How To Create an Agile Work Environment?

Making the workplace agile is a great way to create a productive work environment. This allows employees to work more happily and more effectively. After all, employees who feel comfortable in the workplace are more likely to be motivated to achieve the desired results.

What is an Agile Work Environment?

If you want to work flexibly according to the agile principles, you also need an agile working environment.

An agile workplace is a working environment to be able to work as flexibly as possible. The agile workplace should encourage employees to move freely around the office and use the space in the way that is most productive for them.

This is also about the physical workplace. Making the office agile means providing space where employees feel most productive. That’s because agile working is also about deciding where and when it’s best to get work done.

For example, that might include the following:

• Comfortable seating, such as a couch, for informal meetings, shared breaks or discussions.
• Quiet areas where work can be done without disturbance
• Tables or the like that can be used for small team meetings and project work
• Small and larger meeting rooms

Why is the Agile Work Environment so Popular?

Many companies have recognized that finding new ways to design workplaces supports effective work. It also has a positive impact on employee collaboration, creativity and productivity.

4 Benefits of an Agile Work Environment

The agile workplace has advantages for both employees and employers:

1. A high degree of flexibility and freedom for employees
   • Employees can choose between different locations and workplaces.
   • Depending on where they can work best at the moment.
2. A corporate culture that contributes to high employee satisfaction and retains employees for longer periods
   • This then results in lower costs e.g. recruitment or lower administrative costs.
3. Through the agile workplace, there can be freer communication and easier collaboration
   • Open communication can then lead to creative problem-solving, more productivity, and more employee satisfaction.
4. There is a need for fewer workstations than in traditional models
   • Which ensures fewer rental costs, etc.

3 Tips on How to Make Challenges Easier to Master

1. Involve the Team
   • For the agile workplace to be successfully implemented, the people who work with it need to be involved.
   • Employees should be informed as early as possible and concerns and needs should also be taken into account.
2. Explain Structures
   • Because change can often be confusing, it makes sense to explain the new structures.
   • You should make sure that every employee understands what the new processes are, including, for example, how rooms are reserved or resources are used.
   • Make it clear why the changes are necessary.
3. Step-by-Step
   • You should move forward with the change in small steps.
   • Small changes in work processes are often more effective than trying to change everything at once.
   • You should also check at each stage whether you have achieved your goals.

Tools for an Agile Workplace

The most important thing in the agile workplace is the flexibility of the employees. They must be able to adapt to the tasks. In agile working, work takes place everywhere, whether at customer meetings, at a desk, in a meeting room, or a home office. As a result, work is rarely consistent.

That’s why you need to give employees the means to work flexibly from anywhere. They can then bring their technologies to any environment and work in an agile way from any location.

You can find tools for Agile working on our blogpost 15 agile collaboration tools for remote teams.

Final Thoughts

The goal of the agile workplace is that you enable the team to lead the best work by providing everything that is needed. Give employees an environment that adapts to their needs, and both the company and employees will achieve positive results.