The Olympics in Paris are in full swing, and I’ve been feeling nostalgic thinking about the summer of ‘96. I remember pretending to be Kim Zmeskal, doing my floor routine with music playing from a Casio keyboard. I think most of us probably have a favorite memory of the games. My husband was in Track & Field in high school and was just telling me about the “Fosbury flop” and the ‘68 Olympics. Much to my surprise, the conversation got me thinking about work and workplace design. (I promise I’ll connect the dots here.)
So, for those of you that don’t know, the Fosbury flop is the dominant technique used to leap over the horizontal bar in the high jump event. It was invented by a guy named Dick Fosbury. When he was an athlete in the 1960’s, the straddle method (where you go over the bar face down) was the way to do it. The problem was, the straddle method didn’t work for Dick, so he began experimenting with new techniques. He ended up sprinting diagonally towards the bar, then curving and leaping backward. The Fosbury flop was born, revolutionizing the sport and Dick went on to win the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
The intention of this NextLab history lesson is to remind you of this: think differently. The pandemic changed the way we work and has set new employee expectations around flexibility. I think it’s the perfect time to reimagine how we design workplaces to better support the people who work there. So, you might ask, if spending 8+ hours in an 8 x 8 cube is the straddle method, what is the Fosbury flop of this new, flexible work era? I think it’s a 2-part answer.
The first thing I would say is that today’s workspace needs to provide employees with variety and choice. Especially with younger employees, they don’t want to sit at a workstation for the entire day. Incorporate furniture solutions that can replicate the comfort of home, while also providing private spaces for focus work, wellness rooms for respite and adequate areas for collaboration.
Secondly, design your space to fulfill the needs of your organization and your people. While adding a variety of spaces makes sense for the masses, how you plan that space and design furniture solutions will vary greatly depending on your business. In my role, I survey employees to better understand their jobs and how they work. That provides data to inform what type of workstations and collaboration spaces they need, helping leaders make informed design decisions. Whether it’s NextLab or another unbiased third-party, I think it’s crucial to have a strategic approach and include insights from your employees in the process. Hiring an outside firm can help you think differently, avoid internal groupthink and encourage a more open dialogue from your team.
Within these two broader ideas above, there are endless creative solutions to design the ideal space for your team. The key is to be strategic, choose the right partners and open yourself up to a new way of thinking about your space. You just might revolutionize your workday.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Fosbury
Need help formulating your workplace strategy? Contact Sarah
