Asking if its better to have people work in a physical office together or from home is the wrong question if you’re not willing to look at the work itself. Since COVID-19 forced the world’s office workers home as their base for the better part of 36 months the world of commercial real-estate hasn’t been […]
Work Design For People and Production Not Places Read More »
Creative ideas, new insights, and sustained action thrive in a community. As the world adapts to new ways of organizing and distributing our work, it’s worth considering what kind of spaces support this. I work with organizations seeking to innovate and rarely does the topic of space come up at the start of the conversation.
Systems, Places and Spaces for Innovation Read More »
What happens when the global pandemic gets forgotten, and our organizations, communities and bodies still remember? How might we design institutions that help us recover from what’s happened and thrive in what’s to come? The World Health Organization is meeting this week to discuss whether the emergency phase of the global COVID-19 pandemic response is
What Design For Recovery Might Look Like Read More »
Resilience is about ‘bouncing back’ and getting through challenges, but is it the right model to be considered when “back” isn’t what it was and many challenges are becoming endemic? Resilience has been a prominent term and theory invoked in the discussions of how we collectively respond to social, health, and environmental challenges we are
Maybe We Shouldn’t Design for Resilience Read More »
How to design when we are massively disrupted and still left with this persistent feeling of sameness? Contrast captures our attention and too much or too little is not helpful to us humans. Yet, this is the situation much of the world finds itself in 2021. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reveal
Disruption and Stability Read More »
Remote working tools for collaboration can shape our culture of innovation or we can shape the tools themselves, the choice is ours, by design.
Ties That Bind and Release Innovation Read More »
Learning is the key to innovation and resilience and it also presents us with problems. Developmental evaluation, adaptive strategy, and learning organizations are a few of the concepts used to reflect an attitude of responsiveness and innovation. We pivot, flex, adapt, and are resilient — or so we tell ourselves. In some cases we are
Learning’s Problems Read More »
Making your world and work beautiful has tangible benefits for performance and wellbeing. It’s not trivia to focus on aesthetics.
Our mental health and well-being affect our work above everything. Taking care of ourselves is not an option; it’s essential. Today is World Mental Health Day. Mental health and well-being is as important to innovation work as anything else. Our state of mind and that of our co-workers, colleagues, partners, and community affects our social
Talking About Mental Health at Work Read More »
Teams are complicated beasts and require special care and attention. New research shows how to care for teams and ourselves. If you are working on an innovation or service design, chances are very likely you are working on or with a team. While you might not have a uniform, mascot, or supporters section waving flags,
Team Work and Care Read More »
