09 Feb You’re a WHAT?!?!?
A Workplace Strategist.
Design thinking is being actively implemented into today’s management practices to the point where entire MBA’s have been developed to teach Design Strategy, creating the Worlds next generation of innovative leaders, focused on moving beyond just profits to a world that’s sustainable, ethical and truly meaningful.
A Workplace Strategist is a designer with an analytical, business brain.
Creating a holistic strategic framework to understand who you are, how you work, what you do, what your people do, what that looks like, how they interact, move, communicate… so that the design of your space transcends the aesthetic and enables your organization to create a haven that embraces something truly meaningful to your business, connecting you to your community.
Driven by the need to understand your business in finite detail, a Workplace Strategist wants to understand your Business Strategy: what your vision for the company is, your mission and your values? Then, using design brings these to life so that you can start to see the results of this strategy in action.
This starts the same way as every other good strategy, with planning. Most of what a Workplace Strategist does happens before a designer even puts pen to paper. It’s the research into the organisation and its people that inform the opportunities and resolve the challenges, identifying optimal space needs, workflows, locations, size, floor plates, outcomes…
Collaboration and open communication is key to the successful implementation of a Workplace Strategy. Working within the organization to gain a deeper understanding of the business to uncover the potentially unknown challenges and highlight the opportunities through fresh eyes and a different perspective.
The outcome is a clearly articulated brief that encapsulates the essence of the business, implementing and embracing the Business Strategy, to form a space that communicates the vision and values of the organization inherently to your community, enabling you to achieve them.
When your staff are happier, they are engaged. When they are engaged they perform better. When they perform better your clients are happier.
Increased productivity = Increased Profitability = ROI
So taking a more holistic approach is not just more meaningful, it’s more ethical, more sustainable and more profitable.
This level of engagement doesn’t just stop at the design; it also requires the effective implementation of the change. Informative and timely communication with your community and the effective implementation of the process is necessary to a smooth transition.
So before you embark on your next project take a second to consider how applying some strategic design thinking might improve the outcome…