Listen up.
An overview of the workshop introduced by Ruiwen.
THE FUTURE WORKPLACE
— Design Intervention Workshop —
· Experience Design · Workshop Facilitation
For hundreds of years, we were used to working nine to five,
working from Monday to Friday,
but COVID just bumped into our lives and shifted our working arrangements.
It is game-changing, we learnt, from the most adopted hybrid working,
removed the concept of location,
which we think HOW we work, rather than WHERE to work.
We Found:
In the previous research, we found Individual and organisations developed great resilience and resourceful virtual collaboration tools and methods in the post-pandemic period.
But, how the younger generation reacted to it?
The research indicates it can be so different and challenging fresh workers who had just entered the workplace. They faced an immediate game-changing environment full of new rules and uncertainties in a more hybrid setting, including communication, collaboration, technological difficulties, and, more importantly, relationship building.
After all, no one tells them how to do it, no one can guarantee the new working arrangements would work. Whatever a firm just launched the staff mental health care application, or opened a new headspace department where stuff could go meditate and rest… But How effective were these? It was too early to draw a conclusion. Furthermore, what about the smaller companies which were unable to give the same support as the large organisations do?
Everyone is wading the river by groping for stones.
In the research we conducted, It showed that individuals were so easy to feel so isolated by the lack of support, and it is also difficult to tell our manger what was the real reason held us back from sharing.
The Problem Space:
And it lead the researchers to the problem space:
Festinated adjustments of new employees entering the workplace in the new normal impacted their capability and performance.
Workshop background
One of the insights highlighted in the Research Report was that:
“Leadership plays a vital role in relationship management regarding trust-building, employee empowerment, and promoting creativity in the team.”
“ HOW MIGHT WE help new blood overcome challenges in
onboarding so they can energise the team
in the New Normal? “
Objectives of the Workshop
Create value for the participants, the team, and the organisation.
Build a physiologically safe environment for individuals in the workplace.
Encourage the audience to share their inner journey about the new employee's onboarding experience.
Address the knowledge gap between employee and employer/leader.
Raise a sense of awareness of making a difference as soon as possible.
Workshop Poster
In the design intervention practice, we invited six participants that include two senior-level leaders and four junior employees from a medium-sized start-up company, which just had its recruitment during the post-pendemic.
We facilitated this design intervention workshop, spacetopia, which each participants gets a signed Zootopia charaters with a secret mission. all Zootoppia crew members need to work togethr on a journey to the moon.
We try to use this psychologically safe enviroment and encourge the leaders and co-workers express recent obstables and pain points at work.
This was collaborative environment that allows participants to co-design and co-create fast solutions. what is more important was we proved the positivity of merging the gap between leaders and new hires by facing the same challenges together.
The workshop prepared 3 main activities including Ice Breaking to entice and engage participants, followed up with a post-intervention action to extend the value of the workshop for all participants. Thus, they can:
Building understanding: Discover the pain points in the hybrid workplace;
Shaping choices: Define the most urgent & important problems;
Making decisions: Quickly develop solutions.
Detailed Workshop Activities
Workshop facilitating details:
No. facilitators: 3 ppl
No. workshop observers: 2 ppl
No. participants: 6 ppl, Includes 2 seniors
Total budget: $78
Workshop Duration: 2 hrs
Workshop channel: F2F @ USYD Presentation Room,
Overall Rundown:
Workshop Outcome
The workshop was an experiment to let participants express recent obstacles at work and share their inner-journey in a relatively psychologically safe environment. It was also a validation of our research results.
Facilitators ensures everyone had took part in conversations and activities. So we could encourage the audience to share their inner journey about the new onboarding experience in a comfortable environment.
Facilitators helped with grouping ideas and further explained and evaluated some shared insights and suggestions. It also helped addressed the knowledge gap between employee and employer/leader.
The overall experience for participants was fun and inspiring and the outcome of the workshop proved the positivity of merging the gap between leader and employees during COVID by facing challenges together. There were valuable take-aways that inspried both senior and junior participants about being clear what challenges they are facing and how can they improve in the future to overcome.
Participants got a snack break in the middle of the workshop. They had a chance to digest the new discovery and recharge.
As for facilitators, we have got time to make some quick adjustments and started to set up the room for the next half. ,
Please let me know if you have any question regard to this project. Also feel free to contact me!
Therefore, as one of the potential facilitators in the research team, Ruiwen wanted to tackle the aspect of relationship building for new employees' onboarding experience, further explore real-life challenges in one specific firm in-depth, to co-create more feasible possibilities in terms of: