Serendipity and Storytelling - Key factors for Designing Great Workplaces

Timings - 08:00 GMT / 09:00 CET / 10:00 SAST/ 12:00 GST / 13:30 IST / 16:00 HKT-SGT-ChinaST / 15:00 AWST/ 17:00 JapanST / 18:00 AEST

Workplaces now serve us as a key places to gather, not just for getting the work done but also for purpose and meaning. A diverse group of people come together, collaborate, ideate, and innovate. Workplace becomes a key enabler to get meaningful work done. We have moved away from task based functional offices to social spaces and a melting pot of cultural spaces where different minds come together to solve bigger and complex problems for the future that is unclear and uncertain.

Offices serve us as a place where everyone matters and belonging becomes a central anchor. Our unique cultural background and stories help us bring these diverse viewpoints together. And Storytelling is our stepping stone to our shared purpose, to know one another better and our individual and collective strengths together. Through storytelling, we move beyond our task based headspace to problem solving mindset. And for this environment to emerge, we need workplaces that allow moments of serendipity, unplanned without a task agenda, to get to know our teams better, their unique stories & strengths.

Serendipity has to be intentional by design and needs to allow for moments that break barriers between team members, colleagues and organizational DNA. We dont learn about our work ecosystem by playbooks and guides but by intentional and meaningful conversations, byte by byte.

Designing for both serendipity and storytelling is a future of human centric design. It helps us know what motivates people, what helps them bring their whole self to our workplace. Workplaces are an enabler.

Speaker:

- Head of Workplace Consulting, JLL - India

Pallavi is a senior commercial real estate (CRE) business leader with 20+ years of global experience which include the United States, Singapore and India. Domain expertise in Workplace Strategy, Design and D&B of workplaces for key clients (Occupiers) of Fortune 200 Companies.
A published author of the book, The City Observed - Notes from an Unfolding India (Copal Publishers, 2015). Book is a compilation of essays on the built environment of Indian cities through the lens of social and cultural dynamics. A seasoned writer and a design academician and a regular contributor on workplace, design, urban design, behavioral science and design research for professional publications. Have been a faculty at Arizona State University, USA and ISDI Parsons School of Design, India teaching a course on advanced design research to the senior cohort.
Have served on CoreNet Global India Board from 2018 to 2021 and on CREW Network's global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee in 2020 & 2021. Currently, serving as a WLI Mentor for ULI Young Leader Group.

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