Change management

When the design of space is a component of a cultural change program, what goes before and after it?

The recent story of Grey Group's new offices is illustrative of many change management programs. There is a recognized need for change, and place and space are designed as key components, even faciitators, in that change. Yet people arrive in the new space unready for the change it represents and is intended to support.

What goes before a change program that involves place and space may be the most  significant factor in its success. What comes after it may be a significant factor in its sustainability.

As a friend reflected recently, if I am a Westerner born in China and living there for the first 18 years of my life, I am pretty much Chinese despite outward appearances. Arriving suddenly in the U.S., I may look like an American, but I certainly am not.

I would be greatly interested in the experiences of those who have initiated, or have been part of, successful change programs where new space is designed as a central or significant contributor to the intended change. In your experience –

• What was the intended change?
• Why were place and space made central components of the change?
• What was the nature of preparation for the intended change before the move? Was it about culture, operations, organization, space or...?
• Was there follow-up change management/communications after the move to nurture the intended change?
• Was there follow-up assessment of the effectiveness of the role of space in the change, and tuning of the space to align it and make it more effective as an agent in the change?
• Was the change beneficial and sustainable? How did space contribute to that?

These questions are intended only as prompts, of a sort. I'll understand succinct responses, and also appreciate other ideas and concepts, references to other documents or publications, invitations to follow-up conversations, etc.

Thank you to the community!