Homework Issue 7

Spring/Summer 2019

talent London’s got

Find and foster the best in business

BUSTING THE MYTH OF THE GREAT LEADER ART MEETS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LIGHT UP YOUR WORK LIFE FIND YOUR BALANCE

a desk is…

… a table that works really hard. So we called ours, ‘Worktable’.

Rawside Furniture is a London-based, designer, builder and lover of the most practical office furniture on planet Earth. www.rawside.co ~ hello@rawside.co ~

@rawside

Rawside, The Undercroft, Kennington Park, 1-3 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6DE

contributions by

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Long live the team We love to opine about leaders. Theresa May, Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, the Queen – not a day goes by when they aren’t name-checked in the press. But how often do we praise the army of people running the show behind the scenes? We gush about visionaries, but I would argue that behind every great leader is an even greater team.

Th ink back to the first time you felt like part of a team. One of my strongest childhood memories is running to my sisters to cry about a girl at school who was mean to me. They told me to hold my head high, and that they would deal with it. From that day forward, I never had a problem with that girl again and, to this day, I still feel part of a strong trio.

Business and educator writer Mansoor Iqbal challenges the myth of the great leader on page 14, and fi nds out how businesses can get ahead by refreshing their image of what a boss looks like. Th is issue of homeWORK magazine celebrates talent and teamwork.

Our playground scraps are long behind us, but we still sometimes clash in the workplace. Take a look at our new Advice Clinic on page 19 for expert advice on how to handle a difficult business partner and ways to encourage diversity at work. Email us anonymously at HomeworkEditor@workspace.co.uk with your workplace problems and let our experts have a crack at solving them.

Our cover features the Founder at Signify Technology, Ryan Adams, at The Frames in Shoreditch, and his team of specialist soft ware recruiters. Adams details the kind of culture he fosters in the workplace in our hero piece, The War for Talent, on page 24, which explores how businesses can go about fi nding and nurturing top talent.

When it comes to workplace culture, best-selling author and businessman Bruce Daisley draws an analogy between strong teams and family. It’s a powerful bond that can work for business owners, generating high productivity and deep ties of loyalty.

Work can take over our lives at the expense of our personal lives, unless we take steps to prioritise our wellbeing. homeWORK launched a wellbeing column last year, which we have expanded to an entire section on pages 51–61, packed with tips on how to sleep soundly, eat mindfully and much more. We live to work, but let’s also work to live.

contribute What do you want to read about in the next issue? Share your ideas and any exciting news by emailing me at HomeworkEditor@workspace. co.uk

farah Farah Khalique, Editor @FarahKhalique

Fleur Macdonald

Fleur is a freelance journalist who has contributed to The Economist’s 1843 magazine, the BBC and TRUE Africa. Find her on Twitter @fleur_macdonald

Mansoor Iqbal

Mansoor is a writer specialising in business, education and brands. He has worked with Imperial College Business School, Medium, and Canvas8. Mansoor previously worked as Editor at business education hub TopMBA.com

Rosalyn Page

Rosalyn is an award-winning journalist with 20 years’ experience covering technology, consumer issues, digital lifestyle and HR and careers for newspapers and websites. Find her at rosalynpage.com

Camilla Allen

Camilla is a journalist and Editorial Assistant at TRUE212. She was previously Acting Editorial Assistant at Vogue and has contributed to elle.com, Healthy magazine, TRUE Africa and CiTTi. Find her on Twitter @CamillaAllen_

Sarah Graham

Sarah is a health journalist and has been published by The Guardian, The Telegraph, Grazia, BBC Th ree, Women’s Health, Refi nery29 and more. Sarah recently worked as Content Editor for Google Arts & Culture, on projects in collaboration with the Mayor and The Prince of Wales We would love to hear what you think of the magazine, so why not tweet us @WorkspaceGroup?

#7 spring/summer 2019

homeWork, issue #7, spring/summer 2019, Editor/ Features Writer Farah Khalique; Editorial Assistant/ Writer Camilla Allen; Writer Arthur House; Original Photography Dom Salmon; Graphic Designer Ben Thomas; Sub-editor Vanessa Harriss; Publisher/ Advertising Dan Reeves, dan@true212.com homeWORK is published by TRUE212; true212.com The magazine is printed by Alban House Print, 105 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3BU. At the time of print every effort was made to ensure the information contained in the magazine was correct.

