The Office Chronicles

Interview with Sabine Ehm of Locatee, and host of The Workplace Leader.
We dig into what makes inspiring work environments and touch upon some of the misconceptions around creativity and collaboration:
❗Collaboration does not equal everybody together all the time.
❗Creativity does not equal bright colours and post its everywhere.
A thing will not make you or your people creative. So, for instance you cannot install a foosball table and then expect creativity to happen.
It is much more important to understand the fundamental human elements that support creativity like
☀️ natural light,
🌳 exposure to nature and
🏃 movement.

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Summary

Timothy Ahrensbach and Anne Sofie Fedders from LEGO join Kursty to share insights from the hybrid work model they are currently implementing. Since the pandemic, the future of work has been one big experiment. Our perspective about work from home and hybrid work life has changed month by month since the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns.

Tune in to hear Tim and Anne Sofie’s insights into how they created principles and guidelines to facilitate an effective and happy hybrid working environment. They discuss, among other things, what it’s like to build community and run meetings in a hybrid working world.

Timothy Ahrensbach is the Head of Workplace Experience at LEGO and Anne Sofie Fedders is the Head of LEGO Ways of Working.

“We’re still trying to figure out what the future of work is while we’re implementing it.” - Tim Ahrensbach
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Timestamps

[00:49] Episode overview: The best of both (LEGO)

[02:18] What’s been going on at LEGO Workplace Experience the past 9 months?

[03:35] What hybrid working at LEGO is like.

[07:11] Why is their hybrid working initiative called The Best of Both?

[07:55] Crafting and coordinating the LEGO hybrid working plan.

[12:23] Two-pronged approach to building a trust-based system.

[15:55] The main question to consider when rolling out a hybrid work programme.

[21:23] The practical side of rolling out a hybrid work programme (behaviour and mindset)

[23:32] How is the workspace changing to accommodate hybrid work?

[25:21] The necessary feedback loop between workspaces, individuals, and teams..

[28:00] The beauty of the LEGO Leadership Playground model.

[29:35] Co-creating unique shared experiences in the office to grow a strong culture.

[36:45] How do the different parts of the hybrid experience work together?

5 Key Highlights

1. The LEGO hybrid work plan was tested with several stakeholders before it was presented to the executives. The plan had to comply with local legal requirements.
2. People are now much more aware of what they want to get out of the office and more particular about their experience of it.
3. Coming into the office is not merely a personal affair but a collective one. Structures and systems are needed to ensure a certain amount of time spent in the office, for the well-being and harmony of the whole team.
4. Workplace culture should be co-created with staff, not imposed. It's influenced by the relationships formed between people; strengthening culture is about strengthening relationships.
5. A principle that can streamline hybrid work is that if one is online, then everyone is online. This can eliminate the awkwardness of having part of the meeting cohort online and the other part offline.

Links

Connect with Tim Ahrensbach: LinkedIn | Twitter

Connect with Anne Sofie Fedders: LinkedIn

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter
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Support the show

Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

After almost two years of working from home, companies are unsure about what to do with their office space—but Airbus has a plan. Rob Fretwell, Head of Space Management UK for Airbus, joins Kursty to discuss the Airbus Workplace of the Future initiative and tell all about what they are doing to transform the office space by incorporating agile and tailored ways of working.

The workplace tries to be one-size-fits-all, but Airbus knows this will no longer fly. The pandemic has made that all too clear.

“If we try to go back to how we were, then we’ve not learnt from the lesson...we shouldn’t forget this knowledge, we shouldn’t forget what it (the pandemic) taught us.” - Rob Fretwell, Airbus
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Timestamps

[00:16] Episode overview: Workplace of The Future Initiative

[01:15] Who is Rob Fretwell (and his role at Airbus)?

[06:16] How did Airbus manage operations and protect staff in the pandemic?

[11:31] How long did it take for Airbus to adapt to the pandemic?

[13:32] Dealing with technical difficulties while working from home for Airbus.

[16:36] What is the Workplace of the Future and how does Airbus create customized work environments?

[23:42] One amazing thing Rob Fretwell looks forward to going forward.

[26:15] How Airbus figured out how to transform their office space.

[28:35] Should companies go back to how they used to operate pre-pandemic?

