Trending Now: The Re-Birth of the Executive Office
For years, many have predicted the death of the office. Mobile technology allows us to work anywhere, prompting many executives to ask the question, why do you need an office at all? Yet as the world becomes more complex, the places we work have never been more relevant. Work is a social activity and people need places to come together to solve problems. The office isn’t going away—it’s in the midst of a renaissance, where workplaces are becoming something fundamentally different.
One office space in particular that is undergoing a re-birth is the executive suite. Current trends suggest the next generation of leadership spaces will be geared towards fostering agile, adaptive cultures and resilient organizations. There was a time when companies put their most valued employees in palatial offices, with potted plants in the corner, and secretaries out front, guarding access. According to renowned writer and book author Malcolm Gladwell, most companies insulated their c-level teams behind near fortress-like walls. “Those offices were “suburbs”, Gladwell says. “Like gated communities, in fact—and many companies came to realize that if their best employees were isolated in these suburbs they would be deprived of public acquaintanceship, the foundations of public trust, and cross connections with the necessary people.”
Tradition Can be Difficult to Change
To achieve success, leaders need to manage large numbers of internal and external relationships that span organizational and geographic boundaries. It not only requires an ongoing juggling act, but also amplifies the degree of mobility required to lead an organization today. While everything seems to be changing around executive leaders, either by choice or circumstance, one thing that is fairly enduring are their offices. The vast majority of leaders work in traditional, private offices according to the Steelcase Global Report; 58 percent work in private offices compared to 23 percent of employees. While that disparity is probably not surprising to most, it begs the question of whether leaders have considered the possibility that their workspace could be a catalyst for the type of change they are trying to implement.
Taking a Cue from Mother Nature
As business and executive leaders seek ways to address this new, more “open” space reality, they can take a cue from complex adaptive systems in nature, such as coral reefs, prairies and rainforests. Made up of highly interconnected- and-interdependent parts, these systems can quickly adjust and adapt to survive. The physical workplace is an important agent within an organization that can enable openness, transparency and flexibility, helping leaders create the conditions for an engaged, agile and resilient workforce.
