What does it mean to work in a collaborative environment? At our most recent Transcribe (Transcribes are weekly chats during which we share what we’ve learned recently and figure out what it means to us and our clients), Senior Executive Chief Transcribe Officer^tm Mason Smith led a discussion on what we like/love/tolerate about working in a truly open environment. Here’s some of what we came up with when we finished the sentence “You know you work in an open collaborative environment when …”

1. You never have to eat lunch, snack, or go it alone.
2. You never know what is coming next (in a good way). (In our office, we’re often joined by the sounds of someone playing Ms. PacMan in the background or, in the case of this Transcribe, someone joining us via Skype from an airborne airplane.)
3. You always learn something you didn’t expect.
4. You may not know, but chances are someone else in the room does.
5. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge.
6. No one is mad at anyone else (for long).
7. You can guess who picked the playlist and who will like it.
8. No one cares who came up with that great idea (and no one remembers, either).
9. You always have backup.
10. You’re always in on the joke.

Do you work in an open collaborative environment? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below!