Change leadership // with the design of every new workplace comes the introduction of new working styles. These working styles sit on a continuum ranging from minor change to significant change with the introduction of more transformational work styles such as agile and activity base working. For these new changes in work style to be successful and support the employees in being productive and enabling them to do their job, a change program needs to be implemented.
For Seqwater, the transition from a traditional desk arrangement of 1:1 to the new neighborhood driven agile work environment, a robust management and communication plan was required. This plan addressed employee consultation, regular communications across multiple channels, the opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions as well as an opportunity for the organization to respond and provide feedback on adopted decisions.
However all these mechanisms provide information on the intangible aspects of a new work environment, whilst addressing the very real and important concerns of the employees these strategies also require to educate the employees on how the new workplace functions, the various spaces it offers, the work settings available, the functions and ergonomic use, along with expected behaviors and considerations for fellow employees. This level of communication was provided to the people of Seqwater via an orientation video which describes the vision behind the project, the available spaces, required behaviors and ergonomic use of the various work settings.
This video has received extensive positive feedback and has reduced the anxiety of many employees as the unknown is now known. It effectively communicates not only the why, but also the how and the what, providing employees with a transparent and concise understanding of the space.
Humans are creatures of habit and without an appropriate introduction to the new space, employees will overlay old work habits and never realize the potential of the new work environment.
