‘Engineered serendipity’ is one of those buzzphrases to hit workplaces across the world, but just what is it, and how can we make it happen? Create luck with networking In short, engineered serendipity is about strategically bringing together people who may not necessarily meet during a normal working day for a ‘chance encounter’. (We briefly touched on in in our last blog The Changing Office: Predicting Trends at Worktech) Perhaps Joe in R&D has half an idea, and Jane in marketing has half an idea. Get them talking to each other, and suddenly what was a mish-mash of thoughts becomes a fully-fledged, innovative concept to blast away the competition. But engineering serendipity can only begin where there are people – a real-life social network. In 2013, Yahoo! banned working from home for precisely that reason. ‘Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings,’ said the email from CEO, Marissa Meyer. Free up your staff But how can you engineer when you don’t know what the ideas are, or who might have them? This one’s fairly simple. The aim is to remove whatever obstacles you can that might get in the way of a lucky encounter and a free-flow of ideas. In most cases, this can mean saying goodbye to a traditional and rigid style of working. Although it does not work for everyone, Hot-desking is one way to begin engineering serendipity. Just by freeing staff from the confines of their own desk (and by default, their desk neighbours!) day in and day out can ensure that the right people get talking to each other. Creating modern meeting points But with hot-desking comes the age-old debate of personal storage, which is where Spacestor’s HotLockers come into play. Much as you can give up assigning one desk to one person, it makes sense to do the same with personal lockers. Our card-controlled HotLockers offer a more dynamic use of your valuable office space, allowing on-the-go workers to use personal storage space only when they need it, and freeing it up when they don’t. Not only does it provide an intelligent and stylish storage solution, but it acts as a convergence point, where staff from all areas of the business can bump into one another. Taking it one step further you can actually engineer who talks to who tomorrow by assigning their lockers (and therefore their desks) close together. Your next big idea could be just round the corner. Don’t leave chance to chance. It’s time to start producing it. To talk to us about engineering serendipity in your workplace, call us on: 020 8997 7899 or email [email protected]