Unlike most SPS staff encountered in our workspace at The Yard - Columbus Circle, I only work there about once a week. However, I always enjoy my days there, because it's a refreshing break from working merely alongside fellow media team members. (Please disregard the fact that the photo shows me having a good time with only fellow media team members.) As fond as I am of my job and my immediate colleagues, it's an especially pleasant part of the week when I can work among those who diligently play other roles for the continued growth and enrichment of this diverse, incredibly profitable school. Some friendly instructional designer's down the hall, on a conference call discussing how to implement programmatic goals into a particular online course--or something like that, I presume. Next door, the marketing team's busy preparing for our next big event and its accompanying media--social or otherwise. Just across from me, some of our innovation and educational technology wizards are busy working with their weirdly vertically-oriented monitors--probably for viral videos shot on phones instead of the purported computer code.
As nice as it is to see and know the different teams doing their thing all around me, though, it gets much more interesting and fun when the mix of open rooms and semi-open cubicles ("pods") here at The Yard facilitates great conversations and collaboration. Whether it's shooting the breeze and discussing a recent film or spontaneously devising a solution for a current project, the convenient and sometimes serendipitous interactions that spill out of doorways, into hallways, and across cubicles are enjoyable not just for their immediate rewards but for the ongoing appreciation of our fellow staff and their unique contributions to our common mission, vision, and goals. These moments help foster a sense of community and shared focus in ways that more choreographed forms cannot, and I am grateful for the people and places that bring them to my week.
