Perennial cornflower.
I Have A Question. May I?
Where does Innovation spring from?
Alma Dakaj
I remember a coffee break during a meeting in a
big skyscraper in Milano where,
along an infinite corridor, there were many cell-offices
all alike. The most immediate and astonishing detail was the width of just one
meter of the corridors on every floor.
A huge palace with the narrowest corridors ever, like on a plane. If
maximizing the work space were the objective, the architect had definitely hit the mark. But, well, no.
The justifying reason of
such a choking walking space was another one: making it
impossible for spontaneous groups
to gather in order to minimize work time dispersion.
I still remember the coffee I had
from the automated machine at the end of the corridor.
Four or five people in a space of two meters square where one meter was covered
only by the surface of the coffee machine!
After Brezzera’s idea from 1901 to force water
through ground coffee under pressure
which launched a whole new way of making
coffee. Figuring that if he could brew the coffee faster, his employees
would drink up and get back to work more quickly!
Another coffee break memory, in a very different context,
knocks on my mind,
where at a certain hour, all employees of a small company
were somewhat obliged to stay
in a group and maybe talk to each other. Talking about
the weather, various commentary
on society and politics topics or simply gossiping.
Sometimes, the lack of ease and a sense of pressure on the faces of the people
hanging around with the cups of coffee in their hands
were so evident and embarrassing. The underlying reason
of those short gatherings
at the same time during the coffee breaks, I had been
told, was the vision of the local management to be part of a ‘family’ and spend
some creative time all together. It was also a common practice between some of
the employees to bring home made cakes and share them with all colleagues.
A very beautiful idea, theoretically speaking, except for
the fact that for some people there
these meeting points seemed to be just a vital chance to
show their discontent and for some others a mere implicit
obligation. These coffee breaks, nonetheless the best resolutions, ended
up to be more separating rather than creating a ‘family’ feeling and cohesive
grouping, because imposed.
Coffee breaks—or call them whatever—a probable distraction element or an opportunity
to enhance team-building? Moments to be
discouraged or to be venerated as far as Innovation?
Lewis Carrol suggested in his Alice in Wonderland Cookbook the power of unconscious
processing
in productive work:
I believe that the interval required is much shorter
than is generally supposed,
and from personal experience, I would recommend
anyone, who has to devote several hours
together to one subject of thought, to try the effect
of such a break, say once an hour,
leaving off for five minutes only each time, but
taking care to throw the mind absolutely ‘out of gear’ for those five minutes,
and to turn it entirely to other subjects. It is astonishing
what an amount of impetus and elasticity the mind
recovers during those short periods of rest.
While two brilliant connections of mine, Sarah Miller Caldicott (great
grandniece of Thomas Edison) and Gary Vaynerchuk (best-selling
author and entrepreneur) go further
and strongly recommend Midnight Lunch and Family Time at Midnight theory
and practice
to enhance the value of organizational collaboration
in conversations.
The best ideas come about because of friction and
interaction between people. –
Kenneth Klopp
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-have-question-may-alma-dakaj
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blog:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.turbochargedreading.blogspot.com for extra TCR
information
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com
just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
