Like scouts on their look for the holy grail, many visitors come to the D-School looking for inspirations that make their companies more innovative. One of the things they find is an innovative work environment with red couches, high tables, and whiteboards on wheels. And some visitors think, they have found what they were looking for and say: “It's great and inspiring what you do, here! We want to do the same – so: Where can we buy these red couches?” Well, they are from IKEA (and no longer produced).

However, while innovation does need the right environment to flourish, solely buying the same furniture or copying the nice interior designs shown in coffee table books will not make any company more innovative. Why? Because a space is much more than furniture. So, what makes Design Thinking and innovation spaces in organizations successfully work? This was the guiding question of the d.confestvial panel “Corporate Design Thinking Spaces” and its panelists Anton Reinig, Dominika Czajak, Julia Leihener, Judith Pfeiffer, and Michael Held.

Innovation Spaces are Matters of Mindset

In many companies, innovation spaces lie in the sole responsibility of facility management, corporate real estate, or architects. This focus, however, runs too short, as Judith Pfeiffer, Bosch, explains: “Space is not only a matter of ‘space’, but also of ‘mindset’”. Thus: Already during the planning process, experts for innovation are needed to make sure that the place will work in the end and to allow that the innovation mindset can be lived, there. And further, once a space is built, as Julia Leihener, design akademie, underlines,

“it’s the people who are in there that shape the place”,

thus: Make sure to not only build a space, but to also build people’s innovation mindset and help them use the space. How? For instance, by offering programs and facilitation in the space, or running an encouraging first project that helps employees to understand how the space can be used and that it actually works. Another easy first step is to use the innovation space for meetings to avoid what Dominika Czajak, Spacebase, calls “meeting fatigue”. This meeting room disease, instead of making people creative, makes them fall asleep. Why not run stand-up meetings in the new innovation space that use visualization and time boxing to make participants experience the positive influence of the space and new work modes and thereby make them curious for more?

Innovation Spaces Must Reflect the Corporate Values

Spaces are only the tip of an iceberg – they symbolize the visible artifacts of the corporate culture and values, which are non-visible beyond the water line. As Michael Held, Steelcase, states: “Organizations can say a lot of things they want to change, but if employees don’t experience that in a space, it is difficult to take change beyond a project.” So, make sure that the visible part of your corporate iceberg – what employees can experience – reflects the values that lie beyond the surface. How? Conduct the ‘iceberg test’: Take a blank sheet. On the bottom half (below the water surface), write down your corporate values. On the top half (above the water surface), show pictures of your spaces to a colleague or a friend and let her describe it. Does what this person sees and describes reflect the values?

Innovation Spaces Must Be Owned

The first scratch on a new car always hurts. Similarly, some people want to protect their new innovation spaces from any signs of usage and would not allow to move furniture or to put Post-its on walls or windows. Or they make their new spaces super nice with a lot of decoration and expensive designer interior. Such measures literally leave no room for the teams to make it theirs and will therefore prevent them from taking ownership. Ownership is important, since it creates the feeling of ‘home’ for a team and creates a safe space for new ideas. “As soon as you are able to manipulate your space, you own it", explains Anton Reinig, System 180. Thus, don't overprotect or overdecorate new spaces, but give users the permission to manipulate it and thereby, to take ownership.

Considering these thoughts will, hopefully, give you some guidance on your look for the holy grail of innovation (spaces) in your organization.

Dr. Martin Schwemmle is Senior Researcher and Design Thinking Coach at the HPI D-School and part of the Design Thinking Research Program Potsdam-Stanford. One of his research projects deals with spaces for innovation. Martin was moderator of the panel “Corporate Design Thinking Spaces” at the d.confestvial. martin.schwemmle@hpi.de.