My Chair’s Limiting My Innovation Level and Ability To Collaborate…

Can a chair make a difference in the quantity/quality of collaboration or innovation in your organization?  Don’t think so?  Then you must be a Stalin-loving, Buick-Driving, industrial complex manager who doesn’t let your people dream.  In short, you’re a Buzzkill…

Or, maybe it’s just that you’re already playing catch-up to the budget numbers and it’s only August.  Either way, Reena Jana reports that Steelcase is looking to help you highbrow up your office with some Apple-like alternatives to the common office chair:

"Steelcase has been researching how to help companies create these types of environments—to rethink the office, the cubicle, the conference room, and even the open-plan space. Buying new chairs might even make sense—as opposed to remodeling an office—when budgets are tight.

The furniture maker will release these two chairs in early 2009, but they were on view at NeoCon World’s Trade Fair, the furnishings industry’s biggest convention, earlier this week. One chair, the cobi (seen to the right), looks a lot like a familiar desk chair.

That’s intentional, says Keane. It’s meant to work well at table settings, and not seem intimidating in any way. But what’s new is that it intuitively adjusts as a person moves in it to turn and talk to her neighbor, beside or behind her, thanks to its design. The top of the back of the chair is made from a plastic that slightly bends with the pressure of an arm, making such a movement more comfortable.

And the entire seat is soft, as opposed to only the center of the seat, as most desk chairs are. This is to allow a sitter to occupy any part of the seat–even if moving more toward the right or left, to move closer to a collaborator during a conversation."

Wow.  Couple of things.  First up, there’s no price listed, because let’s face it, if you have to ask how much it costs, then you just don’t get it.  Just look at it people – it’s GREEN – just oozing with innovation.  What’s that?  You’re in ACCOUNTING?  Then skip down to Staples to check out the 10-key machines, Sparky, because this show’s about people who can think deep thoughts.

I also had a back of a chair one time that bent slightly with the pressure of an arm, making such a movement more comfortable.  But it wasn’t part of the design.  It was because Bob, the 350 pound ox from purchasing, worked it over for about 5 years before handing it down to me when I joined the company out of college.  The entire seat was also soft (like the chair pictured above) from from the five year influence of Bob.  No wonder I was so innovative early in my career.

Cost of that chair?  $50?   Value of the giggles when I showed my co-workers the duct tape holding the arm stuffing in?  Priceless…