Nick Srebrow discusses The Clearing’s “getting to day one” premise for workplace transformations.

Nick Srebrow defines the most popular culture buzzwords being used today.

Insights on why the right workplace change management team is as important as your architect or engineer when it comes to maximizing the ROI on your workplace transformation.

In the final piece of our series, Nick lays out the fundamentals of establishing a workplace change program.

Nick Srebrow discusses the conditions required for successful workplace transformation. 

As the old saying goes, “change is hard.” However, tracking the effectiveness of your change initiative is a great way to demonstrate to stakeholders that the effort was worth it. The results also provide the insights you and your leadership team will need to provide continual improvement to ensure employees remain satisfied, engaged, and supportive of your change effort. Today, TC Workplace lead, Nick Srebrow, talks about The Clearing’s POV on workplace change management and his favorite ways to track the success of your change initiative.

The Importance of Change Management in the Workplace

Before we dig into measuring workplace change success, it’s important to talk about the challenges of implementing change itself, the common pitfalls our experts see in the field, and what workplace change management is in practice.

When solving complex problems, many organizations overemphasize the technical aspects of the effort and neglect the social or cultural issues inherent in change initiatives. At The Clearing, we recognize the importance of addressing logistical, technical, and social complexities together and delivering support that resonates with the unique elements of your organization’s culture. We achieve this by employing proven change management strategies to communicate a clear narrative about what is changing and why, as humans are naturally resistant to change.

Change management in the context of the workplace focuses on reducing resistance, mitigating risk, and generating genuine enthusiasm with employee-focused and responsive solutions. As a workplace reaches the end of its transformation, staff start to adapt to their new environment and adopt new ways of working. This allows for leadership to begin measuring how successful the effort was in service of understanding staff reactions, providing lessons learned for future change efforts, and showing where adjustments can be made.

Measuring Workplace Change Success

The Clearing uses a variety of methods to gauge the success of the change throughout the entire project. Our goal is to be as objective as possible without searching for specific positive or negative reactions. We work with client leadership teams to select the success metrics they are looking to track and choose the methods of metric gathering that work best with their workforce. Using a workplace move as an example, topics often covered during our feedback gathering include: the move process; communication and engagement; new ways of working; shared spaces; and tools & technology.

We use the following feedback methods and typically recommend an appropriate mix of these tactics to our clients to use after change implementation. Below is a list of our favorites, including tips on using them in your organization.

Send out a survey to staff who were involved in the move to understand their experience before, during, and after the transformation
Include quantitative questions to gather an overall understanding backed by data and qualitative questions to allow for a greater understanding of responses
Surveys can be hosted on the client’s preferred tool (e.g., SurveyMonkey, Microsoft Forms)
If available, compare the results of the survey against data collected prior to the transformation to see how opinions changed over time

Meet with small groups of staff and other stakeholders identified by client leadership to explore reactions to the transformation
The more intimate nature of the focus groups allows for more space to build on employee responses and gain greater insight

Leadership within the organization can provide feedback they hear from their direct reports, ensuring responses across all teams

Allows for staff to provide just-in-time feedback without needing the formality of a full survey
This gives staff flexibility with when they respond and offers the client a chance to rectify issues as they arise

Quick questions to measure satisfaction on an internal website or during an engagement event offer a greater chance of participation with a group that is already engaged in the transformation process

Use video conferencing platforms’ attendance features or in-person sign-ins to track the number of participants at engagement events hosted by move-related stakeholders. Additional data can include how long attendees stay and which events attract the most people
Keep track of the number of staff who volunteer to give feedback in surveys, focus groups, comment boxes, and more to understand what percentage of the organization is willing to provide their opinion
Use digital tools to understand how often staff interact with communications about the transformation
Use an email formatting/delivery platform (e.g., Constant Contact) to display how often emails are opened or links within emails are clicked on
Internal websites (e.g., SharePoint) can provide a variety of data points on the communications posted to their sites, including how many clicks a link gets and when they get the most clicks

Using existing data and processes from Human Resources, track the number of employees who leave the organization pre- and post-transformation, especially if any cite the workplace or the change as a reason for leaving in any exit interviews

If you’re considering a major workplace change and need a thought partner, I would welcome a conversation. And if you’re in the midst of a change effort already, I am available to help you set up a reporting program to measure the results. Reach out anytime at nick.srebrow@dev2021.theclearing.com.

