In the high-pressure ecosystem of academia it is easy to view our offices as isolated silos. We spend our days hunkered down, grading papers or prepping lectures, treating our workspaces as fortresses of productivity.
This was certainly true of me; sometimes I stayed off campus or out of my office just to get grading done. But how could we change the dynamic to overcome isolation?
Over the last year, however, my Christian colleague TJ Cyders and I decided to take a step of faith and challenge that norm by intentionally reconfiguring our physical environment. We moved out of our individual offices and into a shared common space, inviting a grad student and another staff member to join us. In all we were three faculty, one staff member, and one graduate student intentionally sharing an office suite.
A Communal Hub
We didn’t know if it would work, but everyone agreed to try it for a semester. We wanted this space to be more than just a place to store books; we wanted it to be a communal hub. To bridge the gap between “work talk” and “life talk,” we started a simple practice: a whiteboard in the center of the room.
Every week we take turns writing a question on that board. It’s a low-stakes invitation, but it has yielded surprisingly deep conversations, not just amongst us, but also with students who are constantly in and out of the suite. It was risky. Would we be disturbed too often? Would we get our work done? Would others even take the time to discuss our questions? We weren’t sure, but we wanted to experiment.
They Force Us to Stop
We’ve asked questions like, “What is the difference between grace and mercy?” or “Who is someone you can appreciate today?”
These prompts force us to stop, push away our phones/laptops, and engage with the people around us.
One of the most impactful moments came when we posted:“What is something you’ve always wanted to do and what is stopping you?” It started as a casual conversation with a student, but it quickly became a profound theological reflection. We had the chance to voice that, as believers, our ambitions aren’t always the end of the road. We discussed how sometimes “what is stopping us” might actually be God’s gentle redirecting of our path.
Authentic Community
This environment has taught us that authentic community in the workplace doesn’t happen by accident; it requires effort and a little structure (and several iterations). By creating a space that prioritizes curiosity over productivity, we’ve found that some of our colleagues are often eager to jump into discussions about character, purpose, and the eternal.
It hasn’t been perfect, and it hasn’t always been easy to set aside work for a moment (or two…maybe three), but we are learning that creating a space where people get to share and feel heard has a larger impact than another ‘A’ or paper written. So, if it were your turn to put a question on the board for the week, what would it be?
Cody Petitt
Mechanical Engineering
Ohio University