Macquarie Bank: Our first Australian ABW Project
It's not about the building
The Challenge
Leadership recognised the potential in adopting ABW to align One Shelley Street workspace and workstyle with the goals and values of the organisation and to embody the brand. But one challenge in particular was identified: How to break down silos?
One Shelley Street would be home to one division, but that division was made up of many different business units. Cross-collaboration and inter-business teamwork were not part of the existing behaviours at Macquarie Bank.
The Outcome
The new environment that Macquarie occupied in 2009 was light-filled, transparent, diverse and colourful. The early post-occupancy experience at One Shelley St revealed continuing challenges like:
- “How do I supervise a team I can’t see?”
- “How can a team be a team when they are not necessarily in the same place?”
But as Peter Maher pointed out, resolving these issues was part of the ongoing journey and part of a permanent process of change management.
Results in Numbers
- 92% would prefer NOT to return to their old way of working
- 73% of people said the implementation to ABW had changed their view on working for Macquarie positively
- 55% of people said the new way of working had made them more effective in their performance – only 6% of people thought they are less effective