Before committing to a workplace move, leaders must determine a clear why for the move. Because whether you are considering moving your organization from one floor to another, across town, or across the country, be ready to make your case. Is it to cut down on expenses? For better access to talent? To accommodate company growth?

All good reasons, but all potentially expensive and disruptive. Being clear on the why will help you stand up to the scrutiny this type of decision invites – be it from staff members or board members.

So, before others start asking questions, here are a few to ask yourself. This list isn’t exhaustive; however, it’s a great place to start.

What’s your budget? The first question and the one that dictates the rest. Having a clear budget will allow you to set expectations with stakeholders at all levels.
Buy, lease, or build? This is the question most dictated by budget. In short, what is the level of commitment your organization wants to make? Lease is the least committed, build is the most extreme, and buy is in the middle. When you are presented with this decision, there is a whole other question set to consider. Here are just a few.

How will it impact workplace culture? Think about your organization’s culture. Will the move reinforce the positive and help eliminate what’s below the line? What in your current space or location is inhibiting your desired culture and how will a move change that?
Does the proposed move support your mission? Think about what your organization does and ensure the new space or location furthers that. For example, if you are in a non-collaborative organization, you don’t need a space that is set up for a lot of collaboration. If you are in defense, you have a secure location.
Will not moving disrupt the work? Can your organization continue meeting obligations in its current space or location? Do you have enough room for a growing workforce? Are you currently paying for more space than you need, limiting what you can spend on mission-supporting resources?
How will employees get there? What are the commuting and transportation options for employees? For example, if most of your employees rely on public transportation and you move to the middle of nowhere to save cost, expect to have some unhappy team members and a raft of resignations.
Thinking bout your own workplace move?

Our team of experts can help ensure you ask the right questions for your organization, effectively communicate your plans, and build organizational support for the transition. Reach out anytime at nick.srebrow@dev2021.theclearing.com – I would love to help.

Nick Srebrow, who leads The Clearing’s Workplace Change Management practice, has a front-row seat to how the nation’s workforce and their leaders are adapting and evolving to hybrid work and the use of office space. In his work with the private sector and government clients, Nick and his team are helping those leaders navigate the new reality of hybrid work and to shape the right workplace experience for their organizations. With the workplace pendulum still swinging—most organizations are seeking a balance somewhere between pure telework and mandated days in the office—here are Nick and the team’s observations on what they are seeing as we enter 2023.

2022 Workplace Client Engagement Surprises

I originally thought that when the worst of COVID had passed, there would be a wider acceptance of remote work. But the pendulum swung more than I expected; it seems many organizations are mandating that employees return to the physical office on a more prescriptive schedule. It felt like a quick shift and in some ways feels like we’re going backward in terms of our openness and trust in people. Maybe it’s not really a trust issue—maybe we’re just nostalgic for how the office used to be or feel our connection to the mission and people slipping.

However, we’re also seeing a lack of alignment among leadership on this issue. It’s not that entire leadership teams are saying they want everyone back—rather, one or two people are, and it’s impacting the whole workforce. We’re watching the data and will see how that lack of alignment impacts 2023. If an organization loses people as a result of any in the office mandate, they’re probably going to have to shift their posture. For our team, that will inform how we approach discussions around trust in the workplace and how that trust—or lack of it—affects the employee experience.

2023 Workplace Service Predictions 

Our federal clients are thinking about how to manage the return to the office—either full-time or as a hybrid model—while the private sector is already settled. In the private sector, we’re helping clients down-scope office size. Having more people work flexibly in a smaller space is the norm now; it’s rare to see anyone getting a private office. We’re also helping people get accustomed to working in that environment. We’re seeing some pushback against open office space—people saying they can’t concentrate, they can’t get anything done—but the financial benefit is currently outweighing the intangible realities of open office space, so it’ll be interesting to see how it settles out. We may not know this year, but either way, we need to watch how space relates to the benefits that employers give their staff.

