Less Chatter, More Matter: The Communications Podcast

#153 Topic in Ten: Communicating office moves and renovations in a way that works

• Season 1 • Episode 153

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Office moves and renovations often look simple on paper, but in reality, they’re people-heavy changes that can quickly become disruptive if communication isn’t handled well.

So, in this episode of the Less Chatter, More Matter podcast, we're doing another Topic in Ten with this week's focus on practical communication strategies to support organisations through an office move or major refurbishment.

This episode is part three of a five part People Change Series, exploring common change scenarios and how communication can best support people through them. 

We run you through the basics of why people's feelings of displacement during a move can cause comms chaos, and how you can address it in a variety of different, innovative and new ways. So... get listening! 

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Hello, friend, and welcome to another short, punchy 10 in 10 episode of Less Chatter, More Matter. My name is Mel Loy. I'm your host and I'm recording this on the Lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people, here in Meanjin, Brisbane. And today's episode is part three of our Five Part People Change series, where we delve into the common people related change scenarios that you will see in businesses. And then we look at, well, how do our comms support those changes? And this week it's all about a new office. Now that might not seem like such a big deal, but having been involved in many office moves or renovations, trust me, it is much more important than you might think. In fact, it's more important than your people might even realise it is until it's happening. So I'm going to share five common communication strategies to help you help the business and its people navigate this change. Step number one. The number one tip really is get your people involved in the design and find out what matters to them and report back. So like all change, co-creation is a really valuable tool in an office move or renovation. When people feel like they have a sense of ownership in something, they have skin in the game and they are much more engaged in helping to drive a successful outcome for everyone, not just themselves, but also human beings hate being told what to do. So when they feel like a change is happening to them rather than with them or by them. You will find that reactance or resistance is going to spike. Also in this day and age where employers are trying to encourage more people back into the office environment, then you have to make sure it's somewhere they actually want to go. If they're going to be spending about 30 hours a week there, it should be a space that they enjoy. So how do we do this? Well, firstly, like all change, we follow the awareness launch embed pattern, and this is the awareness space. So we'll introduce the fact that a new office is being built, or major renovations are coming, whatever it is. Give the details, the where, the, when, the how, but most importantly the why. And in that, why it's really helpful if you can tie the reasoning back to feedback that tho your people have given you, so you can show them that you are responding to the pain points that they've raised. For example, you know, you've told us it's really dark in some places. It's hard to find quiet spaces to work. The kitchens are gross, the bathrooms are gross, et cetera, et cetera. Again, it helps people feel like... Not only are they helping to drive the change, but also that you value them and that you're listening, and then it's about getting people involved in the design. Now, you can make this as extensive or as light on as you want. At a minimum, put out a survey or a form and ask people what's important to them in an office space. What would encourage them to spend more time working from there than from home, what they need to be able to have to be able to work productively, et cetera, et cetera. And then replay those ideas back, aggregate those responses back up into some core themes, and communicate them back to the team to show that you've listened. Now, importantly, also show how the design might respond to some of these themes so they know their efforts in providing those ideas weren't in vain. You could also share the draft plans with the team in an information session. Give them a few days to have a look and provide feedback. Or you could go all in and have a design committee with a few people who self nominate from each branch or business unit or team, whatever, to be involved in helping to design the new space. And these people will then also make great change champions later on. So that's tip number one. Co-create, get people involved. Tip number two. Is generate excitement. So once the design is in place and works are starting, it's really important to build a sense of excitement, especially if people have been temporarily moved to other spaces that aren't that great. So from a comms perspective, there's a few strategies you could try and I'd love to hear your ideas as well. So here's just a few of my ideas. Number one, pretty obvious progress updates. So have regular updates, maybe fortnightly, depending on how things are going, uh, with photos and videos. A few dot points about what's been done in the last fortnight, what's coming up in the next fortnight. Uh, it doesn't have to be a standalone newsletter, and God forbid you do that. Please don't do that. But it could be part of a regular comms, like a CEO email or, you know, you could post it on Viva Engage or even a blog if you want to go down that route. Uh, another idea