Communicating change

Every organisational change – a new way of working, a relocation, a reshuffle of spaces – calls for internal communication. The leadership decides how and what to communicate. The space planning project, however, produces the most effective materials that communication can have.

The project as an opportunity to listen

A change communicated without prior listening meets resistance straight away. The survey ARCHIlabs uses to start every project – interviews and questionnaires on the typical day, on the stated and latent needs of each team – is also the first concrete act of involvement. People are listened to before decisions are made, and this changes the quality of the communication that follows: the leadership can say "we gathered your input, and the project reflects it" instead of announcing something imposed.

Showing rather than describing

The most effective communication of a change of space is visual and tangible. Renders of the design scenarios – the possible configurations of the future office, the work settings that will change – let people see where they will work before the decision is final. This turns the moment of presentation into a participatory step: those who look still have a voice, and they know it. The versions that follow the feedback incorporate the corrections, and those who contributed recognise it in the result.

01

Survey

Interviews and questionnaires on the typical day, stated and latent needs.

Listen

02

Scenarios and renders

The configurations of the future office made visible before the decision.

Show

03

Pilot area

A real space to visit and use: materials, light, acoustics.

Try

04

Rollout

Change arrives as a shared outcome.

Adopt

Every piece of feedback returns to the project: those who contributed recognise themselves in the result

The pilot as a reality check

Where the plan allows it, providing a pilot area before the full rollout has a direct effect on how change is communicated. People can visit it, use it, take a direct experience from it. The language of the project – materials, proportions, acoustics, light – becomes understandable not in the abstract but through use. Verbal and written communication finds a concrete reference point.