Welcome to the Crossroads Cafe Gratitude!

In Kansas City, there’s nothing quite like First Friday’s in the Crossroads Arts District. If you’ve ever visited the Team Office showroom (shame on you if you haven’t), you already know what an eclectic (in a good way), vibrant and cool area it is. The businesses and people who call the Crossroads home are some of the most unusual and creative Kansas City has to offer.

Team Office has called the Crossroads home for over 10 years now and we can’t imagine going to work every day anywhere else. We’re always excited to welcome a new business to the neighborhood and we’re even more enthusiastic when that neighbor shares many of the same values and positive outlook on life that we like to think all of us here at Team Office have.

That is why it is with great pleasure, and yes, gratitude that we welcome Cafe Gratitude to the Crossroads District neighborhood. Cafe Gratitude opened on May 1, right across the street from Team Office at 333 Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, MO.

Cafe Gratitude is much more than an excellent vegan restaurant. Eating at CG is a celebration of aliveness. Everything is made from organic ingredients, much of it from local farmers. Each dish is prepared and served with love. You can feel this the second you walk through the door and see it throughout the CG menu.

Start out with the “I am Thankful” curry soup and finish with the “I am Extraordinary” BLT sandwich (not really bacon) or the “I am Transformed” corn tacos, made with black beans.

When you finish eating at Cafe Gratitude, your belly won’t be the only thing that is full. Your heart will swell and you’ll feel much better about the rest of your day. You can also work off all those healthy calories with a short stroll to the Team Office showroom and take a look at our new arrivals.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Cafe Gratitude. We’re glad you’re here.

The Officeless Office

According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, corporate America is warming up to the idea of the “officeless office”. Most companies, large and small,  are looking for new ways to cut costs and increase efficiency, and many have been able to do that by moving some of their more mobile workers out of dedicated offices or cubicles and into unassigned workspaces or “non-territorial offices”.

According to a survey of 950 companies, the International Facility Management Association  found 60 % had some unassigned workspaces in their offices and about half said the number of employees using the unassigned  space had increased the past two years.

Shared workspace allows organizations to shrink the amount of square footage they need while reducing the costs for both real estate and business equipment such as furniture.  Furniture manufacturers have seen this trend coming for several years now and have rolled out innovative new products to support these areas. Work tables allow employees to “bench” while personal files and tables with casters (small wheels) give workers more flexibility and control over their space.

Another unexpected benefit to the shared workspace is that many workers report feeling more connected to their colleagues. That might be reason enough to consider the officeless office.

Is the New Thing in Conference Room Seating No Chair at All?

The stand-up meeting is a growing trend, especially in technology and creative organizations where sit-down meetings are often seen as unproductive and a waste of time.

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Rachel Silverman writes:

Stand-up meetings are part of a fast-moving tech culture in which sitting has become synonymous with sloth. The object is to eliminate long-winded confabs where participants pontificate, play Angry Birds on their cellphones or tune out…

Holding meetings standing up isn’t new. Some military leaders did it during World War I, according to Allen Bluedorn, a business professor at the University of Missouri. A number of companies have adopted stand-up meetings over the years. Mr. Bluedorn did a study back in 1998 that found that standing meetings were about a third shorter than sitting meetings and the quality of decision-making was about the same.

The current wave of stand-up meeting is being fueled by the growing use of “Agile,” an approach to software development, crystallized in a manifesto published by 17 software professionals in 2001. The method calls for compressing development projects into short pieces. It also involves daily stand-up meetings where participants are supposed to quickly update their peers with three things: What they have done since yesterday’s meeting; what they are doing today; and any obstacles that stand in the way of getting work done.

For most organizations, there are times when it works best to sit down and communicate, but there are other times when a stand-up meeting might be faster and more productive as well.

Call or email us today if you’d like to talk about your conference room.

Google Fiber and the Open Office Plan

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Google selected Kansas City as the first market in the country to receive its super-speed fiber optic internet service. “Google Fiber” will offer download speeds about 100 times faster than the broadband internet service currently available. The benefits of that kind of Internet speed are more obvious than the impact it will have on local businesses and the community.

I’m certainly not an IT expert and I’m not entirely sure what direct benefits Kansas City will see from the new Google Fiber super-fast internet service, but I am sure about one thing. Life has gotten a lot more interesting around here since Google came to town. 

