the social capital that gives organizations the resiliency and agility they need—not structural or process‐related factors. It's created through connections between people, ideas, and resources and learning as teams collaborate.

So when thinking broadly about the “spaces” in which we collaborate, consider more than just physical spaces and virtual spaces enabled by software. There are also harder‐to‐plot, dynamic spaces that are much more social in nature. But these social spaces aren't completely invisible. They can be understood, mapped, and measured using collaboration insights (discussed further in Chapter 7).

Comprehending and utilizing those insights requires not only a knowledge of the common spaces of collaboration, but also a reframing of how we collaborate through the second basic dimension, time.

The Adaptive Space Model by Michael Arena.