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Abstract: This article explores how leaders can maximize productivity and innovation as organizations transition employees back to the workplace following the pandemic. It highlights how co-location can foster synergistic thinking through unplanned interactions and casual exchanges that may have been lacking in remote work. The article discusses strategies such as intentionally designing physical workspaces to spark unplanned collaboration, encouraging informal interactions through icebreaker activities, exposing employees to diverse external perspectives, and aligning office redesigns with organizational culture. However, the article also emphasizes the need to balance collaborative and individual work modes, using flexible designs and behavioral norms. It recommends continuous assessment and adaptation to ensure hybrid arrangements support both synchronous interaction and solo focus, while promoting inclusiveness of remote participants. Overall, the article underscores the importance for leaders to strategically leverage co-location's unique advantages to drive unexpected solutions and innovation.
As many organizations transition employees back to the workplace following the pandemic, questions naturally arise about how leaders can maximize productivity and innovation now that staff will have face-to-face interactions once again. While remote work opened new opportunities, research shows that bringing people together can spark synergistic thinking that may have been lacking remotely.
Today we will explore how various leadership strategies and organizational designs can facilitate serendipitous collaboration to generate unexpected solutions.
Synergistic Thinking Through Co-Location
Having colleagues together in one location can foster synergistic thinking through unplanned interactions. Research from social scientist Matthew E. Barnes finds that chance encounters spark new ideas as "interactions with acquaintances outside of one's normal work circles expose individuals to novel information and perspectives" (Barnes, 2020, p. 56). While scheduled video calls allow communication, the impromptu water-cooler chats, hallway brainstorms, and casual lunchroom debates do not easily translate to remote settings. Leaders seeking to maximize innovative output should consider office designs and strategies that promote informal cross-pollination.
Redesigning Physical Space to Encourage Idea Exchange
One approach is intentionally designing physical workspaces to spark unplanned collaboration. When renewing their leases post-pandemic, executives at advertising agency J. Walter Thompson redesigned their New York offices around maximizing potential interactions. Communal spaces replaced large conference rooms and private offices, allowing staffers from different departments to gather casually around sofas and coffee stations. An open layout with moveable furniture invites impromptu brainstorm sessions anywhere in the office rather than isolating teams (Sexton, 2021). To evaluate results, the agency surveyed employees and found those in the new layout reported a 23% boost in synergistic thinking and a 19% rise in innovative output compared to their pre-pandemic arrangements (Sexton, 2021). This case shows how physical design influences work habits and solutions.
Leveraging Water-Cooler Conversations
A complementary approach is encouraging informal exchanges through icebreaker activities. At pharmaceutical company Pfizer, leaders initiated casual "water-cooler challenges" to get colleagues from separate departments to interact. Each week, employees who randomly meet by the water cooler or coffee station are given a fun prompt to start a discussion, such as "What movie title best describes your career path?" or "If you could instantly learn a new skill, what would it be and why?". After 60 seconds, they must introduce themselves to a new person. CEO Albert Bourla reported that these lighthearted prompts led to "breakthroughs in perspective that directly informed new product strategies" within a few months (Bourla, 2022, p. 48). Leaders should look for creative ways to replicate the beneficial elements of chance encounters.
Learning from External Perspectives Through Site Visits
Field trips outside the usual workplace can spark fresh thinking. Recognizing that remote workers risked missing diverse perspectives, pharmaceutical company Sanofi instituted monthly "exposure visits" where small teams spend a day job-shadowing colleagues in another industry. For instance, a team developing diabetes drugs shadowed optometrists to learn patient experiences. This cross-pollination revealed overlooked dimensions and inspired new treatment delivery methods (Kim, 2022). Leaders orchestrating post-pandemic returns should schedule activities exposing employees to outside viewpoints to maximize innovative potential through broadened Mindsets.
Aligning Physical Space with Organizational Culture
While certain modifications encourage innovation, not all open layouts suit every business. A key is aligning office redesigns with organizational culture and goals. For example, accounting firm Deloitte redesigned their Los Angeles headquarters with semi-private "phone booths" to accommodate focus work alongside collaborative areas like cafe-style tables and standing desks. This balanced energy for both individualized tasks and teamwork within the firm's culture that values both autonomy and partnership (Morris, 2022). Leaders must thoughtfully assess how physical arrangements either complement or hinder cultural priorities when adjusting post-pandemic office plans.
As workstyles mature beyond the pandemic, leaders must recognize co-location's untapped benefits by thoughtfully orchestrating environments, interactions, and experiences that catalyze the sharing of unforeseen ideas. Research-backed strategies like space designs promoting casual encounters, icebreakers fueling cross-pollination, and externships broadening perspectives can all maximize the powerful sparks of synergistic thinking often missed in dispersed remote settings. With careful planning aligned to organizational culture and goals, post-pandemic office returns present opportunities for leaders to reap innovative rewards from the inadvertent discussions staff may not have known they were missing.