Special thanks to Workspace customers: Ryan Adams, Founder at Signify Technology; Michael Adu, Founder at Stress-Less Fitness; Andy Baddeley, Head of Operations at Fusion Media; Zara Bates, Head of Consulting and Training at Strengthscope; Josh Bowyer, CEO at Zint Technology; Jane Bright, Director of People and Talent at Bloom & Wild; Patrick Camilleri, CTO at Crypto Quantique; Ben Gancz, Director at Qumodo; Raz Ghafoor, Co-founder at Th ird Eye; Johanna Ho, Founder at PHVLO; Hanna Naima McCloskey, CEO at Fearless Futures; Emma Morley, Founder at Trifle; Shahram Mossayebi, CEO at Crypto Quantique; Nick Owen, Founder at What-Food; Leanne Spencer, Founder at Bodyshot Performance; Kit Tomlinson, Co-founder at Mighty Fine; James Watson, Chief Marketing Officer at Immerse; William Wood, Design Engineer at BDI Precision Thanks to additional contributors: Hope Bastine, psychologist at Fresh Perception; Jennifer Bollen, journalist; Jane Burka, psychologist; Frans Burrows, Founder at Bluebottle; Hugo Caselles-Dupré, Cofounder at Obvious; Bruce Daisley, Vice President for EMEA at Twitter; Clare Evans, Productivity Coach and author of Time Management for Dummies; Simon Freedman, osteopath; Ramona Da Gama, business coach; Brij Ghedia, Business Development Manager at Workspace; Martin Hancock, Director of Talent Management at the NHS Leadership Academy; Dr Els van der Helm, Sleep Consultant at Shleep; Rob Holdway, Innovation Director at Co-Innovate; Shahroo Izadi, author of The Kindness Method; Emma Jones, Founder at Enterprise Nation; James Langton, Editor at Less-Stress London; Dr Bernice Ledbetter, Dean of Students and Alumni Relations at Pepperdine Graziadio Business School; Katie Nicholls, Chair of the London Night Time Commission; Sylvia Metayer, CEO at Sodexo; Gordon Montgomery, Head of Executive Search at Ciesco; Idris Moudi, Founder at Natural Moves; Dr Cinzia Pezzolesi, psychologist; Roelof Pieters, Founder at Creative.ai; John Robson, Asset Management Director at Workspace; Dr Fuschia Sirois, academic; Kahroon Tanvir, Senior Project Manager at Workspace; Laura Thomas PhD, nutritionist and author of Just Eat It; Dr Elena Touroni, Chelsea Psychology Clinic; Dr Peter U. Tse, cognitive neuroscientist; James Wilson, sleep expert; Jesse Wilson, Co-founder at Beer Pioneer; Emma Woollacott, journalist; Lenora Yuen, psychologist

contents

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Show Me the Money Find the right funding for your business with our round-up of the latest pools of investor money

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The War for Talent Discover the latest trends in hiring and retaining staff to nagivate the current squeeze on talent

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Go with the PHVLO Designer Johanna Ho is fighting fast fashion with her quirky designs and “buy less, buy quality” ethos

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32 Work Well Find out how a cleverly designed workplace can boost productivity and even wellbeing

40 State of the Art Meet the Workspace customers bridging the gap between man and machine to create cutting-edge art

51 Wellbeing Less-Stress London Editor James Langton looks at the latest thinking on sleep, nutrition and exercise

56 Pod Up your Life Bruce Daisley at Twitter rounds up the top business podcasts that will sharpen your edge at work

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Meet the Founder Raz Ghafoor at ThirdEye talks fighting theft with AI, hiring great talent and pitching to investors

news

Business news The city that never sleeps Our capital is set to boost its culture credentials with more night-time events, pop-up markets and exhibitions, thanks to new plans from Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Khan wants to boost London’s economy with more “welcoming, safe and vibrant” night-time public spaces, following recommendations from the London Night Time Commission. “I’m determined that London is a city that works for all, 24 hours a day,” he says.

Research shows that two-thirds of Londoners are already regularly active at night, whether that’s running errands, working or socialising with friends, and, on the whole, Londoners tend to go to bed later than anyone else in the UK. Under the new plans, these night owls can make the most of more parks, museums, libraries and town halls open after dark.

Retail units or hotel lobbies could be used to host public art exhibitions, pop-up markets or performances.

Public transport could also get cheaper.

The commission recommends a new “night rider” fare, so that passengers can switch

A rose by any other name...

between the tube, trains, DLR and buses at no extra cost.

“London at night is dynamic and diverse.

It’s a success story, with well over half of Londoners regularly on the move, and 1.6 million of us working. But, like the Mayor, we believe the capital can be so much more at night – with more chances to shop, to rest,

to explore, to innovate and to grow,” says Kate Nicholls, Chair of London Night Time Commission.

“We can extend the opening hours of our traditional cultural offerings to reach more Londoners, and we can bring underused spaces to life at night and help tackle the decline of our high streets.”

Ditch the diesel or pay a fine London’s ultra-low emission zone comes into effect this April – and getting it wrong can cost you a £160 fine.

Covering the same area as the existing Congestion Charge Zone, it will apply 24/7.

