Office Pioneer
Pionieers speak out
Under the title "Space for change. How change shapes working environments", Michael Cappello, CEO of König + Neurath, describes our approach to shaping the working world of tomorrow. As one of 58 Office Pioneers, he draws in the book "OFFICE PIONEERS. Outlook on the Office 2030", he draws lessons from the developments of recent months and summarises our interpretation of emerging megatrends in the broad field of New Work.
Flexibility and security: a tightrope walk?
The rapid changes in the world of work and constantly changing markets demand enormous flexibility from many companies - which is also demanded of employees. At the same time, people are placing more and more value on trust, authenticity and security. According to a representative study, job security is the number one factor for most employees when it comes to the attractiveness of an employer. How can both aspects be reconciled? And how best to represent them? For this, it is worth taking a very close look at what currently characterises one's own company.
An analysis of the status quo is worthwhile
When it comes to the question of the best possible orientation for a successful future, we advocate an analysis of the existing situation. Why? Because if you know your company inside out, you will know how you need to design environments and structures to remain successful in change. Then you can create new structures and throw old certainties overboard without a culture clash. We are convinced that changes contribute to the success of a company and the well-being of its employees when they are planned and implemented in a company-specific way. And when they take into account the respective work culture.
"Following the well-known design principle form follows function, our motto is: form follows culture. For us, the work culture is the most important driver in the design of inspiring spatial experiences."
If we no longer have to go to the office to be productive and creative together, if the office is now supposed to satisfy the human need for interaction and collaboration, then its design no longer focuses solely on practicality, but on inspiration and productive togetherness. A living culture that can express itself in inspiring spaces ultimately contributes decisively to a company's success. Both in harmony make a company - also as an employer - permanently attractive.
The company's own work culture as an impulse generator for its orientation towards the future
We use a special consulting approach to get to the bottom of a company's individual work culture and derive guiding principles, goals and spatial concepts from it. With our so-called K+N WORK.CULTURE.MAP. we analyse central factors and classify them. The analysis tool visualises the actual and target state in the seven dimensions of technology, leadership style, employee structure, work-life model, creativity, performance and agility. Through surveys, cross-departmental workshops and a visualisation of results, an understanding of what constitutes the work culture emerges. Then target images can be formulated.
For many years, space efficiency was important to our clients. Today, it is much more about designing places where people feel comfortable and can develop their full potential. For example, a recent survey by the Industry Association for Offices and the Workplace (IBA) showed that four out of five respondents are convinced that a well-designed workplace has a positive impact on productivity. Soft factors such as design and layout inspire employees and contribute to identification with the company.
And these human aspects - no matter how markets, requirements and ways of working change - are not going to change any time soon.