Is your Workplace a MAGNET, or a Mandate?

Cisco – which has been named Australia’s Best Workplace for the past 4 years in the Great Place to Work Study- has a flexible work environment – urging their Staff to do their jobs where they feel most productive.

This is a fascinating statistic shared by Ben Dawson, the Vice President of Cisco Australia and New Zealand: “In our recent Internal survey 93% of people said that they want to come back to office, but they wanted to come back to a different experience than we traditionally had in the office environment.”

“There’s less appetite to come into the office to sit at a desk for an extended period of time and to do administrated style work – people feel they’re more productive away from the office doing that. What they do want to experience is the ability to socialize, collaborate and innovate together.”

I attended a Professional Speakers Convention in Perth last week, and this week I am facilitating The Enneagram Personality Styles in Brisbane. I am always intrigued by how, and in what way people choose to ‘work’?

For context: I ‘guesstimate’ that in the 4 days in Perth, I met and chatted to about 85 people that I have never met before… about their businesses (not all Professional Speakers) and their client’s businesses. At times, I felt like an investigative Journalist gathering ‘intel’ by the minute. I relished every moment!

From Architects to Accountants to Lawyers.. a theme arose, when discussing offices and workplaces : “we love being in airy, fun collaborate workspaces where we have the opportunity for serendipitous ad hoc conversations”.

People want to work alone for their ‘deep work’, and then they want to CONNECT! As per Ben Dawson’s words above… we all realise the GOLD that comes from putting our heads together to solve problems: where 1+1 can equal 20, and not 2.

People can bring out the best in one another when they know how to ‘collaborate’, align and attune towards a common purpose.

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PS. The pic isn’t a ‘stock’ pic of a team collaborating.  I used a pic of a session that I facilitated: where people were sitting at round tables and ‘collaborating’ with people they (mostly) didn’t know… about ways they could ‘work SMARTER, not harder’.

On the flipside: when I was in ‘delegate mode’ - I had the most serendipitous conversations. Two that will stick with me for life.

Q: Are you finding ways to meet up with people, perhaps new people, in order to STRETCH your thinking?

Q: What are the ways that you can make your workplace a MAGNET, and not a MANDATE.



#findwaystomeetnewpeople #resdesignworkplaces #chatandlearn #resilientpeoplebounceforward

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