Thinking Strategically - 32 Ideas for a Strategic Thinking-Friendly Office

What could you do to your boring office so you and others are thinking strategically more readily and effectively?

Someone searched and came to the Brainzooming.com website looking for strategic thinking in the office examples. While we have a post on doing thinking strategically without leaving the office, we don't have anything on how the physical surroundings of an office can boost strategic thinking.

32 Ideas for Thinking Strategically in the Office

If I were going to outfit an office to boost strategic thinking in a big way, here are things I'd do (and btw, the links below are nearly all affiliate links):

Physical Surroundings

I’d make these adjustments to the physical space:

• Include a mobile, magnetic white board to draw out ideas
• Even better, white board paint to make all the walls into white boards (and underneath, we’d apply metal primer so we could use magnets to hold up paper)
• Paint grids (maybe like graph paper) on the white board walls to organize thinking and ideas
• Maybe smart board technology (but I’m not quite sold on it yet)
• A couple large screens to look at data, images, and video
• Video conferencing equipment (preferably a Telepresence system, if at all possible)
• Soft carpet to be able to lay on the floor and imagine
• Make sure there are plenty of windows to look outside
• Include multiple types of lighting with multiple ways to shut them down in certain parts of the office, but not in the other parts
• Have fifty square feet of space per the number of people expected to meet for strategic thinking in the office

Strategic Inputs

For strategic jumping off points, there are various things to include:

• Posters with strategic statements that define what the organization is trying to accomplish
• A resource with great strategic thinking questions
• A running list of decisions a team has made so people don't go back and re-make those decisions unnecessarily
• A supply of worksheets (or online sheets) that correspond to productive strategic thinking exercises

Supplies and Resources

Here’s my shopping list for resources:

• Sticky notes
• Sharpie markers
• Colorful dots
• Dry erase markers and erasers
• Permanent markers (and whatever it takes to get permanent marker off the wall when someone screws up and writes on the wall with one)
• Masking tape
• Recording capabilities - video and audio

Other Stuff

These are other things I’d want around or available in the office:

• Furniture on wheels (a variety of chairs, modular tables) so you can easily move it around or out of the office
• An orange beanbag chair (because sometimes you need a nap or to crash and think)
• A big format printer
• A few tablet computers to allow for online collaboration and document sharing
• Add a small fridge with plenty of beverages
• Plenty of outlets and USB chargers and cords
• Soft toys to squeeze, throw, and play with when the strategic thinking isn't going so well
• Gigabit Wi-Fi
• Snacks - salty and sweet

Granted, it's likely everything I spelled out here would not fit in most offices. And there is no way this is a universal list for fostering thinking strategically in the office. What will make thinking strategically easier and more frequent in your boring office will depend on what stimulates your best strategic thinking. – Mike Brown

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