New Ways of Working (NWoW) are considered a key element of Transformation. In a way, they translate the culture of the company through the way people at the company work.
A component of NWoW is based on space, but this is only one part. Therefore, it is important to understand how a NWoW approach can guarantee successful New Work environments.
Before starting…
All over the world companies will need to renew the way they work, as well as their workspaces and work methodologies over time.
However, it is important to differentiate current trends — that may only focus on workplace or be based on the use of space as a way of improving work dynamics — from strategic and integrated methodologies, such as NWoW.
So, what exactly are New Ways of Working?
NWoW refer to when, where, how and with whom we work. Besides the “when”, they are mainly focused on office spaces. There are three other important factors in NWoW: culture, technology and processes.
All of these aspects play an effective role:
1. A different space approach allows us to translate intangible culture into clear-cut reality: breaking barriers and allowing more interdisciplinary work to take place must translate into space.
2. Adequate technology, and moreover, adequate use of technology is also key in responding to the needs of professionals in a company.
3. And finally, lean work processes allow organisations to become more agile and able to change in a quick way by making continuous improvement, and creating a culture that allows us to use our resources in a better way.
These three aspects are important. But culture…
The culture will be the main challenge of any transformation. When transforming a company, coherence is key: each initiative of the transformation must be integrated within the business strategy, with a clear user-centric approach.
Above all, it is about changing mindsets!
By supporting employees according to their current and desired work patterns, leadership must also evolve. Leaders must offer the adequate tools to achieve effective innovation and foster a collaboration model, as well as implementing transparent exchange of knowledge.
But, exactly what role do spaces play here?
Space is the tip of the Iceberg; it is what translates the new work philosophy into tangible things.
Different ways of reorganising spaces have come to light in recent years, with some having better results than others — with some being subject to trends, and not conceiving space as a facilitator that will help employees to work better.
For example, “flex office” is a system based on non-assigned workstations. It allows workers to select their place in order to collaborate with colleagues in the best possible way. It offers professionals the possibility to choose the workspace that helps them to be more productive and better interact with their team.
This organisation method is appropriate in certain cases, especially when combined with the right technology (such as individual laptops and mobiles).
However, just thinking about space and technology does not provide an integrated solution.
One must also consider impacts on leadership, multidisciplinary work, more dynamic work methodologies, creating fewer bureaucracies, etc.
An Activity Based Office uses both the flex-office concept and different settings for different tasks. Both concepts must come together.
These dynamic spaces are fully oriented to improve the way people work. These spaces must be created, keeping in mind the real needs of the professionals.
If the working model is not constructed with the user in mind, the space will lack cohesion and lead to limited operational and social benefits. The space must be a comfortable and effortless suite, that allows employees to find the most adequate space to be more productive.
To be successful real co-creation methodology must be implemented, increasing the satisfaction rate of users — up to 98% state that they would not return to their old ways of working.
How to understand the issues and take the right initiative?
In order to ensure good cultural evolution of organisations, it is fundamental to address the problem in an integrated way.
The choice of the working model is based on initial empirical cultural analyses of employees, and observations of space usage in offices. This guarantees a profound transformation that is in line with the needs and intentions of the employees, and of the organisation.
Spaces are optimised, and the result is positive in both the individual and collective spheres.
Co-creation during the change management process is a crucial success factor in this type of project.
Change management should not be a simple exercise in raising awareness and explanation. The entire organisation needs to be involved and support it, taking into account everyone’s needs.
And watch out!
Touching on something so essential as the culture is a sensitive and sometimes daunting process — you are essentially delving into the core of the organization.
Therefore, if an outside expert puts up a mirror to an organization, it could allow them to more easily highlight the key things that must be tackled in order to become what they really want to be.
The role of this external actor will also be to integrate all the potential stakeholders, putting in place solutions and giving adequate expertise and benchmarking to achieve better results.
Read our next Blog post about 8 factors that are transforming the way we work!
By Alejandra Martínez Boluda, Managing Director at BICG
