Activity-Based Working (ABW) is a new way of working that is not bound by time or place and is becoming increasingly popular around the world. To gain a deeper understanding of ABW, we interviewed members of Veldhoen + Company (V+C), a company working on ABW projects at the forefront, and will be presenting a series of interviews with them about what they saw on the ground.
Our third interview with V+C is with Roel Geenen, CEO of the company. We asked him about the essence of ABW, the background to V+C's data-driven approach, and how they operate a distributed work system within the company.
Roel's biography
── Please tell us about your background.
Roel:Nice to meet you. My name is Roel and I am the other owner and representative of V+C, and also lead the strategy and innovation team. I have been with the company since 2000, so that makes 23 years. For the first 10 years, I was in charge of government projects in the Netherlands, and then I started working on corporate projects in Europe.
Reading is my source of motivation. I'm writing a book myself, and I'm planning to publish a book next fall about new ways of working and their history. The book also includes a vision for 2040. I'm always interested in gaining new insights about everything in my life, including ways of working, change management, and new technologies. I like to connect various elements not only in business but also in my personal life.
I'm always looking to innovate a little and experiment in my head. I'm the one thinking, "This is a great new idea," and "I want to try it here and now."
Looking back at work style trends over the past 20 years and predicting the future five years from now
── As someone who seeks out new information and new insights, Roel, what global trends in working styles do you see?
Roel:The pandemic has undoubtedly been a major global change, and it has prompted many companies to create new ways of working. Working from home, which had been progressing for some time, has not ceased to be a temporary trend, but rather has accelerated it even further due to the pandemic.
If you are considering renovating or relocating your office or introducing a large-scale new way of working, it is good to know that this trend is not going to stop. Looking back at the trends of the last 20 years and thinking about the future five years from now, it is likely that offices will be even smaller than they are now. My prediction is that the difference between the office and the remote environment at home will be smaller. More people will work from home and feel connected to people through digital tools. This will reduce the role of managers in bringing teams together in real environments, but their scope of management will increase when work remotely is included. As a countermeasure, I believe that a large proportion of the role will be to hold large-scale online meetings and build the related meeting culture to avoid knowledge within the organization (mainly decision-making) being interpreted differently at each level within the company.
── I see. So the pandemic hasn't caused major changes in the way we work, but rather it has only accelerated existing work trends.
Roel: Yes, that's how I see it. I think it's important to look at societal trends like this. North America, Europe, Australia, and Singapore are all on the same page. The impact of the pandemic and the penetration of remote work in each country was different, but they're all on the same page as the trends we've seen.
If we think practically based on that, we can say that the "new ways of working" we are talking about are not actually new. In fact, we have been building up research, data and experience in this "new way of working" for over 20 years, and the concepts and quality of work style projects are much better than before. Now that many organizations are interested in new ways of working, we see the opportunity to utilize our knowledge as a major point.
── You said that "new ways of working are not actually new," but what words do you think would be best to describe the latest ways of working that we are seeing today?
Roel:Good question. I'm looking at mostly Europe, and here most organizations use the term hybrid work. But in the book I mentioned, they talk about collaboration and leadership. This is just my personal opinion, but I would like to see "working together" and "co-creation" in the new terminology.
ABW is not just about the office concept
――What other trends do you touch on in your book?
Roel: In the book, he touches on the importance of user experience: It is relatively easy to get information about user experience and how to stimulate and enhance it at a team or individual level.
This user experience is an important point in activity-based working. ABW is not just a concept about how to use the office, but a concept of working that focuses on how people work and feel from the perspective of activity. However, many organizations that adopt ABW now use the term ABW as an office concept. As founders and experts of ABW, we believe that ABW has a lot of impact on individual workers, not on the office. Since ABW is a way of working that focuses on people and comprehensively approaches the three elements of physical space, IT, and behavior, we feel it is necessary to mention here how to recognize it.
── The exact same problem is occurring in Japan. At an exhibition the other day, I had the opportunity to hear someone explain that ABW is a type of hot desking. It takes steady effort to promote ABW in the true sense of the word, rather than just as an office strategy.
