In my experience, the businesses who take the time (pre-design) to clarify their vision + strategy; and to engage with their teams to really understand what's working (and what's not) in their current environment, and how a new space can best support their business + team in productive work practices; are the ones who see the most success with new office space.
As Simon Sinek says, you need to "Start with Why".
Before looking at tenancy options, or layouts, or even starting to put together a list of how many offices, desks, meeting rooms you need; I encourage ANY business I work with to start the design planning process by taking a step back to look at the bigger picture:
As a management team, do they have alignment on the vision for their business going forward?
Not just what they do and how they do it, but WHY are they in business?
How are they perceived in the market, and how do they want to be perceived?
What's their brand positioning? What differentiates them from competitors?
What's their desired company culture?
Does their current environment reflect and support these things? If not, why not?
And then, they need to establish a clear strategy on what they are trying to achieve from new office premises...
What are the main objectives, key drivers and key deliverables? WHY are they looking at an office upgrade?
And how will they measure success?
Then what are the potential risks? What internal or external factors could affect requirements? How will technology affect how staff work and interact? Have they considered business growth and what impact that will have on spatial requirements?
And after so many of us have now experienced working from home, are they clear on what the actual purpose of dedicated office space is?
From there I believe its imperative to get feedback from your whole team to understand what’s working and what's not.
Because here's the thing… you don't know what you don't know!
Even in a small business, you can't possibly know the ins and outs of every function and process. That's why it's so important to get different perspectives on how things are functioning for ALL areas of the business.
Sure, you might get some negative feedback, but in most cases you already know what that will be, and from who. But there is so much opportunity to gain insight and learnings that can make the difference between average offices, and offices that WORK for your business for many years to come.
By engaging your team in the briefing process, you are also communicating that you value them, and their opinions; and that you care about creating a workspace that truly reflects + supports them.
What I generally recommend is starting with an online survey sent to all staff to explore and measure the performance of your current office space. Your management team can then review the responses collected, and choose what to ignore, what address privately, and what to delve into further during follow up in-person staff workshops to further explore the ideas raised.
Over the last 20 years I have facilitated many briefing workshops for a wide variety of businesses across different industries, that glean invaluable ideas through a series of interactive activities designed to shift thinking and ultimately better understand your business and team, and how they work.
By exploring (from an independent viewpoint) your brand, the wider company values and the culture within your office, staff interactions, communication + working styles, and what your team believe they need to be more productive; helps to identify the type of aesthetic direction, layout, support spaces and furniture solutions that will cater best to your business and teams in a new or refurbished office environment.
We would also often conduct then additional interviews, walk throughs, observation and focus groups to establish key physical and operational requirements such as:
functionality, flow and usage of reception, waiting, meeting/consultancy offices and "public" spaces
systems around filing/storage printing/copy facilities
understanding filing, IT and specialist equipment storage areas, to survey and confirm space requirements
It's my belief that only from there can you actually start to create a functional spatial brief answering the following:
What is required as an entry point to your business?
What's visible to the public and what's not?
What working spaces are required, in what form? How many staff are you allowing for?
What meeting, collaboration and breakout spaces are required?
What support spaces, and specialist areas are required, and how do they need to function specific to your business?
And then, if you are definitely relocating, other considerations for potential new tenancies might include:
Tenancy size - will you fit on a single floor, or will it be across multiple floors?
Location, exposure/visibility and signage opportunities
Parking and access to public transport
Access to food and services amenities
Access to green space and recreation activities
Proximity to complementary businesses
In summary:
Businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of design strategy to inform workplace solutions, understanding the benefits of taking their time to establish a clear vision along with both an aspirational and functional brief for their office design project; including:
staff buy-in through participation (to ease the affect of the change period)
increased staff morale and feeling of worth through investment in their opinions
and ultimately, a design solution that truly reflects the company’s brand, and supports it's people and dynamics in efficient and functional work practices.
If your business is planning an office upgrade in the next year or so, you might like to consider our DIY Briefing Resources to get you started:
Get clarity on the vision + strategy for your project with our Executive Vision Questionnaire and collect valuable feedback and insights on from your wider team with our Workplace Performance Survey.
Or book a call with Rachel to talk through where you're at, and get clarity on your next best steps.