Physical Environment in Counseling and Planning
Physical Environment in Counseling and Planning
I have recently read an interesting article about the impact of physical environment on the financial counseling and planning relationship and process. The publication raised my great interest because I have noticed before that our offices have several deficiencies that may have negative effects on the quality of our relationships with clients. The physical environment includes many aspects of our surrounding, including furniture and room design, color, accessories, lighting, sound, smell, thermal conditions and others. I have learned that all of these aspects can have bigger impact on relationships and the quality of our work that most people would expect. Therefore I took the initiative and researched the topic a little further to get a better understanding of the issue. Although there’s not a lot of a material available that refers strictly to financial planning, I was able to borrow ideas from other, more general studies. I believe that we can greatly improve our work place and clients’ satisfaction by implementing some changes in the physical environment in our office building. I came up with several recommendations regarding different elements of physical environment in our work place.
The research conducted by Pressly and Heesacker (2001) indicates that all of the elements of physical environment can have a negative or positive impact on the workplace. One of the most interesting things I found in their article is that self-disclosure increases in warm, intimate settings (Pressly & Heesacker, 2001). Self-disclosure and feeling of privacy and intimacy are crucial elements of our business and it is really worthwhile to consider implementing some of their findings. Here are some factors that could positively impact these qualities:
• Colors – Research suggests that deep, cool colors contract space and therefore make the big rooms feel more intimate (Pressly & Heesacker, 2001). In addition, cool colors tend to
I have recently read an interesting article about the impact of physical environment on the financial counseling and planning relationship and process. The publication raised my great interest because I have noticed before that our offices have several deficiencies that may have negative effects on the quality of our relationships with clients. The physical environment includes many aspects of our surrounding, including furniture and room design, color, accessories, lighting, sound, smell, thermal conditions and others. I have learned that all of these aspects can have bigger impact on relationships and the quality of our work that most people would expect. Therefore I took the initiative and researched the topic a little further to get a better understanding of the issue. Although there’s not a lot of a material available that refers strictly to financial planning, I was able to borrow ideas from other, more general studies. I believe that we can greatly improve our work place and clients’ satisfaction by implementing some changes in the physical environment in our office building. I came up with several recommendations regarding different elements of physical environment in our work place.
The research conducted by Pressly and Heesacker (2001) indicates that all of the elements of physical environment can have a negative or positive impact on the workplace. One of the most interesting things I found in their article is that self-disclosure increases in warm, intimate settings (Pressly & Heesacker, 2001). Self-disclosure and feeling of privacy and intimacy are crucial elements of our business and it is really worthwhile to consider implementing some of their findings. Here are some factors that could positively impact these qualities:
• Colors – Research suggests that deep, cool colors contract space and therefore make the big rooms feel more intimate (Pressly & Heesacker, 2001). In addition, cool colors tend to