For example, the other day I was sitting in my office talking to one of our salesreps when two sharp looking guys walk through the front door of our showroom and say they’re from the BBC. I wasn’t sure if having one of the largest news organizations in the world standing in our office with a video camera was good news or not, but I was sure about one thing. You don’t get to talk to the BBC everyday. 

So, out of the office I went and greeted our visitors. I ended up having a wonderful conversation with David Botti and Daniel Nasaw from BBC News Magazine. They were in town to do a story on the local reaction to Google Fiber.  Daniel wanted to know what kind of impact I thought Google Fiber will have on local businesses like Team Office. My thought was there might not be a direct impact for many small businesses, but eventually there will be “soft benefits” for most of us. 

For example, like when the BBC walks in your office unannounced and wants to chat. It would be pretty difficult for a small business owner to lure the BBC to Kansas City and do an interview, unless, of course, you were lucky enough to live in the city that Google selected over all the others in which to install their high speed cable. 

Not only is that a pretty cool “soft benefit” for Team Office, but it also makes a compelling case for the open office plan. After all, too many high walls and you just might miss it when the BBC walks through your front door.

More Fun in the Office is Good for Business

All work and no play apparently not only makes Jack a dull boy, it makes him less productive at work as well. A recent on line survey by San Francisco design firm Gensler found that over 65 % of workers feel they are much more efficient when they communicate and collaborate with their colleagues. However, only 30 % said that their workplace promotes interaction with others. The link between informal communication and greater productivity is leading many organizations to rethink their office environments. 

Fostering informal communication might be as simple as adding a quiet enclave or two where people can meet and talk or it could be as elaborate and daring as a basketball court or ping-pong table. Before you laugh, remember Google’s first conference table was also a ping-pong table. 

If you’re thinking about adding an informal collaboration area in your office, a good place to start might be by asking your team for their ideas. If you balance those ideas with a dose of reality, you should be able to come up with a simple and relatively inexpensive way to create a cool looking area for people to talk and test ideas and that could very well lead to more productivity. At the very least, you’ll have more fun doing it. 

Nobody wants to work in a place like Initech. A fun and collaborative space in your office can also be a great recruiting tool and help you attract the kind of high energy, creative people who can help your organization thrive in the new economy.

Team Office Welcomes Nica’s 320 to the Crossroads Arts District

We love working in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District. When we moved here in 2001, we were a little ahead of the dozens of small businesses and art galleries that now call the Crossroads home. 

The Crossroads is a perfect fit for Team Office because of the sense of community that’s shared by all the residents and businesses. It’s an eclectic area with older buildings and everyone just seems to be a little friendlier and more relaxed down here. The members of this community go out of their way to support Crossroads businesses which is something I don’t think you’ll find in every area of the Metro. The Crossroads has great energy which makes it a really fun place to work and play. 

We love sharing this area with our clients and friends. If you’ve never visited Team Office before, I’d like to invite you to do so soon and you now have another good excuse to come see us. On Monday, August 8, Nica’s 320 will open its doors. Nica’s building is connected to the Team Office showroom. 

We’re not only excited to get new neighbors, but we’re also looking forward to having another great new place to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Phil and Bryan have been working hard on remodeling the space (the old Shiraz building) and we hear it’s very cool inside. The 8’ projection screen should come in handy during the basketball season! 

Kansas City has a real gem in the Crossroads Arts District. There’s not another place quite like it in the area. Stop by and see us soon and we’ll show you around.

How to Clean Your Laminate Furniture

Chances are most of the furniture in your office has laminate tops. Laminate is a popular choice in commercial office environments because it’s more durable and affordable than wood veneer (we’ll talk about cleaning wood veneer in the next post). However, even laminate tops can show their age after a few years of regular use. 

A thorough cleaning of your laminate tops can help restore the original glossy finish and eliminate germs that can spread viruses as well. Keeping your laminate worksurfaces clean will make your office look better and your team feel better. 

Be careful when you clean your laminate furniture. While laminate is a durable material, it can still be warped by excessive amounts of water. Harsh cleaning chemicals can dull the glossy finish as well. For the best results, follow the directions below for a better looking, healthier office.

 

Instructions

Things You’ll Need

• 3 soft cleaning cloths
• Non-oily furniture spray
• Baking soda
• Small bowl
• Soft-bristled brush

 

1. Moisten the cleaning cloth until it is damp and wipe down the laminate furniture in the grain’s direction.

2. Spray the non-oily furniture spray onto the cleaning cloth and wipe down the furniture to remove dust.

3. Buff the furniture polish onto the laminate furniture’s surface to fill scratches. Wipe down the surface with a clean cloth to remove excess product.

