Losing fiefdom in the transition to Activity Based Working
In the rush to activity based working (ABW), can losing fiefdom from a two-speed implementation be good for worker spirit and well-being across the organisational board?
Some months ago, Shiro Architects design director Hiromi Lauren and I paid a visit to the offices of strategic innovation of one of Australia’s major financial institutions, at the top of one of Sydney’s CBD towers. Our purpose was to check out, by invitation, how workplace operations run within its ABW-style accommodation, and in particular those facilities housing the activities of its office for strategic innovation.
What we found was, to my eyes, not surprising. The walls, mainly in the form of floor-to-ceiling whiteboards on rails, which could be reconfigured, within limitations, to meet the thinking and information-sharing needs of any given group of individuals, were bedecked with post-it notes, diagrams and flowcharts.
Spaces away from the action’s centrepieces were divided into those for relaxed one-on-one armchair discussions and others for more serious screen-based desk work.
The movable spaces had been adapted from existing office stock, and some sort of colour coding had seemingly been applied to signify which were for what purposes.
However, in this office, not all the implications of the technologies had yet been worked out, as not all cabling yet drops from the ceiling, restricting the movement of certain workstations.
When I asked if this space and the department’s work came with metrics attached, our host told me that it wasn’t so much that the need to do this work could be measured, but that the work involved couldn’t be performed in any other way. It needed expansive white surfaces on which its participants could post, think out loud and share their insights.
Fair points.
Yet, across the corridor and beyond the offices afforded to the creative insights of strategic innovation, although the rest of the organisation might also have been moved to a looser way of ABW engagement, its implementation was clearly somewhat less joyful. This may perhaps be reflective of the necessary conservatism of the industry itself.
In these spaces, ABW-style worker mobility might have been incorporated, but its fun hadn’t transported, as the colour and breakout areas enjoyed by the department of innovation had seemingly not been accorded to those beyond. At least, if they existed they were less visible to our visitor eyes.
Moreover, when the decision had been made to move the rest of the enterprise over to ABW-type activities, I think I understood that 900 people had had to make this transition within a three-month period, necessitating the end of dedicated private working spaces populated by personal effects, with pictures of families, pets and so on.
When I observed that the speed of this transformation must have been extremely painful for many of its workers, our host conceded that it had been, and had been accompanied also by the deconstruction of many fiefdoms.
Where in any traditional office environment there are obstacles to sharing in workplaces of all sizes, many are bound up precisely in the hierarchical signals of the dimension, layout and location of a worker’s personal space, and therefore their need to engage with others.
But, while it might bring down office costs and enable greater workplace mobility, one has to wonder just how ripping up the rulebook and offering something even less personalised, colourful or playful benefits the spirits of workers across the organisation when it is implemented like this.
I am dubious, but in due course, I am looking forward to finding out more.
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About this post
This post was originally published at shiroarchitects.com.
See also:
How To Use Social Technologies To Enhance Your Workplace Design Briefing
Relocation: New thinking on workplace design briefing
Posted at The Urban Developer:
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About Shiro Architects
Workplace strategy is where building design, modern technology and new ways of working come together to deliver the future of work. Through dedicated research, we aim to understand how to create workplace-design briefings that satisfy the evolving needs of occupants, owners, investors and developers of commercial office space. For organisations looking to use relocation to kick-start change in the ways their teams think and learn, we champion the use of sense-making workplace social technologies applied to this purpose.
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