????怎么解決？我們必須減少開會次數、縮短會議時間，同時提高開會效率?！疚④洠∕icrosoft），你們能改一下Outlook的會議默認時長設置嗎？】但除此之外，我們還需要表明態度，告訴大家專注也很重要，同時在核心工作日給我們一個能專注工作的空間。我認識的有些人已經限定了自己每日參加會議的次數。有些團隊實行無會議日或無會議時段。無論哪種方式，我們需要更周到地安排日程。

????給員工靈活性

????假定你明白了這個道理，那么人們要到哪里去做需要專注的工作？在辦公室里提供一些場所，讓員工有需要時能在那里專注工作，這一點很重要。同樣重要的是給人們足夠的靈活性，讓人們可以利用辦公室以外的地方。

????很多管理者擔心一旦員工離開辦公室，別人想找他們的時候無法立即找到他們。但如果能夠解決時間問題，讓人們不時離開一下辦公室應該不會影響到協作。事實上，我們的調查顯示，人們認為每周在家工作的理想時長平均為1-2天（準確地說是1.3天）。大多數人感覺在辦公室工作有好處，但沒必要把所有的時間都耗在辦公室里，這樣做同樣也能讓他們受益。

零隔板、零成本的解決方案

????接下來，我們不妨想想，用幾條有效的約定能取得怎樣的效果。回想一下大學時代，你是怎樣學習的，在哪里學習。我上的是賓夕法尼亞大學（Penn.）。我最喜歡的學習地點是費舍藝術圖書館（Fischer Fine Arts Library）。主閱覽室里沒有墻的阻隔，一個大開間、高屋頂、采光良好的美好空間。即便坐滿了人（時常有這樣的情況），這里也非常安靜，落下一根針都可以聽到。這里很安靜，是因為它有一項不成文的約定。喜歡與同鄰座閑聊，想小組一起學習的人，或者希望能在“學習時”遇到另一半的人，不管怎樣，他們都會到其他地方去。來圖書館里學習的每個人都清楚這一點。無需監督執行，因為所有人都遵守這項約定。

????不過，這并不是說一定得在辦公室里搞一個寬敞的圖書室，重點是無需花錢，就可以打造出專注的空間。在我們辦公室，工作日里需要集中注意力完成工作的人可以帶上筆記本電腦轉到安靜區域。有些人全天都呆在那里。他們向周圍的人發出的信號是，他們需要時間完成專注的工作。

????沒錯，協作在工作中至關重要。但如果人們沒有時間思考與他人的談話內容，我們將鮮有好點子。為達到平衡，我們思考工作方式的時間至少也不能少于關注辦公室環境的時間。

????本文作者喬治亞?柯林斯是戰略商務咨詢公司DEGW北美業務的董事總經理。該公司旨在幫助客戶改善工作環境。

????譯者：老榆木

????What is the solution? We all need to have fewer, shorter, better meetings. (Microsoft, can you please change the Outlook meeting default length?) But short of that, we need to send a message that concentration is important by giving it a place in our core work day. Some individuals I know have put a limit on how many meetings they will accept during a day. Some teams implement "meeting free" days or portions of days. Whatever the approach, we need more considered scheduling.

Cutting your employees' leashes

????Assuming you get that right, where will people do this focused work? Having a variety of places in the office for people to concentrate when they need to is important. Equally important is giving people enough flexibility to make use of the places outside of the office.

????Many managers worry that if their people are out of the office, they won't be available for others when needed. But if you've solved for the time issue, having people out of the office every now and then should not come at the expense of collaboration. Indeed, when we survey people about the ideal amount of time they would like to spend working from home, the average preference is for 1-2 days a week (1.3 days to be exact). Most people feel they benefit from being office, but they also benefit from not having to be there all the time.

A no-walls, no-cost solution

????Next, consider what you might achieve with a few good protocols. Think back to college and how and where you studied. I went to Penn. My favorite place to study was the Fischer Fine Arts Library. There are no walls in the main room -- it is just a wide-open, high-ceilinged, well-lit, beautiful space. Even when every chair at every table is occupied (which happens regularly), it is so quiet in there that you can hear a pin drop. It is quiet in there because that is the protocol. People who like chatting to their neighbor, want to study in groups, are hoping to meet their future spouse "while studying," whatever --they all go somewhere else. Everyone who studies in the library knows this. No one has to police it because no one needs to.

????Now, this doesn't mean that your office needs an expansive library, but what it does suggest is that you can create spaces for concentration without the expense of construction. In our office, people who need to get focused work done during the day simply pick up their laptop and move to the quiet zone. Some people stay there all day long. They send a signal to the rest of us that they need time for focused work.

????Yes, collaboration is critical at work. But we'll have very few good ideas to work with unless people have time to think on their own about the conversations they've had with others. In order to strike the right balance, we must spend at least as much time on thinking about how we behave at work as what our office looks like.

????Georgia Collins is the managing director of North American business for DEGW, a strategic business consultancy that helps clients improve their workplaces.