In a previous blog post, I talked about the efforts that FNBB has undertaken to ignite enterprise-wide innovation.  Included in that effort was to take an unused space and convert it into a place where thinking and creativity can flourish.  In our Baton Rouge office, there was a room that used to house our client services team.  Working with the Marketing Department, we have transformed this room and work space into a multi-purpose room that is already paying dividends.

Outside looking into the room. Directly outside this room is a large open area suitable for serving food and drinks or other pre-function activities.

Inside The Thinking Room, it looks like this:

The letters and graphics are raised making them truly pop. We could have just ordered a vinyl to apply to the wall, but this look really ties in with the rest of the branding that you see as you tour the Baton Rouge offices.

This room features the following configuration options:

• Highboy (Cocktail) tables w high chairs for collaboration meetings.
• Soft “bean-bag” like chairs that you can see in the picture above. Trust me, these are not your Dad’s bean bag chairs. They are sturdy and have been rigorously tested for a baby boomer to gracefully get into and more importantly, get out of these chairs.
• Flat screen TV for presentations / zoom calls. Even though we have this room in LA, we want to make sure that our associates in other offices can participate in remote meetings using this room.
• Video Production – In the first picture above, you can see that we have 3 drop down backgrounds that can be used for pictures / video production. One is plain white, one is green screen and one is a step and repeat of the FNBB logo.

By the way, I mentioned in my earlier article that I was putting a quote on the wall of the Thinking Room that had the word “failure” in it and you can clearly see that in the above picture.  Why do that?  I believe that as bankers, this is a big blind spot for us, we abhor failure and yet, if failure is not an option, then there will be no true innovation.  Allowing ideas to flow, even crazy ideas is crucial to coming up with the innovations that will power your institution in the coming decades.

So what is stopping you from creating a similar Thinking Room in your institution?  You have plenty of unused space in every branch, it would not be that difficult or expensive to do.  If you want specific information on the elements that we purchased for our Thinking Room, email me at dpeterson@bankers-bank.com and I will provide the specific details on what to buy. You don’t have to duplicate ours, just make it functional for multiple types of meetings and make sure it is in your calendar system you use so it can be reserved.

Let’s get some ideas flowing!!