Thinking transformation? Don't forget office space design

Last week we inaugurated our Experience Center in Gurgaon. The design, the space utilization, the modular setting and the colors are all unprecedentedly empowering. I say empowering because this is what the design suggests for us. Our team, in the truest sense of the word, is ‘empowered’ to sit differently, work differently, think differently, dress differently and look at problems differently. This is a part of how the organization is changing globally. And we are not alone, many companies are doing this. While at cursory level it may look like just a new interior design that companies are adopting, at its core companies are adopting a new ethos for their operating model and organization structures. Let me explain using something that was proposed long ago in the 1960s, a theory on team management - Theory X and Theory Y.

Theory X is based on a philosophy that members in a team are inherently not motivated to work and which is why a lot of governance procedures are needed. Till now the design of the offices have been extending that belief system. If you observe the way offices were built, the cubicles were meant to stop chit chats, desks were placed in a manner to stop people from seeing each other’s work implying lack of trust and color schemes were used to enforce sobriety. Because people were thought to be intrinsically disliking work, incentives were created – successful employees would get office spaces that were a reward by themselves – cabin, large spaces etc.

Then there is Theory Y, where team members are looked at as collaborative and trustworthy. These are employees who work on their own, external nudges or procedures to incentivize them are not heavily needed. They are open and involve others in decision making. They take ownership of their work and solve problems creatively. The office space for such employees is very different. It’s open, non-hierarchical, colorful, modular and collaborative.

In changing times that we live in, menial work will mostly be done by technology and subsequently the role of offices is to get employees to work together, think creatively and be more independent. Accordingly, we all need to embrace Theory Y. What it does is that it helps companies to be innovative and collaborative. While this is not an overnight transition, a beginning has to be made. We have made ours. Globally this started more than 4 years ago for us and our company has witnessed tremendous change, we are now among the most preferred consulting firms, our project deliveries and client solutions are highly innovative and as a firm we are very tightly integrated. Many companies have benefited from it, ours is the one that I’ve observed most closely.

To be relevant in today’s world, I believe that every organization must be agile. Agility comes not just from moving to cloud or conducting weekly sprints but from becoming agile on four broad fronts – organization structure, technology, operating model and talent. One of the most important ways to enable these is by empowering employees. The empowerment of employees can be achieved by two ways – first is awakening them to the new world or as we call it increasing the Digital IQ of employees and second is by creating conditions for success, which again can be done by easing processes and looking at employee as trustworthy, self-motivated and creative individuals. While dedicated measures are needed for increasing digital IQ both at a company and at an individual level but for adopting Theory Y, employees must be empowered. The first step for that is to change the physical spaces in which employees operate. It is not a complete office re-design at one go but is an iterative process in my opinion to eventually reach the optimal combination of X & Y needed at an organization or at every department level.

People often wonder, how a simple space design can change an organization’s innovativeness or creativity. What they don’t realize is the fact that this seemingly simple space design signifies a metamorphosis of the entire belief system on which organizations are built. It empowers employees to bring out the change that the organization needs and that it trusts them to do the right thing. And this transformation in my opinion is necessary, necessary because at its core a company is nothing but a group of people working together for a purpose. Earlier people organized themselves together because the friction costs, as economists call it, were much lesser and decision making was quick when they organized themselves into hierarchies. Today in the digital age those friction costs are very small and decision making is becoming distributed. So empowering the employees is very important to be sustainable and competitive and starting that change with a physical space design is a good way to begin.