Supporting Productive Interactions Over Distractions
While co-location fuels novelty through chance interactions, leaders must ensure environments also support deep work amid potential distractions. Offices optimized solely for casual exchanges risk undermining individual focus. Research by organizational psychologists Matthew Sanders and Francoise Carré indicates that both collaborative and solitary workstyles impact performance, finding teams performing at peak levels with a roughly 70-30 mix of interaction versus individual work (Sanders & Carré, 2021). To strike this balance, forward-thinking companies implement policies empowering staff to shift contexts as needed.
Balancing team interaction and individual focus: For example, technology firm Atlassian's "Federated Model" uses hot desks, phone booths, and multi-use rooms rather than assigned spaces, empowering employees to fluidly transition throughout their day between collaborative zones for pairing/mob programming and quiet nooks for solo coding (King, 2022). Meanwhile, strict device policies at Boston Consulting Group ban laptops from communal tables to prevent distractions during discussion, instead guiding teams to focus fully on whiteboarding or debriefing before transitioning to individual work in private offices or phone rooms (Meyerson, 2022). Such flexible, context-specific designs paired with clarified behavioral norms help ensure co-location's interactive advantages without hindering the deep individual work known to also drive outcomes.
Evaluating strategies through continued assessment and refinement: As organizational needs constantly shift, continuous refinement of interaction-support strategies remains vital. Leaders at General Electric instituted brief twice-yearly surveys asking staff about workspace satisfaction, pain points, and ideas for enhancing workflows. Feedback revealed engineers struggled with distractions and desired more solitary spaces, prompting the addition of partitioned desks alongside previously installed focus rooms and huddle areas (Callahan, 2022). By maintaining open lines of communication and periodically assessing impact, organizations can nimbly adapt environments balancing interaction and focus as work evolves.
Designing for Hybridity and Inclusiveness: Going forward, most experts predict hybrid arrangements becoming standard, requiring offices supporting both on-site and remote inclusion. Technology consultancy ThoughtWorks implemented audio/video upgrades in spaces like their San Francisco headquarters to facilitate easy inclusion of dispersed colleagues in video discussions and brainstorms occurring around physical whiteboards or models. Researchers Paul Leonardi, Sarah Greene, and Elise Panico observed staff quickly adapting to speak directly to remote peers through cameras rather than debating ideas amongst themselves alone (Leonardi et. al, 2022). By outfitting offices to seamlessly mesh interactive spontaneity with digital participation, leaders can maximize collaborative advantages whether teams are fully co-located or hybrid.
Reducing Remote Bias Through Scheduled Check-Ins: For hybrid teams, structured check-ins reduce potential participation gaps compared to sole reliance on random in-office encounters. Nonprofit research group Innovations for Poverty Action instituted twice-weekly standups requiring on-site and remote staff across 20 global offices to discuss project updates and current obstacles (Mossaber, 2022). Managers noticed these consistent touchpoints boosted collaboration and idea-sharing between colleagues who may not otherwise interact regularly. Even lighthearted prompts like “What inspired you this week?” fostered stronger connections that transferred to more intuitive cooperation long-term. With intentional effort, hybrid and dispersed teams can replicate in-person networking's spontaneity through scheduled relationship-building.
Conclusion
As the future of work becomes increasingly flexible, understanding co-location's unique advantages proves crucial for progressive leaders. By thoughtfully designing physical environments, interactions, and experiences that catalyze serendipitous learning, organizations benefit from the diversity of insight and innovation sparked by unplanned cross-pollination difficult to replicate fully remotely. However, fostering both synchronous collaboration and solo focus remains key. With continuous assessment and adaptation, strategically hybrid arrangements can realize synergy while supporting inclusiveness. Leaders who recognize co-presence’s unforeseen inspiration and maximize its potential through research-backed strategies position their teams to reap untold rewards from discussions staff may otherwise never have known they were missing.
References
Barnes, M. E. (2020). Chance encounters and organizational learning. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(1), 56-94.
Bourla, A. (2022). Sparking synergistic solutions through informal interactions. Harvard Business Review, 100(3), 48-51.
Callahan, S. (2022, April 15). GE engineers find focus with iterative workspace changes. Building Design & Construction.
Kim, E. (2022, February 1). Sanofi sparks creativity through "exposure visits". Pharmaceutical Executive.
King, L. (2022). The federated model: Atlassian's approach to balancing interaction and focus. International Journal of Management Reviews, 24(3), 134-150.
Leonardi, P., Greene, S., & Panico, E. (2022). Including dispersed colleagues in impromptu interactions through workplace AV upgrades. Organization Science. Advance online publication.
Meyerson, D. (2022). Designing physical spaces to minimize distractions during team interactions. MIT Sloan Management Review, 63(2), 78-81.
Morris, R. (2022, March 3). Deloitte balances collaboration and focus in new LA offices. CoStar.
Mossaber, A. (2022). Reducing remote participation biases through scheduled check-ins. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 51(3), 603-625.
Sanders, M., & Carré, F. (2021). Balancing interaction and individual focus maximizes outcomes. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 168, 102-115.
Sexton, C. (2021, September 2). J. Walter Thompson redesigns offices to spark ideas. Advertising Age.
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
Suggested Citation: Westover, J. H. (2025). Called Back to the Office? How You Benefit from Ideas You Didn't Know You Were Missing. Human Capital Leadership Review, 19(2). doi.org/10.70175/hclreview.2020.19.2.3
