Myriam HadnesFounder and CEO, workshops.work · Behavioural Economist | workshops.work | Host of the Unprofessionalism & workshops work Podcasts

Unlocking Conversations: Creating a New Space for Change

2 Nov 2023 · 1 min

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In this segment, the speaker emphasizes that fostering meaningful conversations often hinges on simply providing the right physical environment. She argues that asking people to alter their interaction patterns within a space that traditionally supports a certain mode of communication is challenging. By relocating discussions to alternative settings—such as a garden or a dedicated user‑research testing area within the same building—participants experience a shift in dynamics that encourages new types of dialogue. The speaker shares a concrete example where she invited members of an organization into the spacious user‑research area, noting how the change of venue immediately altered the feel and quality of the conversation, demonstrating that meaningful change does not require distant retreats, just thoughtful re‑configuration of existing spaces.

Chapters

It doesn't take much sometimes, does it? It's really just giving people the opportunity to have those kinds of conversations which are so often lacking. But you do need to make the space for it. And I think this goes back to— back to the space itself, you know. And I think if we're asking people to change the way they interact with each other in an environment that has tradition of interacting in one way, they're not going to be able to do it so well as they might be if you took them out into the garden and did it. It's just, you don't have to go far away. You just have to find a different space. One organization I worked with, I sort of honed in on the area where the user researchers worked because they had big spaces, you know, where they would do, you know, sort of testing and stuff like that. And it was a lot more, it felt very different to the rest of the organization. So I would bring people from the rest of the organization into that space. And it was in the same building and everything.