Transforming from a siloed, individualistic work model to a hybrid, collaborative way of working
About the Client
- The client is an international actor in the financial sector with public and private stakeholders, created and established in Luxembourg since the beginning of the 1990s.
- The client is in a modern office building located in one of the most attractive business areas in Luxembourg.
- The company benefits from a stable economic situation with a good market reputation and reputation as an employer.
The Context
The client’s teams have been working remotely during the pandemic and the organisation wants to continue offering their employees a hybrid work model with 2 days at home and 3 days at the office depending on function and residency. Further, their offices benefit from an easy access to the motorway, public transport connections as well as restaurants and commercial shops in the nearby surroundings.
The client was used to working in silos and closed offices but has now taken on the challenge to move towards a more collaborative approach in a hybrid choice-based workplace setting with – to some extent – flexible seating in smaller open office spaces.
With the experience of working from home throughout the pandemic, today the client is looking to modernise and adapt a concept of New Ways of Working:
To evaluate the specific needs of the employees both at the office and at home
To understand what makes a workplace and its office space attractive
In order to transform the ways of working, to optimise office space and create an office where employees love to go to work, the following challenges and previous ways of working had to be tackled:
- Conservative way of working with general resistance towards change,
- Hierarchical workplace (the leader has the corner office),
- Moving from single or two-person offices to small open-spaces,
- Very siloed way of working,
- Quickly organic grown organisation without strong cultural anchoring,
- Change fatigue within departments due to frequent past organisational changes.
MindForest’s Mission
MindForest accompanied the client in the definition of their new hybrid workplace strategy accommodating the various aspects affected for the evolution of their interpretation of New Ways of Working (NWoW).
MindForest’s main objectives for this mission were to:
The Mission’s Outcome
Adaption of New Ways of Working
- Space optimisation
- Ensuring a logical approach to workflows and digitalisation
- Highlighting opportunities and constraints within the workplace
- Understanding employee needs and worries
- Encouraging a broader understanding of NWoW and not only workplace strategy
Increased Collaboration and Employee Involvement
- Thanks to cross-functional and cross-hierarchical working groups an increased creative thinking was established within the organisation
- Indirect involvement outside working groups thanks to a ripple effect
- Increased understanding and buy-in
- Reduced resistance
Buy-in from the Top Management
- Understanding of the impact of NWoW and hybrid working on cultural and organisational elements
Positive/Friendly vision of a hybrid, flexible and collaborative workplace
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Dialogue on NWoW across functions
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Co-construction between facility management and staff
The Main Success Factors
Employee Involvement
which encouraged staff to discuss across functions, express themselves and consider the current status of daily work as well as the potential impact of a new workplace strategy.
Trustworthy and transparent collaboration
based on regular exchanges to ensure the right definition of the scope, and to reframe where necessary and to give systematic advice.
Efficient governance
which allowed for the immediate combining of decision-making, action implementation and monitoring.
Suitable, tailored methods
before during and after each workshop. The use of Design Thinking was a real success and made the stakeholders involved gain time as well as an overview of the workplace concept and its advantages and challenges.
Regular communication
between the client and MindForest to ensure all challenges were identified and all aspects were considered throughout the course of the project.
Result-oriented and focused approach
to ensure the best possible results within a very short period due to meet tight deadlines before final delivery to top management.
Increased Buy-In of the Teams and Reduced resistance
working with the employees and making them feel listened to and taken seriously throughout the project. This reduced rumours, encouraged participation and increased buy-in, which continued as a ripple effect between the team members of those involved in the working groups.
