Team Based Working & the Future of Work breakfast forum

Resource Architecture met with a small, select group of peers in Adelaide and Melbourne earlier this year, to discuss the ideas behind Team Based Working and explore the Future of Work.  Both sessions attracted thought leaders from various industries and supported meanhingful discussion around peoples' experience of the changing workplace.

The Future of Work

A discussion on the Future of Work led to participants to generate ideas about the purpose of work and the workplace.  There was consensus that a shift from the command and control models of last century, to a new model with greater individual and team autonomy, is being seen across most industries, building upon personal and collective strengths to achieve greater food for the wider community.  This changes the conversation from process and efficiency to collaboration and connection at scale.

Participants shared their ‘personal why’: Why do they get up in the morning to do their job? The majority of answers related to the support of people and community, within and outside of their organisations. Stories reflected on how relationships within small self-organising teams, provided people with the necessary support and environment to thrive.

Each participant was asked how their organisation enables individuals to use their strengths and achieve their ‘personal why’. Responses indicated the need for communication between team leaders and their staff  about their ‘personal why’, and a discussion of what happens when your personal values don’t align with your current role or the values of your organisation.

The alignment of ‘personal why’ and organisational purpose creates ‘shared purpose’ within an organisation, which introduced the discussion on Team Based Working, a workplace model being developed and implemented by Resource Architecture across a number of industries.

Team Based Working

Team Based Working encompasses the design of work behaviours, work spaces and work tools. It removes the traditional command and control, risk based and process driven hierarchy and adds a high level of collaboration, trust and shared purpose. The principles of Team Based Working were presented to the group and explored, followed by a Case Study of the La Trobe University Research Exemplar Workplace, which showed how these principles manifested physically for La Trobe University through workplace design.

Participant Feedback

Feedback from both sessions was positive, sparking further discussions about the importance of teams and changing work behaviours, as well as the importance of flexibility in the workplace to ensure organisations can continue to support their staff as the way that people work continues to change.

Some comments following the session:

 “This was a highly engaging dialogue with senior business people around new thinking in workplace design to support great diversity in employment and team-based working principles. This is an essential inquiry for any business seeking their next source of competitive advantage.”

Andrew Eddy, Director, Untapped

“Resource Architecture delivered a thought provoking session on the future of workspaces that captured the ever changing dynamic & fluid ways in which we work together. They enabled a vital conversation for people to contemplate how to work effectively & collectively where design solutions can be considered, explored, discussed & realised together.”

Troy Owen, College Space – Facilities Planner, Flinders University

“The breakfast meeting addressed working climates in offices and workspaces today and what these business leaders had and would like to do to progress the productive state for all employees and workstations. A fascinating interaction in which I took great interest was the natural ability to share information to progress towards a large goal in a corporate setting that I had not imagined before…the atmosphere in which people from different organisations were able to share ideas freely gave me a sense of interest in the corporate working world.”

Aaron Chan, Intern, Neurodiversity Hub

Keep an eye out for our next breakfast forum in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide later this year. To register your interest, please contact Graham Kirkwood graham.kirkwood@res.com.au