4. Move the furniture out of direct sunlight, as the light can discolor the furniture.

5. Mix 1 tbsp. of baking soda with 1/4 cup of water, then coat a soft-bristled brush with the mixture. Gently scrub the surface of the furniture if it becomes stained. Wipe the surface with a clean cloth.

 

Are Your Employees Happy?

 Around here, we spend most of our time and energy helping our clients create cool looking, comfortable and productive work environments. We do our best to listen closely to our clients and do everything we can to make sure office workers are happy with their new work space.  

But, according to Mercer’s new What’s Working survey, nearly half of all employees are unhappy with their jobs. Another 32 % of US workers are seriously considering leaving their current job, up a sharp 9 % from 2005. Maybe we should start paying a little less attention to where employees work and a little more on how they feel about their job?

The survey reflects the trend that more employees have become emotionally disconnected from their work during the last 5 years. A less loyal and more apathetic workforce means lower productivity and higher turnover for the organization.  

Leaders can do something about it by talking to their employees and reconnecting with them on a deeper and more emotional basis. By asking questions, leaders can gain an understanding of how they feel which can help build the kind of emotional connection that can create greater job satisfaction, more productivity and lower turnover. 

Learn more about engaging with your employees at the What’s Working survey website.

 

Great Advice from a True Hero

Let’s take a midsummer’s break from office interiors and talk about baseball and life. 

I coach my 8 year old son’s little league baseball team. Our first basemen’s Dad is friends with former major league umpire and American hero, Steve Palermo and last Wednesday, he invited Steve to attend our final regular season game and talk to the boys afterwards. 

Steve arrived early in the second inning and watched from his front row seat. After our little Hawks pulled out another victory, they took a knee just behind the dugout and looked up at the man leaning against his cane. These boys were born 12 years after a mugger’s bullet ended Steve’s career as an umpire and they didn’t know who he was, but they did know he worked in major league baseball at one time and that was a good enough reason for them to quiet down and listen as he began to speak. 

For the first 15 minutes or so, the talk revolved around major league baseball and included the usual questions such as, “do you know Derek Jeter”, and “have you ever been hit by a baseball”? After Steve patiently answered each question, he gracefully shifted the attention from baseball to life and here is what he said: 

“Baseball is not your job and whenever you play it, the most important thing you should always try do is have fun. It’s a game and you should always have fun when you play it. If you concentrate on having fun, you’ll play better and enjoy it more.  

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to do your best, because you should always do your best. If a ball comes and you just watch it go by, then you’re not doing your best and that’s not right. Always do your best and even if you don’t make the play or win the game, no one will be able to criticize you because you gave it your best shot.” 

At that point, the small group of parents and boys got pretty quiet. I looked around at all the faces staring back at this brave man, leaning against his cane and sweating under the hot June sun and thought about what great advice this was and how much it applied to the adults as well. Do your best and always have fun. Think of how much more fun and productive our workplaces would be if everyone simply focused on doing their best and having more fun? 

As I walked to the car, I wondered how difficult it must have been for Steve as he was rehabbing from the gun shot wound to his spine. He could have easily stayed inside the restaurant that night and he might still be a major league umpire to this day, but he couldn’t because that wasn’t his best. He couldn’t sit back and watch that moment roll by. Years of painful rehab followed that decision, but Steve continued to do his best and now he’s having fun again. He still works for Major league baseball and tours the country sharing his story with people of all ages. 

Great advice from a great man and it applies as much to the workplace as it does to baseball.

Improving Furniture Sales a Good Sign

If the office furniture industry is any indication, the economy may finally be headed in the right direction, albeit at a snail’s pace. 

Over 50,000 office furniture buyers and sellers attended NeoCon, the industry’s largest trade show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago June 13 – 15. Attendance at Neocon was up 6 % over last year, as more employers sent representatives to scout the latest innovations in the office furniture industry. Industry wide, sales are up 16 % for the year, a positive sign the economy might finally be on the upswing. 

Office furniture sales, tied directly to white collar hiring, is generally regarded as a trailing economic indicator. Also closely linked to commercial real estate activity, furniture sales have increased as more organizations look to improve their work environment as they relocate.

 Improving furniture sales might be a good sign for all of us.