Home office in the mix: promoting creativity and teamwork through coworking

Creativity at the modern workplace is a team effort. Nowadays, almost every task, challenge or problem is multi-layered. It therefore requires different perspectives and specialized know-how. Without a team involving multiple perspectives, creativity hits roadblocks. Interaction makes the difference.

Coworking spaces provide precisely this interaction. Different talents and personalities come together. It's all about the mix! 

Teamwork is a soft skill. And like any skill, it requires practice. Otherwise, teamwork quickly gets rusty. A group of diverse talents and people therefore always needs to get together to interact and deepen solutions for common tasks. Absence and distance are not conducive to this. This is why the home office feels isolating over the long term. It is difficult to train and retain new employees. This is not surprising from a sociological perspective. After all, informal communication and dialogue are important for successful teamwork. Social contacts are necessary in order to practice teamwork.  A base station, such as a flexible office where the team comes together, is therefore one of the key prerequisites for teamwork and creativity. Social places are simply part of the mix when it comes to modern working environments.

There is a growing number of studies on remote work and creativity at work, confirming an observation frequently made in the workplace. Creativity feeds on spontaneity, teamwork and proximity. Working from home and scheduled calls or video conferences are not conducive to creativity. The Fraunhofer Institute therefore explicitly recommends a mix of office, home office and team presence. 

• Virtual communication curbs creative idea generation, Nature, 2022
• Disrupting science, Oxford, 2022
• Mobile work -- Social partner study 2023, Fraunhofer, 2023

If creativity and teamwork do not work well in the home office, this does not mean that the home office serves no purpose. Repetitive tasks and administration in particular can be performed well from home. The important thing is maintaining a healthy mix.

The home office has become part of modern work. Nevertheless, the home office should be utilized correctly. Working from home is good for predominantly established processes.

However, when tasks arise that go beyond the norm, working from home is not ideal. This is where coworking spaces with flexible options come in handy. A small office as a base station and meeting and conference rooms are ideal. Mixing the different working environments is the way to go. This ensures that remote working is also utilized correctly.

We rented out our first desk to a start-up. Today we have 800 desks and a series of development steps. We have optimized the entire infrastructure for productive work. Quiet, bright offices form the core. There are also common areas, meeting rooms and telephone boxes. The large conference rooms are particularly inviting for creative workshops. Nutrion offers you: 

• Fully equipped and furnished offices
• High-speed WLAN and LAN included in rental fee
• Excellent connections to the underground, S-Bahn and car parks
• Flexible terms for your dynamic growth
• Meeting rooms at no extra charge
• Unlimited use of the coffee kitchen at no extra charge.

Creativity and teamwork regularly translate into greater innovation. Nutrion has been supporting research into innovation and coworking for years. Our blog article on the topic provides a quick overview.

Building on Schumpeter’s concept of innovation and the theory of the third place, we have developed the topic in depth in the book Coworking as a revolution in the world of work by Dr. Simon Werther. Based on sociological models and years of entrepreneurial experience, we have analyzed the potential for innovation through coworking. The link to the book can be found here

Promoting creativity and teamwork with coworking and small offices—use the home office properly by mixing it with modern working environments. Visit our coworking spaces in Munich. Simply arrange a viewing and move in!