How The Clearing Is Uniquely Positioned to Meet Client Needs

If you look at the employee experience, organizations need to understand what the selling points are for staff. What can organizations give that’s not financial but that can lead to a positive experience? Helping leadership and staff come to a joint understanding about those kinds of benefits, while also understanding any barriers, are at the root, and that’s where we come in.

We take a people-first approach to workplace issues. When considering physical workspace changes, for example, that means we start with how employees will be affected and build out rather than starting with a plan for physical space and fitting employees in.

That approach means our workplace team is very adept at helping leadership understand and empathize more with their staff, thereby improving the employee experience.

We also have deep experience guiding federal agencies through workplace change and know that many have rules or mandates set by other parties, as well as internal workplace rules they need to navigate. Our experience working within these parameters combined with our people-focused approach helps our clients stay in compliance while also staying attuned to their employees.

Advice to Leaders Entering 2023 Ready to Make an Impact

Understand the labor market and know what the drivers are.

This is critical for all organizations, particularly those that are requiring in-person work. The labor market is going to go up and down, and for a while, it seemed everyone was taking off for new positions. Now it’s tightening back up. However, the pandemic has taught us that we shouldn’t always look at those drivers as purely financial. Workplace experience is one of those drivers—increasingly so—and physical workspace is a part of that.

In my experience, if you want to lose your talent, the best way to do it is to keep looking at everything in terms of how it affects the bottom line. That’s a surefire race to the bottom as you find yourself rationing supplies and not giving people the physical space they need to be effective and feel valued. Instead, view those expenses as another form of employee perk. It’s an investment in your people and a morale boost. There are so many studies showing how expensive it is to replace people; I’ve seen it estimated as high as two times the cost of retaining an employee. That should help make it easier to look at space as an investment rather than as a cost.

What Leaders Should be Thinking About as 2023 Gets Underway

If being in the office is going to be the norm, then employers must focus on the tangible benefits of working together. In short, demonstrate the value to employees of required time in the office. I’m tired of the words innovation and collaboration—yes, we want both, but what are the other benefits of working in a shared space? I’d suggest looking across workplace cohorts, like the brand-new employees, the long-time employees, and then the people in the middle. For new employees, for example, being in the office is how they meet people and develop their network and social capital. Each of these three groups wants and needs different things, and it’s up to organizations to figure out what means the most to each group and then act on it.

If you or your organization is trying to find its workplace footing, I would love to chat. I can be reached anytime at nick.srebrow@dev2021.theclearing.com—I look forward to hearing from you.

We asked our Workplace practice lead Nick Srebrow to weigh in on the results of our recent poll asking readers what kind of work environment they prefer in a post-pandemic world. Here are his takeaways.

“Return to Work” Remains the Topic du Jour

Most of the work The Clearing’s workplace team is engaged in right now is focused on the return to the office. And that makes sense – it’s a question all organizations are facing right now.

First of all, management is wrestling in general with how to actually get people back in the physical office space. While the jury is still out, our teams hear from leaders that while people are productive remotely, efficiency is way down. Especially when team members must collaborate with other people. In short, people are still getting the work done, it’s just taking a longer time.

Second, even companies that have always had a “tight-knit” culture are struggling with how to do this right. Much of that culture is derived from being in the office. They want to hold onto that culture; however, most are realistic that times are changing. That means they’re trying to figure out how they can bring people back into the office in a meaningful way that meshes with the desires of their teams.

Finally, our teams are seeing a mix between companies wanting people in the office on certain days vs. allowing team members to choose for themselves; however, one trend is universal: people want flexibility. That’s putting the pressure on management that if they do tell their employees to come in on a certain day, they better make that day worth it for the employee. If people are just going to sit in an office with their door shut, what’s the point of making them come back?

