How Good Businesses Share Power through the Built Environment.
How Good Businesses Share Power through the Built Environment.
Good businesses share power through the built environment.
“Belonging isn’t just created by people. It’s reinforced by the spaces we create.”
When I joined Boo in 2019, one thing I took note of was each of us had our favourite inspirational quote framed on the office wall. We also had mini figs of ourselves made. Walk into Boo HQ today and you will see framed photos of the team on the shelves.
I enjoyed this at the time without really understanding what it meant at a deeper level. At my son’s nursery, the names, faces and drawings of the children feature everywhere. Not just their own tray and their own peg – they have a tree that they hang their names on little wooden plaques, another tree made of their fingerprints, their self portraits on the wall, a calendar with everyone’s photo next to their birth month – and so on.
I didn’t realise the impact of this beyond ‘that’s nice’ until I started looking at quality improvement in the maternity environment. When we feel ownership or shared ownership of a physical space, it has a psychological effect. The most obvious effect is a sense of welcome and belonging.
However, a really important – and overlooked – consideration is how this changes power dynamics.
There is research to suggest that claiming a space – for example by putting a personal item (like a phone) on the table during a difficult negotiation – we automatically feel an increased sense of confidence.
We know that giving birth in a familiar space can significantly improve the experience, so every opportunity should be taken to maximise that sense of personalisation should be taken in a hospital setting. This could be anything from inclusive artwork, space for our belongings, a choice of sounds or music and at the very least a virtual tour and induction into that place.
When we do this well, a space becomes not just someone else’s working environment in which you are a guest but a place of safety and comfort.
When you are safe and comfortable, you are more on an equal footing with the people who are caring for you – whether that’s a teacher, a nursery worker or a midwife.
When you are safe and comfortable, you are more able to relax into the experience, to absorb information and to ask for what you need. Good businesses do not fear this – they design for it.
