July 2014, the Virgin Media Business invited 30 of United Kingdom’s hottest startups, along with several other industry leaders for a ride to the London Eye as they debate the future of six key sectors of the economy – media and entertainment, food, fashion and beauty, social enterprise, retail and healthcare.

Entitled 30:30 Vision, the event served as a wide brainstorming session on the future of UK business. English business magnate and Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson said in a statement that collaboration between businesses of all sizes could be the key to succeeding in the 21^st century. He further adds that large companies can learn a thing or two about innovation from startups.

Sir Branson is one of the many entrepreneurs who believed in the power of brainstorming and the ideas that can be produced by working together.

DeskMag defines Brainstorming as a widely-used, powerful tool for creative problem solving that breaks away from the rigid, process-driven thinking. It surpasses barriers between members of the team and lets them forget their fear of failure as it gives them the freedom of coming up with as many ideas as they can. Though it disregards the viability of each proposal, the process itself can help improve them into something that is effective and useful.

But the process itself is not easily achieved in traditional private offices. Cubicles hindered employees from casually interacting with one another to generate fresh and creative ideas. And when several designers and experts saw the demand for collaborative work areas, the movement of coworking spaces emerged.

Now, thousands of these unique open-plan designed headquarters are found around the world – each one founded by community and collaboration. And though its layout made a great contribution in creating a platform for individuals to work together, there are certain things to take into consideration and lessons to remember before starting your first brainstorming session.

It’s vital to be prepared and organized so that you and your team can get the most out of your time.

Psychologist Keith Sawyers states in an article from The New Yorker that there are decades of scientific research consistently showcasing brainstorming groups producing fewer ideas that the number produced by individuals who would work alone and later share their suggestions.

DeskMag recommends that instead of forcing employees to generate new concepts or design during a session, set a specific goal – for example, request them to come up with 10 new ways you can attract more clients. After doing so, give them enough time to reflect individually before sharing their proposition with the rest of the team.

Creativity is often a process that cannot be restricted with time and when an existing idea is evolved and expanded into a viable solution, it gives your discussion purpose and structure.

There is a lot of discussion whether criticism should be present during a brainstorming process or not. Fast Company’s Cliff Kang says that it plays an important role in the said activity while some experts dissent this idea.

In hindsight, both viewpoints are somewhat true. Constructive criticism can refine an idea by identifying its weak areas and highlighting problems that can arise all the while attacking a suggestion can lead to discouraged participants. Proscribing it can encourage your members to openly share their thoughts but utilizing it as a tool for creating feasible solutions may produce great results.

And to ensure structure and focus in the set topic, have a designated moderator that can monitor the direction of the talk. The assigned individual can take notes and create a summary of the session as a whole. By doing this, the time and effort you invested in brainstorming would come to fruition. Integrate these new concepts into your workflow and see which would of them would work.

In an article he personally wrote entitled ‘Looking at the future of business with 30:30 Vision’, Sir Branson clarifies that the event is by no means a competition amongst the participants but instead aims to encourage collaboration between our future leaders. He adds “If we put our heads together, share our resources and stimulate innovation, the seemingly inconceivable can not only become a possibility, but a reality.”

With the emergence of shared offices such as coworking spaces, it’s only apt that we prepare ourselves for one big brainstorming session.

Have an idea you’ve been dying to share with anyone? Hit us up and let’s talk about it!

The rise of the gig economy resulted to a career shift for numerous members of today’s workforce. Day by day, more and more people are giving up their traditional jobs in exchange for remote working, solopreneurship and freelancing.

This sudden shift in jobs then resulted to a demand for workspaces that can cater to their specific needs and wants. Hence, it’s no surprise that the industry witnessed a fast paced growth among coworking spaces in the recent years. The Global Coworking Survey reported 11,300 spaces worldwide with over 835,000 members. Experts predict that by the year 2020, the numbers would increase by 26,000 and members will grow to 3.8 million.

And as founders found more creative ways to appeal to diverse niches, hybrids of shared spaces have emerged. From unorthodox offices that have in-house climbing walls and play grounds to women-friendly, ladylike spaces with millennial pink walls and feminine interior.

According to a Bloomberg article released last January, these female focused workspaces is a response to the predominant “fratty [co-working] venues that advertise kegs and pingpongs”. Founder of all-female coworking space Rise Collaborative, Stacy Taubman, says that the women of today’s workforce are craving for community, connection and confidence – and that is what they are giving to them.

In hindsight, the concept isn’t relatively new. Over a century ago, thousands of “women’s clubs” surfaced to free its members of domestic drudgery by allowing them to form reading circles and study clubs. The trend of female-only workspaces have become the extension of this historical precedent.

In the US, more and more female-centric coworking spaces are rising such as The Wing, SheWorks Collective, Rise Collaborative, New Women Space, Paper Dolls, Hera Hub and Shecosystem.

By entering market with a fresh concept, issues are bound to rise. Critiques will comment on how exclusionary this may be in today’s age of neutrality and gender equality but founders have a rational explanation to this.

