Improving team collaboration by updating a new space — with style

“Collaboration is huge at Stitch Fix,” says Jessie Ely, Stitch Fix’s internal operations manager. “Our teams always work cross-functionally. We also value innovation. People are always being creative and brainstorming, and we’re constantly in communication — making collaboration in the spaces essential. We need every space to be flexible, and we need more consistency with supplies distribution.”

At Stitch Fix, two key spaces needed particular attention: a reception area where employees would often gather after meetings to continue discussions and a larger open space that wasn’t as functional as it could be. To help Stitch Fix improve collaboration and teamwork, Post-it® Brand worked with their administrative team and brought in Mike Vardy — a collaboration and productivity expert — to make some tweaks and help make ideas stick by deploying key Post-it® Products throughout the office.

Right off the bat, Mike assessed their spaces with his expert eye and began working with the team to make changes.

“I didn’t want to kill the vibe of the reception space because collaboration was happening there already — but it wasn’t organized,” says Mike. “So we took the large table in the center of the space and made it the resource center for great tools like Post-it® Super Sticky Big Notes, — that way, when natural collaboration is happening, the Stitch Fix teams have great tools they can grab and use immediately, without hunting. And because this space is where a lot of overflow happens after meetings in the conference rooms, teams can now continue those conversations unabated, with the right tools.”

Mike stocked the reception area with Post-it® Super Sticky Big Notes for quick small group brainstorming, along with Post-it® Tabletop Easel Pads — making it easy to quickly map out meeting agendas, create sketches, or make team to-do lists when a wall isn’t available.

The larger, more open space was a separate challenge — it was almost too open for its own good.

“We broke it up into little satellite areas,” says Mike. “We took a bookshelf that wasn’t being used much and filled it with a variety of Post-it® Products, making it multi-use. This draws people to the shelf and puts resources in a central location. Then, we adapted two large standing table areas by covering half of each table with Post-it® Super Sticky Dry Erase Surface.”

This means that the Stitch Fix teams can spend less time looking for the right tools and more time staying energized and on-task — instead of hunting for tools when they’re needed, teams can simply grab them from the shelf or immediately begin sketching and writing directly on the tables with Post-it® Super Sticky Dry Erase Surface. Having that writable surface installed directly on the tables allows people to get thoughts down right away, without pausing to find paper or another tool.

Mike wanted to make each of the spaces feel synergistic and connected so that employees would feel a sense of continuity and feel free to keep collaborating and staying energized, no matter where they might be. By having Post-it® Super Sticky Dry Erase Surface on walls and tables throughout the office, along with easy access to Post-it® Super Sticky Big Notes and Post-it® Easel Pads, familiarity is maintained between the spaces, allowing for free-flowing collaboration among teams.

So how did Mike’s expert tips and tricks work out for the Stitch Fix administrative team?

“It has been really fun to see everything implemented and see these spaces in a new way,” says Jessie. “Behind the reception area, it’s fun to watch people participate — because now it’s a larger collaboration space and very flexible. It’s a great area to collaborate in. We’re very excited about it!”

The addition of Post-it® Super Sticky Dry Erase Surface to the walls and tables also has the Stitch Fix team feeling more productive than ever.

“The dry erase surface is fantastic,” says Jessie. “We need every wall to have it! It’s amazing what you can do with it. It’s so helpful to see how subtle tweaks can have a big impact and to use products we’ve never known about before.”

The larger open space has also benefited from Mike’s revisions and the addition of Post-it® Super Sticky Dry Erase Surface and Post-it® Easel Pads.

“The channeling of smaller satellite spaces and stocking that bookshelf Post-it® Super Sticky Big Notes were simple things, and really impactful,” says Jessie. “People are using it. It’s so cool to see the products in use — the Post-it® Easel Pads are very in-demand — it’s the perfect collaborative product for a lot of these spaces.”

With some organizational resources and the right tools, any space can be transformed to be more collaborative and energetic.

“I feel like it helped the spaces visually to have the right tools stocked,” says Jessie. “It made the spaces more colorful and purposeful, like work zones. It shifted and reinvigorated the vibe for me. It was really fun! We came away with a great toolkit of problem-solving solutions. We were feeling defeated in this area, so it was invigorating for us as a team to learn these things and use these new tools.”