Roel: I understand that there are regional differences in how ABW is perceived.
Previously, V+C's website emphasized that ABW is "activity-based." Activity-based means that individuals consciously choose when, where, and with whom they spend their time, and this has resonated with many clients. However, to achieve this, individuals and teams need to be empowered. I'm not sure if this will be the right trigger for its deployment in Japan, but it has been a catalyst for the deployment of ABW in Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands, where delegation of authority is considered a type of management.
However, in North America, delegation of authority is seen as a type of leadership, and it has not been an opportunity to think about ABW. ABW and empowerment need to be clearly defined, focusing on their impact on teams, individuals, leaders, etc., not just the working environment.
We are also currently searching for this definition. How should we present ABW in a way that will help people understand the true concept? We would like to continue the discussion.
── However, I think there are more opportunities to hear the term ABW and more people who understand the concept than before. Do you feel it has become easier to explain ABW over the past 20 years?
Roel: Not really, because most people understand topics like flexible working and open-plan office spaces, not ABW itself, but I think it's still relatively easy to explain on those topics.
Where it's still difficult is for people considering moving from fully assigned seats or group-assigned seats offices to fully flexible working. This is a big step for most people, and the hurdles are just as high as they were for people we interviewed and gave workshops to 10 or 20 years ago.
But the biggest difference between then and now is that the data, especially the information we get from V+C's own research and Microsoft's Viva Insights, allows us to see a lot more and in a lot more detail than we could 10 years ago. We can look at a lot of different work patterns, from the number of hours worked to the length of the work week to reliance on leadership. And that allows us to see a lot of the challenges that we can face and challenge.
So, in response to this question, I cannot say that explaining ABW has become easier, but I would say that it has become easier to face ABW.
Why V+C is focusing on utilizing work style data
── The use of data was included in the two major predictions about work styles that V+C announced earlier this year. We also touched on the importance of data in our recent interview with Marco, but what is the reason behind V+C placing such importance on data?
Roel:As you says, we discussed two important perspectives for thinking about work styles at the beginning of this year: conducting experiments and using data. These two perspectives are aimed at updating work habits and etiquette. In short, many people involved in work styles, such as facility managers, real estate managers, and HR managers, are waiting in anticipation for work styles to be updated after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our research shows that without a leader or consultant to lead these changes and updates, they won't be implemented or people will revert to their old ways of working. Given that the pandemic has shown us that the office is less necessary than it was before, this could be seen as a missed opportunity.
What we are advocating is to look for new combinations by utilizing what we have learned from the pandemic and combining it with the positive aspects of how we worked before the pandemic. On the other hand, if we do nothing, whether it be in business, in teams, or in families, we will revert to old habits. If we do not publicly declare that we want to change, that we want to use the experiences we have gained from the pandemic next time, or that we want to see it as a new opportunity, and start having open conversations and collecting information, we will return to where we were and lose the opportunity to grow.
In the Netherlands, we have always been pioneers in new ways of working. Other organizations are also trying to take steps towards new endeavors to fulfill their responsibilities. However, they are not taking big steps and are waiting to move forward. That is why we feel it is time to be bold. It is an opportunity for large organizations to make a splash, run pilot experiments, measure the impact as data, and reflect on it. With this intention, we invited Marco to join our team four years ago and have become a global research and data team.
Looking at issues from data can help us see things that we haven't seen before. For example, in Europe, team bonding has been lacking since the pandemic. Digging into this issue from research data, we find that the biggest problem facing both teams and individuals is a lack of information. In other words, it's not about the amount of time you have to meet and talk with your colleagues or the level of friendship in the company, but whether you feel connected to each other in business activities in the first place.
For example, if you work on a team with 10 projects going on at the same time, can you currently keep track of all 10 projects and feel like you can help your team members? The answer is clearly no.
This lack of connection will become a problem in the post-COVID era of work, and in our industry, we often see decisions such as "We urgently need to prepare a cafe space" or "We will come to the office a certain number of days a week." While this may be effective as a short-term measure, it is not a fundamental solution to the problem. That is why bold experiments based on data are needed. In addition to creating cafe spaces and opportunities to meet face-to-face, it may also be wise to use digital tools and business information management tools to improve and promote information sharing.
