WATERCOOLER CHAT: Workplace Culture Shift

Workplace culture is intangible, yet it touches every aspect of work. Shaped by an organization’s values, culture affects where, how, and when we work. As we adapt to a new workplace ecosystem, it’s critical to consider how culture influences space design.

Ecosystem Culture Types

The shifts we’ve seen in the last eight months indicate the office, as we knew it, will change. Instead, the trend is for people to work across an ecosystem that balances office, home, and third places. Yet the office will remain the hub for work and culture. In this whitepaper, we will look at how the new workplace ecosystem will need to adapt to better support each culture type.

Collaborative workplace cultures tend to be open, friendly, and sharing. They are relationship-oriented organizations that operate like extend-
ed families who seek to do things that last. A spirit of community and cooperation is vital to the success of your workplace culture. Spaces designed before the pandemic might not be the right fit for the future. As we transition into this new ecosystem, we take with us a better understanding of what worked and what did not.

Applying this new perspective will allow us to rethink the design of the office, home, and third places to maximize their potential
for future work. The way organizations adapt to the new ecosystem depends on the primary value driving their culture. In leveraging the Competing Values Framework™, we look at four culture types: 

• Collaborate

• Create

• Control

• Compete 

Moving forward, workplaces need to be flexible to enable changes as rapidly as people and organizations require. Each workplace evolves with the culture type to approach how, where, and when work is done differently. We’ll take a look at how the new workplace ecosystem will need to adapt to better support each culture type based on research by office furniture manufacturer Haworth. For additional ideas, visit our Inspired Workspaces idea boards!