or die
Illustration by David Kulen, "Corporate animals". Organizations must adapt and reinvent their workplace.
"An adaptation is a mutation, or genetic change, that helps an organism, such as a plant or animal, survive in its environment."
Corporate animals
Like animals, companies must change and adapt to their environments. Often we are confronted with endless articles that remind us of an ever and faster-changing world. The whole notion that the world is changing is nothing new and pointless to bring up.
Stuck
The real problem lies in the way we have organized our companies to deal with change. Companies over time develop a DNA, which they further solidify with identities, communication and mission statements. A clear creates a great fundament for growth and consistency, but what is often forgotten is the openness for change and mutation of this DNA. A rebrand every 10 or so years won't do, it's already too late. Potential employees flock to new and hot companies, consumers don't notice you anymore, the list of threats is vast, and the war on talent suddenly becomes a reality. To avoid this reactive and destructive approach, we must assume new strategies and make reinvention of the workplace an everyday job.
Change as a driver for solutions
Enbiun is in the business of developing hospitality concepts, which we usually develop for new buildings. Architecture however takes time and are relatively slow in their development, which stands in stark contrast to how fast technology and culture is evolving. We often have to ask ourselves "How will it look in two years?" "How can we reinvent the workplace so that its flexible enough?" These questions have proved for us to be a productive incentive to build concepts that have change at their foundation. We are lucky to be surrounded by clients who are inspired to have change at the center of their businesses.
Hardware & software
To put change at the foundation of our conceptual thinking, we had to change the way we think of concepts. Instead of building hyper-specific and fixed conceptual solutions, we have shifted towards a more opensource and flexible way of thinking which we developed in close collaboration with caterers, sustainability experts, and industry professionals. Our new approach allows for the foundation of the solution to become like 'computer hardware which then runs ever-changing and updated 'software.' If we take food as an example, it means that we design a kitchen that can take on any chef, menu or concept with a few adaptations in the way of working.
listen > develop > implement > program > learn
Creating concepts that can handle change fluidly has led us to create a whole new section of our process. It is a new company called enbiun Program. Driven by the need to program these highly flexible concepts we had to create an intelligent and ongoing platform that includes trends, macro societal changes, approaches to health and diet and a vast database of chefs, speakers and concepts. Enbiun Program is our platform which allows us to curate food like a museum curates art. With this we can reinvent the corporate workplace with its corporate animals in a way that stands the future.
But program is incomplete without its users, who play a pivotal role in the success of any concept. With program we have built-in tools that create a constant feedback loop, which generates quality feedback from users. Closing the circle, user feedback is the basis for adaptation and eventual mutation of the concept, ensuring a happy end user.
