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T
he paradox of work is that the more technology
enables us to work remotely in virtual teams, there
is an increasing need to have face to face contact and
work together. The format and style of the contact and
collaboration may be very different, but the emotional
need to hang out together in physical space has never
been stronger. At the base level this is about building
relationships and developing a common sense of
belonging – it is tribal. The high level needs are perhaps
even more important. It is about developing common
understandings, sharing and developing ideas and
ultimately developing a sense of purpose, stimulating
body, mind and soul. This need is met by creating an
interactive and collaborative workplace experience with
an open and sharing management style. Corporate events
sharing knowledge between teams and indeed clients
and partners stimulate this activity, but equally important
are informal hang out areas and social space to stimulate
serendipitous interactions. Branding, graphics and good
design are powerful agents to support the ethos, whilst
collaborative technology and workspace tools ease
the process.
Big data analytics now enable business to not only
promote these interactions but to measure them and
seek interventions to enhance them. The analytics can
measure intra team collaboration amongst its members as
well as inter team connectivity between different groups.
This can include monitoring e-mail and messaging flows
(numbers not individual content), but also, through the use
of sensors or beacons, interactions in both formal settings
such as meeting rooms, as well as ad hoc interactions
Mapping connectivity between teams
– the size of the bubble reflecting the
amount of intra-collaboration within the
team, and the boldness of the line the
degree of inter-collaboration.
Project
Management
Drug
Safety
Medical
Writing
Corporate
Services
Clinical
Research
Data
Science
Quality
Assurance
at coffee points or in social areas. The insight that this
provides can highlight silos within organisations, as well as
sub-optimal collaboration between perhaps the two areas
of the business that need to work most closely together as
a critical success factor for the business.
However, it is not only within companies that the
importance of collaboration and working together is
recognized. There are networks that extend well beyond
the corporation which are becoming as important
to individual’s sense of belonging and knowledge
development. This can be through interest groups
focused on market, professional or social demographics.
Events and networking are the life blood and critical to
the success of many co-working offices and tech start-
up incubators. These facilities typically have ‘members’
who are regular users of the facilities but primarily value
the knowledge transfer through meeting people focused
on similar market opportunities and events hosted, in
some cases daily, on topics that range from the latest
technological developments, sharing and developing
business ideas, to personal health and wellbeing. It is the
quality of this content, as well as the coffee, workplace
design and services provided that attract people to become
part of the ‘club’, and the working facilities are secondary.
Work can be done anywhere and so the question is why
does somebody need to invest in the commute? Whether
the workplace is within a business or managed as an
independent service provider, it has to be managed and work
hard to maximise the value to the employees and clients, and
make it a destination of choice. Collaboration and content is
what will encourage people to invest in the commute.
The
emotional
need to hang
out together
in physical
space has
never been
stronger
By Neil
McLocklin,
Partner,
Strategic
Consulting
EMEA
CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
18
FUTURE OF WORK