4 Key Highlights

1. The pandemic has helped companies introduce technological innovations much quicker than possible. It goes to show that many challenges we consider technological are just behavioural challenges. A mindset shift can be all it takes.
2. The Workplace of the Future initiative aimed to create a new way of working for Airbus employees that allows them to work how, when, and where they want to maximize their productivity. It is based on three main pillars: people, behaviour, and policies; the office environment; and technology.
3. Gen Z and Millennials are entering the workforce after graduating from very flexible, open, and collaborative university environments. The workplace (as it stands) doesn't match this energy; it stifles creativity and doesn't inspire young people.
4. Returning to how things were before Covid-19 completely misses the point of our experience in the pandemic. We must value the ride we have been on since March 2020 by learning the lessons it taught us and staying agile.

Links

Connect with Rob Fretwell: LinkedIn | Twitter

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter
Support the show

Support the show

Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

Head of Workplace Experience at LEGO Tim Ahrensbach joins Kursty to discuss how play can revolutionise the workplace. It is his job to make sure LEGO’s offices are as fun and as awesome as their LEGO sets and throughout the episode, he talks about how he does that.

Tune in to learn:

• The six layers of workplace experience;
• What it means to play at work;
• Why being a fully remote workplace might stifle creativity.

“The aha moment for us was realising what our colleagues were missing was play” - Tim Ahrensbach
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Timestamps

[00:23] Episode overview and who is Timothy Ahrensbach?

[02:16] What was happening at LEGO before the pandemic?

[04:05] Adding a little bit of play to the interview! (walking the walk)

[07:29] How play helped keep people connected during the pandemic (does it matter if it’s forced?)

[08:16] What does unconventional productivity look like (much more than getting through a to-do list)?

[10:56] Why and how people have struggled to do strategic creative thinking remotely.

[14:45] How LEGO was prepared for the pandemic.

[16:46] The big aha moment for LEGO in the pandemic.

[24:54] The SIX layers of workplace experience.

[30:06] How play revolutionized the LEGO workplace in the pandemic (what is play in the workplace?)

[33:04] Examples of what play can look like in the workplace.

4 Key Highlights

1. Activity-based working gives people a lot of variety in their work. However, activity based working is not very community centred.
2. Our conventional measures of productivity can be completely misleading (eg: how many emails you send per day). For example, investing time in building relationships is not a conventional measure of productivity. That being said, it is through building relationships that you can get work done more quickly and in a fun way. Creative outcomes don’t just come from sitting at your desk for hours. They also come from having coffee with a colleague.
3. Working remotely is much easier when you already have a strategic creative plan that you are following. It is much more challenging when you don’t have a plan and need to create one remotely. Collaborating creatively is easier face to face. One of the reasons for this is that it is much easier to pick up on body language face to face.
4. The pandemic compelled people not only to be their best working selves but also their best working colleagues. The future of work post-pandemic needs to work for people personally but also for companies as a collective. This is why work cannot be fully remote nor fully in person.

Links

Connect with Tim Ahrensbach: LinkedIn | Twitter

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter

Support the show

Support the show

Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.

What if you could have a ‘destination office’ rather than a bland office that people dread coming into?
How do you create spaces at work that energize people?
How do you make people look forward to their days in the office?

It’s not just hitting KPIs that creates value at work. Connection, community, and collaboration create immeasurable value. Tom Kegode and Kursty discuss how to use office spaces to grow social capital and why social capital is a necessary form of productivity.
Tom Kegode is the Work:Lab Lead at Lloyd’s Banking Group where he is creating new imaginations and realities of work. He’s had a 13-year career at Lloyd’s so far.
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What we discussed:
(00:22) How did work at Lloyd Bank change over the years?

(09:09) Collaboration spaces are NOT enough

(15:10) What’s hard to replicate virtually?

(17:29) Transactional work vs. joyful work

(23:11) Having a floor dedicated to testing workspace configurations

(30:33) Building critical mass for rich work experiences

(33:32) The new way to feel belonging at work

(41:11) Getting in touch with Tom Kegode

4 things to remember:

1. Collaboration is the byproduct of connection and community. Collaboration can happen anywhere as long as you have community and connection.
2. Productivity isn’t just progressing on your KPI, forming social connections and increasing your social capital are their own forms of productivity.
3. When work gets reduced to a transactional task, rather than a joyful and energetic experience it becomes easy to quit.
4. It’s really important for everyone to feel like they’re part of something when they enter their office building. There has to be something meaningful and fulfilling they’re getting by being present there at the office.

Links

Connect with Tom Kegode: LinkedIn

Connect with Kursty Groves: LinkedIn | Twitter | Ask a question or pitch an idea: [email protected]

Support the show

Support the show

Follow The Office Chronicles Linkedin page for more information, to share an idea for an episode or start a conversation around any f the topics covered in the show.