There are several factors that contributed to the demand of female-only offices. For one, there is the obvious fact that the corporate world and even the startup ecosystems remain to be male dominated despite of the progress humankind has made in gender equality.

Women still experience discrimination in their workplace. In a survey conducted last March 2016, 8 in 10 fully employed women believe that gender discrimination remains to be present in the workplace. Almost half of the respondents have also reported that they have personally experienced discrimination because of their gender.

By designing ladylike spaces for themselves, women are addressing the challenges and difficulties they face in developing their respective profession. Paper dolls founder Jen Mojo said in a HuffingtonPost article that today’s women are building the structure of their career by collaborating in order for them to access the resources that they need.

Mojo further adds that another contributing factor to this emerging concept is stress hormones. In a recent study by researchers from the Indiana University reported unhealthy levels of cortisol – the stress hormone – amongst ‘token’ women working in male-dominated offices.

The gaps in the available resources that support the growth of women as entrepreneurs are being filled by these no-boys allowed coworking spaces.

Though there’s already a significant presence of all-female spaces in the US and other European countries, majority of the shared offices around the world are co-ed. And on the other side, male-only spaces have been established as well – one example is Australia’s first male only coworking space and gym, Nomadic Thinkers.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012 Women’s Report, women are undeniably underutilized in the ecosystem of work. Job creation capacity of half of the world’s population is lost if they are not actively engaged as entrepreneurs.

Hence, more and more flexible workspace providers are coming up with ways to attract female entrepreneurs to join their spaces. Specific spaces in the US started offering child care services so that the ladies in their community can both be a mom and an entrepreneur.

Mojo says that all these structures boil down to changing the world of work and providing equal support as well as opportunity to all genders. As this shift towards ladylike spaces continues, we can expect more offices that are built around collaboration and community.

From the layout of your office down to the color of your walls, experts have recently uncovered the peculiar factors that affect the overall mood – and even productivity – of professionals.

The emergence of shared work areas such as coworking spaces showcased the impact of environmental physical design on an individual’s efficiency rate and focus. Several studies and surveys have highlighted the positive outcome of the movement to its members’ work life. Its open layout gave enough leeway to choose the setting that would work best with them.

In addition to this, trends such as comfort designs and dynamic offices attest to the growing demand of sustainable and efficient workplaces that help employees love their profession even more.

And though our ideologies of where to work are changing and constantly undergoing improvement, there’s one factor that is often treated with indifference by a number of designers and employers – lighting.

Hard to believe but its true – your mood, and even your overall well-being, can change with the flick of a switch. Aside from the common knowledge that reading in dark places can damage your eyes, poor lighting carry even more harm than we know. Well-lit environments can not only improve your employees’ productivity and vitality, it also helps enhance company image and aids you in recruiting new talents as well as retaining high-value workers.

In a recent study presented by Philips System, researchers saw a significant link between lights and circadian rhythms, or the ‘built-in-clocks’ of humans that determine their sleep cycle, stimulation, and relaxation. While another study have said that proper lighting can decrease depression and improve one’s mood and energy as well as their alertness and productivity.

The American Society of Interior Designs further strengthened the aforementioned claims by reporting a total number of 68 employees complaining about the systems of their respective office lights.

These issues serve as proof on the influence a simple light bulb can have to a person’s output. The amount of criticism businesses get with their systems can only mean that majority of them are making the same mistakes.

In order for a company to improve their workplaces and in return, get the most out of their team, it’s important that they understand what drives productivity and the factors that can affect it.

And one of the most notable factor that alter the way an individual works is the color temperature of the office lights they are exposed to on a regular basis.

Those unfamiliar with lighting temperatures, colors and its variations may have a hard time figuring out which would be more appropriate for a work setting.

Measured in Kelvin (K), the temperature of light is a numerical representation of the color emitted by an object under a certain degree. As it increases, the colors will change and will emit light of that color.

Higher color temperatures that measure from 4,600K or more appear blue-white and are often called as daylight or cool colors. Mid-range temperatures within the average of 3,100K to 4,600K emit cool white and lower temperatures that are up to 3,000K materialize red to yellowish-white tone.

Knowing which office lights should be utilized in certain rooms can improve your overall workplace environment and can result to better performance from your team.

According to a study on the effects of high correlated color temperature office lighting on employee wellbeing and work performance, cooler light improves productivity. Using them on brainstorming rooms can help boost alertness and lowers melatonin which can help reduce feelings of fatigue.

Employees who have spent their whole day cooped up in the office can benefit from exposure to natural light. A study from Cornell University conducted among nurses who worked long shifts during nonstandard hours showed that respondents who had access to daylight communicated better with their colleagues and patients. In addition to this, significant improvement was seen in their health.

Stanley Felderman of design studio Felderman Keatinge & Associates suggest using extensive amount of glass to enable light to travel throughout the entire office space. Should daylight be inaccessible, they recommend using “blue-enriched” light bulbs.

Conference rooms can make use of mid-range color temperatures to create a welcoming aura while maintaining cool tones to promote alertness.

As our ideologies in work change, the more we see the power strategic lighting has.