here is virtual tours. Now the budget version of a virtual tour is just film it on your iPhone. Um, but please use a tool, like a selfie stick or something. So it's not gonna make people seasick as they're walking through. Uh, or you could invest in a VR experience. So companies out there who do that really well. Another idea here. Uh, sneak peak tours. So as the construction gets closer to completion, you could have allotted tour times that people can book into. It works really well to do it this way because you can coordinate then with the tradies who are on site, and there will probably be a limit to how many people can come through at once due to safety reasons anyway. Uh, another idea. Do fun content. So for example, you could have videos of the tradies, making jokes of the CEO, doing some hands-on work, whatever your questions answered. Videos, get people to film themselves asking a question or to tell you what they're excited about. Um, you could have quizzes like with prizes, so EG, uh, guess how many cans of paint are going to be needed or how many hours of trade works, et cetera. And that can also then help to build a sense of that. What's happening behind the scenes. And that builds a sense of what we call the labor illusion. So people tend to value things more if they think people have put a lot more work into them. So that could be a good way to do that. Uh, and a final idea here. Have artwork competitions. So you might have some people in your, uh, employee group who are really talented artists, and they could submit artwork to be considered for inclusion in the new space, or people could vote for the artwork, et cetera. So that's tip number two, generate a sense of excitement. Now, tip number three, anticipate the questions or concerns. And every time I've been involved in the comms for a new office or renovation, the same questions always come up. Will I still have a car park? Or where will car parking be? And number two, where will my desk be? Now the first question is easy enough unless people are losing allocated parking. If that's the case, it's worth having a conversation with those people about their options explaining why there, why there might be fewer parking spaces, blah, blah, blah. Um, you can also obviously provide maps as well as alternative options like public transport and carpooling. The where will my desk be questioned? This can be tricky if you are moving to more of a hybrid and hot desking arrangement, which to be honest, most places are these days, you know, this has been done, but people like to have their own space, and if they're used to having their own desk, they can find that transition to hot desking. Very challenging. So this is where managers have to step up and do more of the direct communication they need to establish with their teams what their rhythms will be to make sure that everyone has a space when they're in the office. They need to know where their areas are and with the team set some non-negotiables, like things like always booking a desk in advance, wiping down desks after use, et cetera. It's also okay to acknowledge the discomfort while also explaining clearly the why behind this decision. And you will always have some people who will resist this move greatly, especially if they're people who really value their space. Um, fun story. I once worked for a company where this happened and we moved into a new office into mostly hot desking arrangements. A lot of the managers were older white men who had worked in this male dominated industry for a very long time, and having your own office was considered. A bit of a status symbol, right? So when we moved, some of them lost their own offices completely, and those that had their own were no longer so closed off from the rest of the world, like there weren't even doors on a lot of offices. Now, one guy in particular really did not like this arrangement, so he created his own office space by stacking archive boxes to make a wall. It was hilarious, but also it didn't last long. So apart from being a safety issue, because the boxes were stacked well above head height, it was an obvious breach of the culture and the values that the execs were trying to build. But yes, it is an example of some extreme measures people will go to. Now, side note, some offices will implement book, uh, desk booking systems. So when that's ready to go, you will also need to do a fair bit of change communication to complement the training that should also happen. There are also other questions that your team members will have that you need to anticipate and you need to be on the front foot to answer them. So you could have these in a FAQ on a dedicated intranet site. Um, you could go through them and take more questions in online information sessions. You could share them on Viva Engage, et cetera. So think about what questions are people most likely to ask. And look, you can also ask an AI tool to help with this. It's very good use of ai actually. Now, some of the questions I've seen that are top of mind for people are things like, where's the nearest coffee shop? Especially in Australia, that's very important. Uh, where's the nearest lunch place or cafe? What are the food options? What to do if I arrive at work and someone's sitting in the spot that I booked? Are there going to be showers, you know, end of trip facilities, blah, blah, blah. If you've got the smarts on board, you could even consider setting up like a chat bot for people to ask questions to. Um, it's a really good way to get some data and insights into what people are worried or curious about, and it can save other people time from answering these questions over and over again. So that's tip number three, anticipate the questions