Have you ever wondered how your co-workers and clients perceive the office space you work in? What signals does your workplace project? Workplaces send signals about the people populating them, the organizational structures, the company culture, the brand values and visions. Signal Theory can help with just that. In this Slideshare, we show how you can use it.

1. Are you aware of
the signals your
workplace projects?
Signal Theory

2. Introduction
Have you ever wondered how your employees, clients and
other stakeholders perceive your workplace? What does
your workplace signal and communicate?
Workplaces send signals about the people populating
them, the organisational structures, the company culture,
the brand values and visions.
The physical workspace holds an enormous power to bring
strategies, customers’ demands and brand values alive, act
as a receptacle for corporate memory and give employees
constant visual stimuli to the company ethos.

3. We’re facing a mismatch
Even though there are many
opportunities in strengthening
company values, culture and goals
through a larger emphasis on signals
communicated through our physical
frameworks – not many have
successfully taken advantage.

4. of your employees do not
see the connection between
organisation values and the
physical framework of the
organisation.
If you ask employees whether
the physical frameworks reflect
the values and the identity of
the workplace, only 50%
will say yes.
This means that half of employees
in many workplaces believe that
their office space does not reflect
the values of the organisational and
what it stands for.
50%

5. Choose the image you want to project
No business can afford to risk, sending signals that
do not reflect the company culture, values and
visions.
Becoming aware of the ways in which your
company can project the right image is therefore
of crucial importance.
If you’re looking to signal that your organisation
is flat and democratic, then a floor structure
reflecting manager seniority should be avoided.
Likewise, you shouldn’t look for promoting
knowledge sharing and collaboration if your
workspace consists of closed offices, cubicles and
a limited number of open plans.
One person cellular office / private ownership of m2
(No face to face contact and limited knowledge sharing)
Activity based working environment / joint ownership of m2
(Promotes a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration )

6. Signal syndication
The time where the office Art Committee consisting of few randomly
selected employees was in charge of the office decorations is over.
These days, workplace and interior design are closely connected
to top management’s outcome demands and strategies to improve
performance. The balance between space and identity represents
a central element in the organisation’s professional storytelling.
Thus, the organisational and professional artefacts and signals need
to be coordinated and synchronized with the communication of
organisational goals and values.

7. Signal syndication
Organisational artefacts
The values of the organisation
What is the raison d’être of
the organisation?
What are the values that
drive us?
Professional artefacts
Organisational competences
Who are we and which
competences and
professional skills do we have
in the organisation?
Personal artefacts
Current team project
Who are we as human beings?
What do we constitute
as important in this little
community?

8. Sending the right signals
To secure proper organisational
understanding both internally and
externally, the signals transmitted
must be in alignment with the
organisational values, missions
and visions.
Focusing on giving the right clues
and sending the right signals is not
only important from a branding
perspective. It also plays a role in
reducing organisational uncertainty
and asymmetric information
between the organisation and its
stakeholders as well as being able
to retain employees and attract
new talent.
Do the formal meeting
areas communicate the
professionalism that the
organisation and the company’s
representatives represents?
Does the reception signal the
quality and professionalism that
guarantees the clients, they
have arrived in the right place?
Does the back office enable
colleagues to update their
knowledge of work in
progress and developments
just by walking through the
organisational spaces?

9. Release the potential
In markets with hyper
intensive competition, product
differentiation is no longer
sufficient to maintain credible
competitive advantages.
Nowadays companies need to
position the entire corporation,
with all its tangible aspects.
For these reasons it is our
believe that a growing number
of organizations, in the coming
years, will look to the most
effective ways to express
themselves and communicate
their organizational purposes
and values.
The workspace, the service and
the interior will become an even
more important resource in the
quest to reach organizational
goals, strengthen the brand
experience and grow the
competitive advantage.
And the numbers speak for
themselves.
Sending the right signals matters
of the
Millennials
entering the
labor market today believe that the
design of the workplace is more
important than salary.
70%
believe that
inspirational
physical
surroundings are the most important
thing for them to live up to their full
potential at work.
6 10out
of

10. Learn more about the
strategic workplace design.
Visit
www.signal.issworld.com & www.servicefutures.com