Redesigning Work Before Place with Dan Mottau

<p>As organisations are navigating this new landscape of “hybrid” work, a conversation that is happening more and more, is one that centres around “<em>how do we work?</em>” and “<em>how do we want to work?</em>”, before we start talking about, “<em>what does our office look like?</em>”.</p> <p> </p> <p>Today’s guest, Dan Mottau, did just that.</p> <p> </p> <p>Dan was introduced to me by a mutual colleague when I was looking for thought leaders in the People & Culture space to join me for my book launch panel in Melb.</p> <p> </p> <p>From the first conversation I had with Dan, I was completely blown away with his approach to work and workplace. This was someone who spoke my language and absolutely understood the impact of how a workplace design NEEDS to respond to the operations of the business.</p> <p> </p> <p>So much so, that when the opportunity arose for Dan and the team at Redbubble to create a new workplace, rather than heading straight out to market and chatting with leasing agents, though took a moment to really think about “<em>how do we want people at Redbubble to work?</em>”</p> <p> </p> <p>That simple question set them off on a journey that completely transformed, not only the way they work, but then also the place that would best support that way of working.</p> <p> </p> <p>So, I’ve invited Dan to join me here for a conversation, to share what really is a progressive, insightful and in some ways quite a radical approach to the whole process, and one that I would welcome more organisations to consider when embarking on the opportunity of creating a new workplace. To first, really question the nature of work, the way their people work and then what they truly want from their workspace to facilitate and enable that work.</p> <p> </p> <p>What I find fascinating about this approach, is that it was a people led approach. As Dan shares with us, the project lead was their head of DBI. This was not a project that was handed down to the facilities team, via finance, it was entrusted to the People teams to deli