and concerns. Tip number four, make it easy. So, a big part of making change work. Always is about removing points of friction and making it easy, especially for an office move. This is really important. So from a comms perspective, making it easy means things like having multiple touch points for communication. Like we've said many, many times on this show, there is no one size fits all approach for communication. And at an individual level, it's about our preferred. Per communication style at a team level, it's about the best channels to reach that team, which usually means finding out what works for them. It could be they have a regular team meeting you can tap into, or a weekly email from their leader that maybe they've got a WhatsApp chat, whatever it might be that you can tap into. And then it's about making it easy to find the information people need. So detailed maps, answers to questions, details, and instructions about the new facilities, et cetera, et cetera. Now, not only can you have those on your existing channels, but you could also do things like have QR codes next to key features of the building so people could scan them and get a brief description and instructions or a video. So for example. Outside of a meeting room, you've got a QR code that gives instructions on how to book the room, or in the kitchen, maybe the QR code links to a video about how to use the new taps, whatever it might be. You can also, of course, have more in-person and online information sessions. Uh, you could send really short 20 to 30 second videos to people's devices. Honestly, the list is kind of endless. Just get creative, but make it easy. And then tip number five, we get to the launch phase, and it's all about welcoming people to the new space with a sense of excitement. So here's where you might have an official opening with a welcome to country. If you're in Australia, you've got a, a local, uh, representative who can come and do that for you. Something that grounds people and reminds them of how lucky they are to have this great space to work. You should also have building inductions, not just for safety reasons, so people know where they need to go to, when they have to evacuate, et cetera, but also to set the new rules for the space. Show how things work and where to find things. These are best done in smaller groups, so like tours. And again, you could also have bookings for these. Um, have a welcome pack for people ready to hand them when they arrive at the new space for the first time. So, you know, it's, could include things like, especially in a hot desking situation, hand sanitiser and desk wipes or vouchers for the local coffee shops and cafes. Maybe a digital photo frames so they can still have their photos in their space even when they're hot desking. Uh, you could have a new lanyard that fits the theme of the new space, water bottles, et cetera, et cetera. The list is pretty endless, but it's entirely up to budget, of course. To get people excited to be there and explore the new space, you could also include some games. Now I know of one business, uh, it was over in India and they had some very smart techie people on board, so this made this a bit easier. But they built an app and it was one of those geolocation kind of games, so people had to go around the building and collect virtual things at different points, which was super fun. I mean, you could also have quizzes or scavenger hunts. It's just about getting creative. And from there it's about embedding new behaviours. So you may need to do some regular comms to remind people about the new rules of the space, but make it fun so it cuts through the noise. Use humor. Use video. Forget the old signs in the kitchen that are like, you know, "your mother doesn't work here. Clean up after yourself." Use memes, use funny clips. Things that get people's attention. Okay, so today's short and sharp episode was about how to use your comms skills effectively when there's an office move or renovation. The five tips I shared were, number one, get people involved in the design. Again, it's about co-creation, having skin in the game, being more engaged in the process, but also setting people up as future change Champion. Number two, generate excitement for what's to come. Loads of ways you can do this, but it's really about during that construction phase where people might be in other places that aren't as comfortable, that you've gotta build that sense of excitement. So there's lots of things that you can do there, and I shared a bunch of tips. Number three was anticipate the questions and objections or concerns. So what are the things people are most likely to ask about or be worried about, and make sure the answers to those questions are easily available. Speaking, make it easy. Tip number four was make it easy to find information, not only during the construction phase, but especially as people are starting to use the new facilities. And tip number five, welcome people with excitement. Make a day of it, make it really exciting for people to be in this new space and set things up well from the start. All right everybody. That was our topic in 10 for this week and next week we are up to our fourth episode in this series, which is all about when we have to change policies or even employee benefits. So stay tuned for that. And then you'll notice a few things changing with this year with the podcast. I'm gonna be doing more of these short series. Sometimes with a guest. So we've got a five part series coming up with the beautiful Prina Sha, uh, sometimes just by myself blabbing on like this. But if you've got ideas, as always, they are welcome. So please get in touch. In the meantime, keep doing amazing things and bye for now.