When designing a new office space one of the most important considerations should be to understand the role of stakeholders in the process and how the design and function of the office space can impact them.
A stakeholder is defined as a group or person that can affect or be affected by the actions of a business. The relationship between a business and its stakeholders directly influence the success of a business and its operating efficiency.
There are a wide range of stakeholders who can be influenced by a new office design project including both internal and external parties.
Internal stakeholders are the individuals and parties that form part of the organisation and include:
At Building Interiors, we always recommend that office spaces are designed with a workplace strategy at their core. Workplace strategy understands how people undertake their job role and how the design on the office can facilitate all styles of work to increase productivity.
Creating an agile working environment can maximise the value for businesses from their employees. By creating spaces tailored for all types of work and the different ways that people work best, provides them with flexibility and autonomy, which improves productivity.
In order to maximise the impact of your office for internal stakeholders it is about putting their needs front and centre of your workplace strategy. We recommend setting up a project taskforce with representatives of each group on the board so that everyone’s ideas are expressed.
External stakeholders on the other hand are the parties and individuals who are not a direct member of the business but are connected and can affect or be affected by the business. These include:
External stakeholders won’t have a direct influence on how the design should function but a well-designed office space that reinforces your brand can have leave a lasting impression, particularly on prospective and existing customers. This impact can directly influence whether you win new business, particularly in the creative industries.
Therefore, a consideration to be made throughout the design process and even when with an existing office space, is “does this space convey the right impression of our business?”. If it doesn’t then it could have an adverse effect on business performance.