Personality in the Home Office
More people are working from home than ever before. Are you one of them? How happy are you with the workspace you've created at home?
You may have heard about ergonomics and healthy desk setups, but have you thought about what kind of environment you need to do your best work? Our surroundings can seriously influence our emotions and the way that we work as well as our creativity and productivity. Add at the heart of this, I believe, is our personality type.
So what do I mean by that? Let’s think it through…
Do you concentrate better with total quiet, or a hum of background noise? Your response to this question links to your personality.
Do you prefer a tidy desk, or is your workplace quite cluttered and chaotic? Your response to this links to your personality type too!
You may be surprised to hear that there is no single answer to workplace setup that suits everyone. But there is a space design that will suit you. I am an expert in personality and fascinated by the differences of environment that different personality types need to flourish at work.
“Most people are unaware of why they like and dislike different design elements and why they react instinctively to places. ”
I have developed an approach to Interior Design which I think of as Personality Led Design and a process I take people through called ‘Discover Your Design Personality’. In it I help people to tune into their own tastes and preferences so that they can design their ideal space. Most people are unaware of why they like and dislike different design elements and why they react instinctively to places. As a result, when it comes to workplaces there are a few mistakes most people make. Are you guilty of any of these?
Classic mistakes people make in designing a workspace:
- Not caring because you don’t think it matters, or its trivial
- Following the latest trend e.g. industrial style, without thinking whether it suits your working style
- Copying a magazine, or friend or retail display and then feeling dissatisfied
- Playing it safe e.g. painting everything white, with a lack of thought about what colours will ignite your creativity / productivity etc
- Having a poor layout. Ideally moving between activities should flow well
Here are some ideas to help you review and create a workspace that’s designed for you
PERSONALITY
Have a think about what you know about your personality and how that might impact the type of space that helps you work at your optimum.
For example, most people know if they are an introvert or an extrovert or somewhere in between. In environmental terms, introverts tend to prefer calm, quiet spaces, where they can easily concentrate and where interruptions and noise is minimised and controlled. The décor is also calm. Think neutral or pastel décor, less objects, good storage, few or no other people, a clear desk.
Alternatively extroverts usually want a bit of background noise and can cope with more activity and interruptions. They will become restless with too much quiet! And this is true even when they are working on complex tasks that require concentration. An extrovert desires more sensory stimulation in their environment. They are more likely to enjoy working in a variety of different spaces and may seek out co-worker spaces when they are self-employed. Extroverts are more likely to create clutter, and enjoy vibrancy and variety in bright colours and objects.
In personality theory the introvert/extrovert trait is one of 5 that can be used to describe you and each of the traits has an influence on what environment you prefer.
“The impact that our senses have on our view of our environment is something that most of us aren’t aware of until it startles us. ”
SENSES
The impact that our senses have on our view of our environment is something that most of us aren't aware of until it startles us. Think of a really bad smell, and your immediate desire to either make the smell go away or leave the smelly place. Suddenly, you are aware of your sense of smell. The root of this response is in our survival instinct. A good sense of smell protects us from poison, poisonous gases, rotten food and other dangerous substances.
The way that we each experience the world is through our five senses is deeply personal. Some people have a strong bias to experience one or more senses intensely and others have a broader perspective of all of them. What most people have in common is that they have no idea whether they have a dominant sense or not. To help give you a clue, in environmental terms;
- For those that are visual it is all about colour, light, shapes, symmetry
- For those that are auditory it is all about quality, clarity, timbre, volume
- For those that are olfactory/gustatory it is all about strength, pungency, clarity
- And for those that are kinaesthetic it is all about atmosphere, texture, materials and comfort
Do you have a dominant sense? Do you know what it is now? Now look at your workspace again. Through your sensory lens this time. How might you change your workspace to suit that aspect of you? We all use all of our senses, all of the time (unless we have an impairment) so it’s important to factor these into your workspace design too.
FUNCTION & MOOD
Now you’ve considered yourself, think about what kind of work you do and the functions that your workspace has to deliver for you. List those functions out. Is it solitary and detailed, requiring concentration or more sociable and collaborative? Do you meet customers? What kind of meetings do you host? Etc.
Then think about what kind of mood you want to be in to deliver those functions … e.g. energised, thoughtful, relaxed.
Then consider what works for you now and what doesn’t in terms of your workplace design. You might have an issue with layout, bad chair, lack of storage, interruptions, lack of light …. etc
So there’s a taster to help you think about how interior design can impact your happiness and productivity and sense of well-being
If you are interested in finding out more about your own Interior Design Personality and ideas for office or home design, I offer a limited number of individual Zoom calls each month. In 90 minutes we will explore your own unique design personality blueprint and I will send you a recording of our discussion for your future reference.
Message me to book a slot here https://www.lightandfrank.com/contact
