“The most creative ideas aren’t going to come while sitting in front of your monitor”. This is what Scott Birnbaum believes, a vice president of Samsung Semiconductor. If, like us, you care about finding out how to increase productivity, good signal. At the Silicon Valley is big the bet that the interaction of workers improves their performance and their ability to have innovative ideas. Samsung itself has revealed plans for a new headquarters with a vast outdoor area linking two floors, so that engineers and salespeople can finally be in touch.

Two other good examples are Google and its new campus specially designed to facilitate chance encounters, and Yahoo!, that has revoked some mobile work privileges for believing that some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria. Here at Runrun.it, we support all these innovations in the workspace and for we always try to improve, now we give you three tips on how you can do yours:

1. Plants

Start by what demands almost no work: plants. A survey headed by the University of Queensland, Australia, has found that an office decorated with plants can increase the employees’ productivity in 15%. More than motivated, the team praised the improvement of air quality and considered themselves more concentrated and emotionally connected to their employers.

2. Individual tables

Let’s go to the next step. The “Identity Realization” Consultancy found, in a 2010 study involving 47 workers from London offices, that workers who had the chance to organize their workspace with pictures, tables and plants were 32% more productive than the others who didn’t receive this power. Respecting this individuality also has to do with what Einstein said: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” In short: find your style! If you have been unfocused, leave just your drink, pencil and pen, a notebook and your computer on the table, or assume your old gold mess, since it doesn’t invade your neighbor’s desk.

3. Colors, light and space

I have recently posted here three techniques to manage time, including Pomodoro, that recommends pauses at work to refresh the thinking and the mood. However, for it works, it’s essential exists a space for rest and relaxation in your company. Take the example of the great organizations that we saw at the beginning of the post. To help you out, I selected models of workspaces around the world, from the traditional to the most creative ones. Some tips I can advance here. When choosing the color of the furniture, objects around you or even the color of your pen, it’s worth remembering that, according to the psychology of colors, blue and green stimulate creativity and red is linked to superior performance in tasks involving attention to detail. Likewise, while a milder lighting tends to instigate the generation of ideas, brighter environments are ideal to analytical and evaluative thoughts.

(BONUS) 5 minutes to relax…

But how to increase productivity, you wonder, by providing to my team more than a new workspace, a new workstyle? Try Runrun.it. The software to manage projects, time and talents. Work with the tasks listed by order of priority, set a hierarchy to the requests of tasks, allow your team to share knowledge, track the progress of each project and just get your automated management reports. Try it for free: http://runrun.it

Recommended for you:

• Team management can save everybody’s productivity
• How to manage time to enhance your productivity
• Principles of leadership: a great discussion on LinkedIn