And if our poll results tell us anything, while the majority of people want to work in a hybrid model where they choose the in-office days, opinions on the matter are still split – even among workers.

What Comes Next?

With all of that in mind, our Workplace team put together three key takeaways to think about when considering your organization’s return to the office conversations. Consider these the drivers to help decide if it’s time to go back to the office, whether your organization should go back quickly or take it slow, or if your teams need to go back at all. The answers to these questions may also impact how your organization lays out its physical space in the future – if it needs physical space, that is.

Get Clear on the “why.” Why do you want to bring employees back to the office? Would it make work easier? Then ask yourself why employees would want to come back. These two years have proven most people can work from home, so why are you asking them to change that?
Consider the efficiency of your staff. Not the ability of your staff, the efficiency. Determine if your teams are still collaborating and getting things done in the virtual environment. Then, determine how much time it’s taking vs. what similar tasks used to when conducted in office. Finally, make sure you exclude your fixed costs (like utilities, rent, etc.) to get a true gauge of how much it is costing your employees to fulfill their jobs. If you find out your staff is actually more efficient in the virtual environment, you don’t have to bring them back. You can take this information and consider what to do with office space. Get rid of it? Repurpose it? That’s a topic that deserves a post of its own.
Conduct a culture check. The last question to ask yourself is, “Is my organization seeing a degradation of our intended Culture?” Put simply, are you seeing a positive or negative shift in the culture you had pre-pandemic? If it’s positive, what learnings do you want team members to bring with them back into the office? If it’s negative, how can you bring people back in a way that gets rid of that?

I know these conversations aren’t easy – we’re going through the same topics here at The Clearing. While these issues put leaders in an unenviable position, I do believe the ultimate outcome of this “great reckoning” will be positive; however, getting there may be painful.

If you want to chat about this, or any other workplace issue on your mind, I’m always ready. Just ping me at nick.srebrow@dev2021.theclearing.com.

Pop Quiz: What’s the single largest workplace investment over a 30-year life cycle of a building?

It’s not construction or maintenance – it’s people!

92% of total investment, in fact. And given the likelihood those people will utilize the space in different ways, it only makes sense to design around those needs, right? Easier said than done.

That’s because it’s easy for business leaders to go too far in one direction or another. You can get lost in the minutiae, trying to account for every individual team or business need. Or you can simply design for the “average user” and hope it works for your organization’s culture. I’ve seen it both ways – and experience has shown me there’s a better way.

At The Clearing, we use a tool called “personifying the workplace.” Instead of considering every individual (too many variables) or an organization as a whole (not enough customization), we create archetypes to ensure leaders get the most out of their workspaces. That means characterizing the groups of users who will use your space and designing for them.

Here are some examples of our archetypes at The Clearing:

Business Consultants: These folks are often on-site with our clients, meaning they often don’t need permanent desks. However, when they are in the office, they need places to collaborate, strategize, or facilitate client sessions.
Creatives: Our creative director, designers, visual consultants, etc., often require multiple monitors due to the nature of their work – meaning larger workspace requirements – and collaborative space with tools such as whiteboards. That also means it can get noisy.
Accounting: Like our creatives, our finance team often requires multiple monitors (spreadsheets, anyone?). Unlike our creatives, their heads-down work is often a quiet pursuit.

Now, think about what we learned through a very simplified version of this archetyping exercise:

We can afford to allot extra physical desk space for our creatives’ and accountants’ monitors because many of our consultants enjoy sharing space in a hoteling model.
We need to put a physical buffer between the creative and accounting teams to control for noise levels (and because we all know creative accounting is dangerous).
As a management consulting firm, our clients will be visiting our space. That means we need to ensure our workspace reflects the best practices we’re recommending to them.

As organizations look to re-enter the workplace this work will become even more critical than before – making it an exciting opportunity for leaders across industries to reimagine how their archetypes will be using space and plan accordingly.

For more, download our Personifying the Workplace one-pager here