High-Performance Workspaces
As the famous quote goes, "Culture isn't just one aspect of the game; it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value".
There are 9 key components of company culture. These are vision, operations, communication, leadership, recognition, learning, environment, pay, and wellbeing. As the place where your people spend so much time together, your office plays a big part in communication, environment, and wellbeing.
The consequence is clear. To be a high-performance company, you need a high-performance culture. This, in turn, needs a high-performance workspace. But how do you create a workspace that supports a high-performance culture?
At Zentura, we've spent the last 16 years doing exactly that. Today, we'll share our 5 essential design pillars we use when creating a workspace design that supports a culture of high performance. By the end, you'll understand the foundations of a high-performance workspace, and you'll know how to create your own.
Prioritise Culture
Company culture is one of the most talked about, yet least understood, elements of office design. Creating a workspace tailored to your culture is about integrating the identity of your company into your design.
This is crucial because a strong brand message in your office reinforces that culture for your staff every minute they are in that office. As a result, your people will be more immersed in your culture, creating work that is more closely aligned with that culture. It will also help your company differentiate its staff value proposition, helping to attract and retain talent.
Incorporating your culture into your office design involves the experience your people have. This includes everything from the location to the layout to the features to the finishes. It all affects the staff experience, so you need to ensure it aligns with your culture to help you create a culture of high performance. To learn more, read How to Create an Office Design Tailored to Your Culture.
Design for Collaboration
Teamwork is a fundamental part of how every company operates, and one of the main reasons you have an office at all. As a result, a working environment that enables and encourages collaboration is a crucial part of a culture of high performance.
Collaboration boosts creativity, problem-solving, and innovation. As a result, your office needs to facilitate collaboration through its layout, features, and furniture. If your office obstructs communication, it will make communication and teamwork difficult. This will lead to a fragmented culture and lower performance.
As the place where your staff come together, your workspace has a crucial role to play in enabling collaboration. By removing barriers, creating spaces for informal teamwork, and enabling adaptability, your office can become a much more collaborative space. This will help you to create a culture of performance at your company. To learn more about improving collaboration in your office, read this article.
Incorporate Focus Areas
For your staff to perform at a high level, time and space to focus on individual work undistracted is crucial. For your workspace to have a culture of performance, you need designated areas for uninterrupted working.
The average office worker is productive for just 30% of their working day, so increasing this percentage will have a huge impact on their productivity. Suitable environments that remove distractions and enable focus are essential to achieving this.
Adding focus areas to your office does not mean adding desks - there is not enough privacy at a desk bank. Effective focus areas include bookable private offices, soundproof work pods, and quiet lounges. By incorporating these spaces, you will improve the focus and productivity of your staff, helping to create a culture of high performance in your workspace.
Enable Adaptability
All your people work in different ways and will use your office in different ways. Regardless of how carefully you design your office, it won't suit all of them. However, you can design it so that it can be adapted by each employee to suit the way they work.
Personalized workspaces lead to a 10–15% increase in job satisfaction. Customisability is crucial because it gives staff a sense of ownership and belonging in their workspace. This leads to an increase in their job satisfaction, productivity, and engagement.
To allow your staff to adapt their environment to their needs, you first need to include a variety of different spaces within your office. Modular furniture allows staff to change areas, while movable walls and partitioning furniture enable them to transform entire spaces. To learn more, read Top 4 Ways to Enable Customisation in Your Office Design.
Enhance Wellbeing
As the place where your people spend ~2,000 hours a year, your office has a huge impact on their physical and mental wellbeing. This includes their access to natural light and fresh air, sitting in healthy positions, and being part of a stimulating but relaxing culture.
Optimising your office to maximise wellbeing is not only your responsibility as an employer - it also provides benefits for you as a company. Physically and mentally healthy staff are more productive, engaged, and less likely to take sick leave.
There are many different factors to enhancing your staff wellbeing through office design. One of the most important is maximising their access to natural light. Ergonomic furniture is also essential, as is an agile design that encourages activity. To learn more, read 9 Ways to Improve Workplace Wellbeing with Office Design.
Creating a Culture of Performance in Your Office
A great workspace isn't all you need to create a high-performance culture. The other 6 elements of culture, such as vision and leadership, are equally important. However, without a great workspace, you will struggle to create a high-performance culture.
The first part of this is to build your company culture into the design process at an early stage. Collaboration and focus areas give staff the different environments they need to work in different ways. adaptabillty ensure your space supports all of your people all of the time. Finally, wellbeing is a crucial element, both as part of your environment and for your culture itself.
By tying these 5 pillars into your office design at the very earliest stage, you can ensure that your space contributes to a culture of performance. This, in turn, will drive the performance itself. Now that you know these 5 pillars and how to apply them, you can integrate them into your next office design project.
To take the next step toward creating an office design that supports a culture of performance, get your own copy of the Definitive Guide to Office Design. Inside, you'll find all you need to know about creating a high-performance office design before you even reach out to a designer. This includes costs, processes, timelines, and critical mistakes to avoid. Get your Office Design Guide here.
To learn more about creating a workspace that contributes to your company performance, explore these articles on our learning centre:
