7 Steps to Build a Workspace Where Everyone Gets What They Need
Stop failing at continuous improvement
Creating a space where your team can actually get work done doesn't require fancy tools or complicated systems. It starts with something as simple as three columns on a wall and grows into a place where everyone knows what's happening, who needs help, and how to move forward together. You just need to start where you are and grow to where you need to be.
Harder than it sounds, easier than you think. (Yes, it still requires work)
Step 1: Start With What You Have Right Now
Don't wait for the perfect moment or the perfect tool. Look around your team today and ask: "What work are we actually doing?" Write it all down on sticky notes. Don't worry about making it pretty or organized yet. Just get everything visible.
We want to see that there’s too much stuff and that some things are defined better than others. That’s okay, it’s life. We are starting to learn to finish.
Start with a simple Personal Kanban board with three initial columns: Options, Doing, and Done. Put all your team's work in the Options column, move only 1-3 things to Doing (limit your WIP), and celebrate when things move to Done. This simple act of making work visible immediately reduces stress and confusion. (Check out the Personal Kanban class for more detail).
Step 2: See How Do You Do What You Do
Get the team together and create a value stream map, which shows how you all work together. I’ve never worked with a team, in an capacity or location, that really understood this. Your team is no different. You must map your work, see who does what, where information is missing, where work is not well defined, where people are underskilled, where other teams are keeping you in the dark…in order to know what the right thing is to do and when.
After you have this map, go back to your Personal Kanban and ask the team, “Now that we know our work flow, what do we need to see to work better?” Is it more columns (like ideation, pre-writing, writing, editing, release)? Is it quality (Completed right the first time, required rework, back to the drawing board)? Is it work we start and then later learn the client wanted something else?
Step 3: Make Your Board Fit Your Team's Personality
Here's the secret that most productivity advice misses: your board needs to feel like your team. Some teams want clean, organized spaces. Others go for with colorful chaos and inside jokes. Some need detailed tracking, others just need to know if they're moving forward.
The boards / visuals that work are the ones your team will actually use. If your team loves celebrating wins, celebrate. If they're competitive, add some friendly metrics. If they're collaborative, make space for shared problems and solutions.
Step 4: Show the Information the Work Wants You to See
Your work isn’t reading an HBR article and making sure it conforms to best practices in popular problems. Your work does weird things and requires some weird responses.
Your workspace should answer the “weird” people are actually experiencing: "What should I work on next?" "Who can help me with this?" "Are we making progress on what matters?" "What's blocking us?" “Why won’t the system we just spent millions on actually work?”
Step 5: Build Visual Trust
As you do this, you will quickly move beyond the Personal Kanban. A host of new visuals will go up in your control center (real or virtual). You’ll be visualizing problem solving efforts, designing for complexity, working out interlocking schedules, figuring out how to interface with other teams or partners, and more.
When everyone can see how success is happening (and that it can be very messy), it is magic. People stop duplicating effort. They offer help before being asked. They understand why priorities change. They feel included in the bigger picture. They can act with confidence.
Visually make space (triggers) for personal check-ins too. A simple "How are you feeling today?" board helps team members support each other. When someone's having a tough day, the team can adjust expectations and offer help.
Step 6: Create Focus Routines
Your control center is a place to meet and requires some maintenance. Meet regularly around your visual workspace and keep it simple:
Daily: Quick check-in on what's moving and what's stuck (5-10 minutes)
Weekly: Look at the bigger picture and adjust priorities (15-30 minutes)
Monthly: Clean up the board and ask "What's working? What isn't?" (30-60 minutes)
The key is consistency, not perfection. These routines will ensure your team's collaboration.
Step 7: Make It Easy to Change and Improve
Your workspace should evolve with your team. If a section isn't being used, remove it. If people keep asking the same questions, add a visual answer. If a board feels stale, change the colors or add new elements.
The best teams treat their workspace like a living thing. They experiment, adjust, and improve based on what they learn. If it's too hard to change your system, you'll stop using it when your needs change.
Step 8: Connect Individual Work to Team Success
Everyone can now see how their work connects to the team's goals and the bigger mission. When people understand why their work matters, they're more engaged and make better decisions. They are more likely to collaborate, to look for opportunities to help, and to understand when they have been successful.
Create clear connections between:
Individual tasks and team projects
Team projects and company goals
Daily work and long-term vision
Problems solved and value created
The team’s identity and how they have each other’s backs
Help Each Other Succeed
The point isn't to have the perfect board or the most organized system. The point is to create a space where people can do their best work together. Where new team members can quickly understand what's happening and how to contribute. Where everyone knows who to ask for help and how to offer it.
When someone walks into your workspace—physical or digital—they should immediately understand: "This is where we work together. This is how we help each other. This is how we make progress on what matters."
Start simple. Start today. Start with your team as they are, not as you wish they were. Build something that works for real people doing real work, and watch how quickly it becomes the center of everything good that happens in your team.
Your workspace isn't just about organizing tasks—it's about organizing how humans work together to create something meaningful. And that's worth getting right.
CALL TO ACTION: If this is interesting to you, you can hire me and Toni to help (just message me on substack or linkedin), or take a class at Modus Institute, or simply get a paid subscription to Humane Work here on substack (see below).
This is what we do and have done for decades, and what we work with others on. Simple, visual, humane strategies to fix the real problems of work.