We\u2019ve given up on the myth of the lone genius who will save the day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The companies that are thriving have learned teamwork\u2014 and a culture that supports it\u2014is the only way to make innovation happen. But teams face an unprecedented level of complexity and intensifying need for speed. They have quickly morphed from the hierarchy-laden culture and practices that shaped work in the past, to become modern tribes: tight-knit units that behave in fundamentally different ways than they did even five years ago. (For more about how teamwork has changed, read: New Work. New Rules.<\/a>) These tribes are a work family and their hallmark is hyper-collaboration, working interdependently in rapid cycles\u2014instant messages and sticky notes flying in their wake.<\/p>\n Get the summary of Make Room for Modern Tribes.<\/strong><\/p>\n Take me there<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n These modern tribes embrace practices like agile and design thinking to try to stay ahead of the competition. Previously the domain of only IT or creative teams, methods like agile and design thinking have gone mainstream, and are being adopted and adapted to help teams learn faster, mitigate risks and get things done. These teams are embracing rituals such as daily standups, sprints, brainstorms and workshops to help them stay more closely connected to their customers, so they can develop solutions with a higher chance of hitting the mark.<\/p>\n Once teams start working in such fundamentally different ways, they quickly realize typical work environments created for more linear, individual processes simply don\u2019t work anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cTeams need flexibility to change their day-to-day activities. Particularly, teams using agile and design thinking practices need to be able to change how they work over time. This shift in how teams are working required us to look at solutions through a new lens,\u201d says Bill Bennie, Steelcase design director.<\/p>\n Bennie was part of a multi-disciplinary team of Steelcase designers, researchers, engineers and project managers that went out to observe these creative and high-tech teams in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East starting in 2017. They talked to people who had grown frustrated and discouraged trying to muddle through with spaces and technology that didn\u2019t support their needs. They learned the most from renegades unwilling to put up with the status quo who began hacking their existing spaces.<\/p>\n These hacks, along with a body of primary and secondary research about team-based work, inspired designers to envision some radically-different solutions.<\/p>\n Their idea: Create an interconnected system that supports the activities of the larger team as well as individual work. \u201cInstead of one new thing, we ended up creating pieces that all move and work together to let people reconfigure their space in a matter of minutes. The pieces work well on their own, but just like a team, they work better together,\u201d says Bennie.<\/p>\n Embracing agile concepts, they enlisted Steelcase IT teams to test new ideas in a prototype space. They collaborated, offering fast, cyclical feedback to allow for continuous improvements on initial models.<\/p>\n The result became the Steelcase Flex Collection<\/a> \u2014 aptly named because the idea is all about flexibility \u2014 movable desks, tables, markerboards, carts, screens and accessories that can be rearranged on demand by anyone to create environments that both teams and individuals need to do their best work. The collection is designed to make it easy to shift between different activities from a brain-storm to a workshop, or from a daily stand-up to a sprint review.<\/p>\n Whether on wheels, rollers or glides, Steelcase Flex is designed to move easily and gives teams permission to take control and make a space their own. Details, like the board cart that holds eight whiteboards and pegs on the tables to hang a backpack or other accessories, were designed with the needs of the team \u2014 and the individuals who make it up \u2014 in mind.<\/p>\n Steelcase Flex was inspired by teams working in spaces not designed for team-based work who became impatient with their static space and hacked their offices. Five ways renegade teams hacked their space:<\/p>\n Teams built barricades to claim a territory for themselves and also keep out distractions. They moved display boards, wastebaskets \u2014 anything they could find \u2014 to create boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t Teams resorted to moving or repurposing objects to create the settings they needed for their diverse activities. One team took a door off its hinges to build a communal \u201ctable.\u201d This DIY approach forced people to string cords to these makeshift spaces for power, which quickly became a cumbersome spiderweb and made it tough to move around.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t Teams covered surfaces with sticky notes \u2014 whiteboards, walls and even the ceiling \u2014 out of desperation to share ideas and information.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t People went to great lengths to personalize their space and control their individual privacy. They used random items like pizza boxes and plants to limit visual distractions and communicate \u201cleave me alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t Team members awkwardly balanced laptops in an effort to share ideas with co-located teammates or used selfie sticks to try and help remote teammates feel a part of the group. \u201cA lot of environments today throw everyone into the same general space and say \u2018collaborate.\u2019 And, we\u2019re surprised when it doesn\u2019t work and people feel frustrated. Teams do not have the control they need to move easily from activity to activity. They don\u2019t have the ability to reconfigure their space at will if their team make-up, needs or priorities change.\u201d<\/p>Vanja Misic User Experience Lead, Steelcase WorkSpace Futures<\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n The Steelcase Flex Collection helps teams adapt their space as their work changes. See how teams practicing design thinking and agile can quickly and easily reconfigure their space.<\/p>\n Creative Studio<\/strong> Visual displays help this magazine design team pitch and share an upcoming layout to their leader. The Steelcase Flex Board Cart lets the team bring the collection\u2019s markerboards anywhere and the wall rail and stand support visual displays.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t The team rolls together four standing-height tables to create one large worksurface for a design thinking workshop. Surrounded by their information and ideas, they are able to quickly jump into flow.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t
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\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_limit,dpr_auto,q_70,h_1024,w_1024\/v1558383813\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/20\/19-0117606.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt\u2019s All About Control<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_limit,dpr_auto,q_70,h_1024,w_1024\/v1558359923\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/20\/19-0117726.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAn Office Rebellion<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_656,w_1166\/v1558384641\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/20\/19-0120589.jpg\")
Staking Claims<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
DIY Workplace<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Sticky Note Invasion<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Making It Mine<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Can\u2019t Take It With You<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\nUnable to lug displayboards everywhere or access large-scale technology, people struggled to interact with the content and eventually disengaged.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_limit,dpr_auto,q_70,h_1024,w_1024\/v1558402394\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/21\/19-0117601.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIntroducing Steelcase Flex Collection<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nTeams practicing design thinking deeply immerse themselves with a problem to develop empathy and an understanding of the customer. They must surround themselves with their information and look for patterns that will point to new needs. They work together to build on each other\u2019s ideas and break apart to analyze, synthesize and generate a fresh point of view to bring back to the team. Steelcase Flex Collection supports their ebb and flow between individual work and teamwork.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_656,w_1166\/v1558403210\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/21\/19-0117615.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/steelcase-res.cloudinary.com\/image\/upload\/c_fill,dpr_auto,q_70,h_656,w_1166\/v1558442667\/www.steelcase.com\/2019\/05\/21\/19-0117624.png\")