── The use of data itself is still a new and bold attempt in the industry. Even now, when building a new office, discussions often begin from the perspective of (cool) design.
Roel:In that sense, it ties back to what I said earlier. It may seem like a bold idea, but there is nothing new about new ways of working. Based on our previous approaches and the data we have accumulated, we can steadily improve the concept and quality of new ways of working.
Returning to Marco's story, he was originally a director at KPN, a major telecommunications company in the Netherlands, and also served as the leader of the company's new ways of working. At that time, he told me, "I want to immerse myself in research. I want to know what's happening in the field of new ways of working, not just at KPN, but around the world, and what workers are experiencing. That's why I want to join V+C, which has a wealth of experience in the field of new ways of working around the world and has consultants active in various regions."
At the time we were looking for a junior consultant, but we decided to join forces because it was a good opportunity for both of us. Now, four years later, we consider ourselves to be a rare group immersed in the field of data analysis and research of working practices. That is why two years ago Microsoft decided to work with us as a data party for large companies in Europe.
Because of that history, we analyze the data we get from Viva Insights on a daily basis to understand everything from working patterns to relationships and preferences at workers. We feel that our data is even more powerful in that we are able to gain much more insight than other companies.
How to lead a team as a manager when you don't have direct reports
── I'd like to go back to the point you mentioned earlier about the lack of connections. In Japan, many people feel that their sense of connection and belonging has weakened as more people work from home. Roel, as a leader, can you share your personal experiences and lessons learned on how to support your subordinates and team members when they are working remotely?
Roel: THere are a number of ways to do this, including training and workshops that we offer at V+C.
One of them, which we at V+C and share with our clients, is that it is important to "communicate openly and honestly, and when giving feedback, provide and receive comments with curiosity and interest." We believe that this combination is particularly important.
To put this into practice, V+C has set up an "Academy Day" once a month for in-house training, where employees share their knowledge and case studies remotely. The European team also has an Academy Day twice a year, which lasts three days and is held in person. Because this is an important opportunity for conversation, feedback, and learning through these, we make sure that all participants strictly adhere to the rules listed above.
Behind this lies a concept called matrix leadership. Matrix leadership is a concept that requires open and clear communication because, unlike the old system where one team had one leader and one reporting line, one team has multiple leaders and reporting lines. What we emphasize here is not only open communication, but also the impact that one's own words and ideas have on others. In a matrix-type organization where various elements tend to become complex, it is important to communicate honestly and openly and not make the way other people work complicated or difficult.
── Is Academy Day held outside of Europe?
Roel:Yes, other Asian teams are doing the same thing. In Europe, we also have an "office day" where we meet face-to-face on Mondays once every three weeks. We basically work in a distributed manner, with 60% of our work being done remotely. Even meetings are mostly done through a screen. So we think it's necessary to meet and talk in person to really understand each other. Otherwise, it could develop into an internal political issue, so we need a kind of sense of friendship to be open with each other.
── In situations like these, a physical office space is also necessary.
Roel:Yes, 100% necessary. We don't even have an office in the Netherlands, where V+C is headquartered. We used to have a co-working space where we could work face-to-face every day, but we still didn't have enough seats for the whole team. So we make sure to have dinner together in a restaurant in the evening on Academy Day.
Conclusion: A message to Japan
── As the representative of Veldhoen + Company, do you have any advice for us about hybrid working and ABW in the Japanese market?
Roel:My advice to you is: be bold.
Japan has the data and insight to create a landmark for new ways of working. Focus on creating a landmark for the way of working in Japan. Of course, we would like to help you do so.
We have over 30 years of experience supporting new ways of working. We have invested in research and cultivated the creativity and knowledge to create the best practices. Please make use of all the data sources we have, such as V+C's Workstyle Survey, Microsoft's Workstyle Trend Report, Viva Insights, and data using sensors and beacons. What should we do now about user experience regarding workstyles and office flexibility? We look forward to continuing to discuss with our clients.
