Looking at a price tag for a workplace relocation or renovation can be scary: rent, space design, construction, movers, technology, furniture, swing space. It adds up, and when it does, the immediate response is to look for cost savings: Can we make workstations smaller to fit into a reduced footprint? Do we really need 10 meeting rooms or will 5 do? Do all the meeting rooms need to be outfitted with technology or just half of them?

According to the Whole Building Design Guide, the largest investment in a 30-year lifecycle of a building is people (i.e., personnel costs) – 92%! Workplace change initiatives require large upfront investment; however, the more you invest in and engage with your people during the change process the less you have to invest in the long term on recruitment and retention efforts, morale boosters, and future space changes to accommodate special requests due to resistance. Here are four tips for prioritizing your people during a workplace change.

FOUR TIPS FOR PRIORITIZING YOUR PEOPLE
Create a Sense of Ownership. Identifying areas for employee input gives employees a voice in the process and will build feelings of ownership and excitement about the space. Give staff an opportunity to engage with the decision-making process so they feel as invested in the space as you do. Host events to let employees test out furniture, vote on finishes or names of conference rooms, and experience the space design. Perhaps even include them in the upfront visioning about their ideal workplace.
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. Transparency is one of the greatest ways to gain trust from people. By creating an open line of communication with employees and stakeholders, you start to build trust in the change process and the future vision for the workplace. Establish a regular cadence of communication to provide insight into the project status and what to expect. Share outcomes from engagement events, surveys, and decision-making meetings to create a common understanding of the direction of the workplace change.
Create Opportunities for Feedback. Providing regular opportunities for feedback from employees and stakeholders will provide you with an understanding of potential pitfalls and the “story” people are holding, and help you set expectations. By collecting regular feedback, your people feel heard and – in most cases – can live with the outcomes of the workplace change, even if it wasn’t 100% what they wanted.
Make it Fun! Incorporate a little fun into the change process – both in engagement activities with employees and stakeholders and within the workplace planning team itself. Remember to acknowledge team, employee, and vendor contributions, and celebrate milestones and successes with reflections and acknowledgments. This will help maintain momentum, boost morale and excitement, and reduce change fatigue.

Thinking about engaging your staff around your workplace change? Drop me an email. We can help you navigate the workplace change and help improve how your people experience the change.

I’m always on the hunt for opportunities to engage in conversations that broaden my perspective and challenge my assumptions. Most recently, I found just such an opportunity in DC at the Work Better Day conference, “an experience-driven event, bringing together curious minds, visionary thinkers, innovators, and change-makers.”

The Work Better Day experience centered on three topics: assets and obstacles to working productively, decision-making in a multi-generational workforce, and recognizing unconscious bias. Each conversation provided an opportunity to think critically, not only about how I work and the biases I bring, but also the perspectives and biases present when collaborating with clients and coworkers.

As a member of The Clearing’s Workplace Transformation practice, I was particularly struck by the conversations around a multi-generational workforce and the connection between a person’s motivations and their upbringing. In designing new workspaces and ways of working, we always start by considering who the space will serve and how they will use it. These conversations can devolve into a debate regarding Baby Boomers vs. Millennials and which generation’s work styles and preferences are more valid or efficient. What I’d never considered before is that these styles and preferences are often driven by the experiences of one’s formative years.

According to keynote speaker Gabrielle Bosche, Baby Boomers were more likely to have grown up in a military household, which often translates to being process-driven with a preference for structure and hierarchy. On the other hand, Gen Xers were often left to their own devices, which can show up as a more independent style of working. Having grown up with information instantly accessible at their fingertips, Millennials have a tendency to wonder “why,” resulting in a collaborative, feedback-seeking work style. As a Millennial myself, understanding the “why” that drives each generation’s predispositions inspired empathy and I think will prove an effective way to establish the human connection that allows me to “work better” both with my colleagues and with my workplace transformation clients.

The next Work Better Day conversation ensured that this realization was taken with a grain of salt and didn’t become an unconscious bias that I bring into every conversation. Our energetic facilitator on this topic, Lorne Epstein, explained how our experiences shape our biases. I learned that to work most effectively with others you must dig deeper within yourself, checking your biases and assumptions at the door.

Bringing these two perspectives together gave me new food for thought as I work with our clients in designing new spaces to serve their existing and future workforce:

How will different generations adapt and learn new ways of working so workspaces are balanced and provide benefits for all, while ensuring every employee’s success?
What biases might our clients be holding based on their previous experiences, and how can we uncover and reduce the impact of those biases on the work?

I’d love to hear what you’re thinking! To discuss what the idea of “working better” means to you, how generations and bias show up in your workplace, or begin a conversation on how physical workspace can be designed to support those ideas, reach out to me.