We recently hosted our latest event in The Future of Service series, exploring how to deliver both an operating model and workplace that are fit for the rapidly evolving environment faced by organisations across the globe. 

In the session, we discussed the challenges of changing customer expectations, rapid acceleration of technology, the impact of climate change, maintaining human connections and the shift in how use our workplaces - all of which call for new approaches and ways of thinking. 


Our first speaker of the day, Vicki Butcher, Managing Consultant at Gobeyond Partners examined the influencing factors pushing companies to reimagine their operating model, from shifts in customer behaviour to rapid advances in technology. Vicki illustrated various ways in which businesses can think about how to define the blueprint for operations, and some of the critical decisions which influence the design. 

Next, we had David Stenbeck, Principal Learning Designer at Gobeyond Partners. David shared his insight on how working from home is changing our lives, both positively and negatively, focusing on the detailed research into the psychological impacts this is having, and the opportunities and challenges this faces us in the future. His findings suggest that:  

• Working from home can improve people’s personal well being  
• It can also significantly increase isolation, and exhaustion  
• Offices need to support connection, learning and collaboration  

Finally, special guest Helen West, Director at WDC Creative, Strategic Design Consultants. Helen looked at some of the trends and themes that we are seeing in terms of workplace design post-pandemic, considering the challenges and opportunities that businesses and organisations are currently facing, with a visual tour through examples of these in action.  

We were pleased that delivering the session remotely didn't impact the enthusiasm and engagement from the audience, with the use of polls and stats helping to ensure an informative, interactive discussion from beginning to end. 

Audience questions prompted a wide range of conversations, including looking at generational differences in workspace demands and reasons for coming into the office and, from an operating model design perspective, looking at the importance of finding harmony between the digital and human. 

To conclude the session, Vicki highlighted three main takeaways for those re-imagining their operating model   

1. Have a flexible and agile model: We believe it’s key to implement a flexible and agile operating model, which can be adapted as needed. There will always be shifts in customer demand and behaviour, it’s important that your model can quickly and efficiently react to these shifts.  

2. Build strong analytics and control capabilities: Measure and monitor any changes made to the operating model and customer behaviour to stay ahead of the curve. Your analysis should focus on the customer, colleagues and company, with the key success measures defined and insight built into the existing performance management rhythm. Continuously assessing the impact of any change will allow you to make quick changes to optimise the outcomes. 

3. Continuously monitor the impact on people: Keep a focus on your people and their well-being. Adapting or enhancing engagement assessments to check whatever new ways of working you’ve put in place are not having a detrimental impact on employees.

Within Gobeyond Partners we have a proven method for delivering operating model re-design across multiple sectors. Discover more about the work we do in our service portfolio. 

To read about our previous event in the series, check out our article on The Future of Service Forum: Driving digital adoption