How Your Work Environment Can Help Create High Performing Teams with Melissa Marsden

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Now that so many folks are working from home regularly and part of hybrid teams, what is the purpose of the workplace?  What role does it play when it comes to the experience of employees and your organisational brand?

If you’re a change leader supporting big changes in the work environment - perhaps downsizing your footprint and moving to a new location, or moving to activity based work arrangements - what are the key things you need to keep in mind to support your stakeholders and deliver?

I know these are questions that a lot of change leaders are grappling with at the moment, so I’m excited to have Melissa Marsden on the show today.

Melissa is the Director and Workplace Dynamics Strategist behind COMUNiTI.  Her consultancy reimagines workplaces across the globe to bring brands to life, connect people and empower teams to perform at their best.

Melissa has been instrumental in the design and delivery of a huge range of workplace and public space projects for clients including Australian Rugby Union, UTS Sports Campus, Virgin, Carlton United Breweries, Origin Energy and Brisbane Airport.

In this episode you’ll discover:

  • Why you need a workplace strategy (ideally before you sign the lease on your Department’s new office space);

  • How to make sure your organisational values and behaviours feed into the workplace experience;

  • How your workplace can activate employees to collaborate more; and

  • How to encourage employees back into the office (if that’s what you want).

I learnt so much in this conversation about how leaders can re-imagine the next workplace, and I know you will too.

Take a listen now!


TOPICS DISCUSSED AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:
[00:54]: What is the purpose of the workplace these days?
[1:33]: Kate is really excited to have Melissa Marsden on the show today. Melissa is the Director and the Workplace Dynamics Strategist behind COMUNiTI.
[2:29]: Melissa covered why you need a workplace strategy, how to integrate your organisational values and behaviours, how to activate employee collaboration and how to encourage employees back into the office.
[3:30]: Is the pre-COVID workplace dead? Mel shares how the design and approach have changed significantly.
[5:04]: How can a workplace impact the performance of teams of employees? Melissa explains how we can influence and guide people to behave in alignment with a business’s set of values.
[6:53]: Melissa elaborates that the flow through a workplace can have a large impact, moving employees from a social gallery space through to a more cognitive work environment.
[7:43]: If our workplaces are stale or sterile, they don’t inspire creative thinking and aren’t connected to the brand story.
[9:50]: What is a workplace strategy? Melissa explains, in terms of how workplace strategies can help to inform an organisation’s ideal work environment based on demographics, work personas, work type and communication styles.
[11:50]: A workplace strategy can help to plan hybrid working environments, broaden the range of work-type spaces for people to utilize and engage in and determine the exact purpose of a workplace.
[14:23]: From a change perspective, communicating and facilitating workplace transformation is key.
[16:04]: What can we do to encourage employees to connect with the workplace in the way that we want them to?
[16:49]: Melissa expands that our workplaces are there to build social capital, and to connect us back in with the bigger vision of the organisation.
[17:52]: Often, a workplace strategy needs to be looked at from an individual level. Melissa provides a practical example of how workplace requirements can be tailored to specific teams, based on their needs.
[21:13]: Desk allocation is such an interesting topic that Melissa discusses. It can be quite emotional and personal. Mel shares how she helps people get through that part of the journey, using education.
[23:40]: Co-creation workshops and neighbourhooding are important concepts that assist with the move to hybrid workspaces. Mel explains how these lead to a sense of team identity.
[26:01]: Kate provides an interesting example of what needed to be considered when working with a government agency and their move to unallocated seating.
[27:01]: Mel shares how to connect with her and some news on her new book The Next Workplace, coming out in early 2023.

CONNECT WITH MELISSA MARSDEN:

Website: https://comuniti.com.au/  /  https://www.melissamarsden.com.au/

Instagram: @melmar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissamarsden/

Podcast: https://www.melissamarsden.com.au/podcast

CONNECT WITH KATE:

Website: https://www.everchange.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ever-change-and-communication

Kate Byrne