One of the best industry educations I got was in a crappy office.
It was too small.
There was too much stuff, not enough storage. It looked like a hoarding situation.
The business was doing well and growing. But not the office space or the staff.
Everyone was stressed.
I was the Wovens Designer. There was a Knit Designer, a Pattern Maker, a couple of assistants, a sales staff that was in & out, the owner and two Production Managers.
Everyone was in their silos, complaining about the other employees:
“The Designers don’t care about how much it costs; they just want it to be BEAUTIFUL!”
“The Production Managers only care about money & the calendar. They would deliver a crappy looking shirt if it was under target and shipping on time!”
“The Pattern Makers shouldn’t be giving their opinion in a fitting; they should just do what the designers tell them to!”
For some reason I don’t remember, I had to move to a desk next to the Production Managers.
I dreaded it.
But from the very first day, I was amazed.
I was amazed at the amount of work they did, the juggling, running around and the amount of communication they had to endure to get the garments to the sales staff and ultimately to the stores the way the designers wanted it.
Oh, and on time & within margin.
I had a newfound respect for them as true team mates and not enemies.
And I think the opposite was true as well. They realized the designers weren’t divas, trying to make their lives difficult.
Ever since, I have purposefully worked in different areas of an office to be nearer to teams I was not a “member” of, to learn what they really do all day and not just what I thought they did.
It is a simple but powerful collaboration tool.
When setting up organizational structures & processes, I try to put as many cross-functional people together as possible.
“Walk a mile in their shoes” goes a long way when streamlining a process and implementing any organizational change.
My motto: a happy employee working within a happy process will create a happy product!
(PS: Kudos to MJ for taking my prompt of “two people working next to each other” and not coming up with two white guys!)