New Work.
New Rules.

Why Teams? Why Now?

Speed. Complexity. Disruption. These are the things companies need to deal with every day if they want to survive and grow. They have to innovate — and this requires a culture that fosters a new breed of hyper-collaborative teams.

Studies confirm: People working in teams innovate faster, achieve better results and report higher job satisfaction. In fact, companies that promote collaboration in the workplace are five times more likely to be high performing and are more profitable.

But teams are under pressure to move faster than ever. The highest-performing teams are different. Little about their work resembles what they did in the past. These new teams are constantly collaborating: Their days are filled with a never-ending exchange of information and ideas, working in rapid cycles of iteration. Their tasks are interdependent and their projects fluid.

So how is this new kind of teamwork different from what we’ve always done? Think about the difference between a swim team and a basketball team. Swimmers stay in their own lane, but basketball players interact and transition constantly, relying on each other to win. Teams today need to do that too — navigate a fast-paced flow, bouncing between team members, iterating and improving on each other’s ideas. Everyone is accountable to keep work moving forward.

A New Kind of Work

Design Thinking

Agile

5 Reasons Teams Struggle

  • 1. New Work. Old Office.
  • 2. No Place to Call Home
  • 3. Lack of Control
  • 4. Ideas Get Stuck
  • 5. Tools Fall Short

New Work. Old Office.

Most offices are still designed for linear work and don’t enable the workflow, activities and behaviors required for design thinking and agile methodologies.

No Place to Call Home

Teams need to work in close proximity with easy access to their information, but they often don’t have a “home” where they can do this.

Lack of Control

People feel a lack of control over their environment and struggle to balance their individual work with the demands of the team’s work. Most spaces are designed with fixed furniture and walls that can’t adapt easily or quickly to the changing activities people do throughout the day.

Ideas Get Stuck

Solving big problems requires big ideas, but most collaborative spaces are designed for sharing information which means people tend to sit, listen and participate more passively. These spaces quietly discourage people from becoming physically and emotionally engaged in problem-solving activities.

Tools Fall Short

Most people have multiple personal devices but less access to technology for group work. When large-scale collaborative technology is available, the design of the space can become a barrier between people and the device, limiting their access and engagement with content on the screen.

Reboot the Office

Designed for Density Designed for Innovation

Create a home where they can surround themselves in their project and display their thinking and ideas

Quickly switch between team collaboration and individual focus work

Reconfigure the space on their own as work flows and changes throughout the project

Physically engage with their content, change postures, move materials and gain new perspectives

Quickly toggle between digital and analog tools for thinking, creation and collaboration