Here at ScrubSquared we have a very small office.  It is approximately 300 square feet that is broken up into two separate rooms.  Despite the size, on average there are 3 people working in the office.  We tend to all sit at one big table together in our front room.  When someone needs to have a serious phone conversation they go to the other room and sit at a semi-private desk.  Needless to say there is not a ton of privacy.  In general I love the set up, it encourages all kinds of interaction between everyone in the company.

However, there are obviously times when private conversations need to happen.  To make this happen, we recently implemented a “walking” strategy.  Let me explain with an example.  We recently had 1 on 1 feedback sessions with all of our employees.  Rather than the “corporate”  standard of sitting across from eachother at a desk we took a stroll around the block that our office is on.

It was great!

First of all, on a nice day in Minneapolis it is great to get outside while the getting is good (when it snows up here we may have to bring the walks to the skyway).  Secondly, I think it helps break down some of the walls a normal session may have allowing both sides to be more open with feelings, feedback, and thoughts.  There is something about walking and talking eye to eye as opposed to across a desk that made the conversations some of the best feedback sessions I have ever had.  It worked so well that it is now going to be a policy.  Even when we move into a larger space, with more privacy, we will take a lot of our important 1 on 1 talks outside for a stroll.

Give is a shot, see if it works for you.