Motorists driving non-environmentally friendly cars will have to pay £12.50 on top of the £11.50 congestion charge fee, meaning that some London motorists could be forking out £24 a day.

Transport for London reveals that

1.5 million diesel cars, half a million petrol cars, 55,000 HGVs and 10,000 coaches failed to meet the new standards in the Congestion Charge Zone last year.

The aim of the “D-charge” is to cut pollution in the capital, which has been linked to thousands of deaths every year.

Check your car at tfl.gov.uk/modes/ driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/vrmchecker-ulez

Do you have a best friend at work?

Will you become a Director of Fun this year, or possibly an Accounting Ninja?

The Indeed jobs website has taken a look at the weirdest job titles of last year, and found that geniuses, gurus, superheroes, rockstars and wizards are all getting more popular. But, says the company, “while geniuses are on the rise, heroes are on the decline”.

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British workers are a chummy lot, with most saying they’ve made a lifelong friend at work.

A recent study from 4Com reveals that, for Londoners, being a work friend means trusting your colleague with your secrets and finding them fun to be around. Nearly three-quarters of those with close work friends say it makes them more productive because it makes them enjoy their job more.

“When people get on well and develop

friendships, there is a greater supportive and positive energy, which ultimately makes the experience of going to work more pleasant,” explains consultant psychologist Dr Elena Touroni of the Chelsea Psychology Clinic.

“Although it can be more complex in some instances, being in an environment that you enjoy generally has a positive effect on your overall productivity. Long story short: happier people work harder.”

homeworkmagazine

Making Tax Digital From April, there are big changes coming to the way the UK tax system works. Quarterly reporting – starting with VAT – will be mandatory for all VATregistered organisations.

Get a heads-up on digital tech Around 600 micro and small businesses will benefit from free advice on taking up digital technology.

The government-funded Heads Up! programme was set up to help companies fi nd ways to improve cash flow and sales.

Run by small-business support network Enterprise Nation and Brunel University, the programme will help businesses identify where they need improvement, match them up with accredited coaches online and offl ine and provide them with productivity tools.

“If we get this right, the benefit will be felt across the whole economy,” says Enterprise Nation Founder Emma Jones.

“Entrepreneurs struggle to raise their heads from day-to-day operations; to work on the business, not in it. Th is project will make it easy for owners to step back to identify and access relevant support.”

Enterprise Nation has already signed up corporate partners to help with the trial; companies including Microsoft , Xero, CharlieHR, Soldo, Basekit and Equipsme are helping to deliver training for accreditation.

The results of the trial, says Jones, will be used by the government to inform policy on how the UK can deliver the most relevant support, at the right level of investment, for small businesses.

Loyal Londoners Almost three-quarters of London start-ups are set up by people born in the city – and eight out of 10 say the capital had a positive impact on their decision to go into business.

In a survey from internet provider Plusnet, entrepreneurs said they appreciated local connections and felt the city had a great support system.

Two-thirds said they had decided to set up in the capital because of existing connections in the city, and four in 10 said it’s well-suited for businesses in their industry.

“It’s great to find out that so many new business owners are setting up in their home towns and thriving,” says Plusnet.

“Choosing to stay in your home town shows to be the key to success, and this is especially true for younger owners, who

workspace.co.uk

still have strong ties to friends and family in their local area.” However, London has far more to offer than your home town, with business hubs, lots to see and do, and myriad attractions.

It’s not all good news for London businesses, though. A separate survey reveals they have the lowest credit scores in the country. According to research from Experian, eight of the 10 postcode areas with the lowest average Experian business credit scores are in the capital.

A poor credit rating can make it harder to access growth funding, and businesses are urged to boost their rating by paying invoices and filing accounts on time.

Looking for a great office space?

Find a Workspace centre near you at workspace.co.uk

What is Making Tax Digital?

Making Tax Digital means that instead of submitting annual year-end tax returns, businesses will have to use HMRC-compatible accounting software to record their accounting data. HMRC has access to these records.

Who does it apply to?

The new rules will apply to VAT-registered businesses – those whose taxable turnover exceeds the £85,000 VAT threshold. Charities and fundraising work will be exempt, as will the “digitally excluded” – those who can’t use accounting software for specific reasons such as disability, remoteness, age or religion.

What data do I need to record?

Give HMRC your business name, principal place of business and VAT registration number, as well as information about the VATaccounting schemes used and your VAT account.

How should I prepare?

If you already use electronic accounting software, check with your supplier whether it plans to introduce updates that are compatible with the new system. If not, you’ll need to shop around.

Where can I find out more?

Check out the government website, which includes full details of the electronic recordkeeping requirements: tinyurl.com/making-tax-digitaloverview

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news

Workspace news Café at Brickfields, Hoxton

New centres in London’s hotspots

Taper Studios, The Leather Market, London Bridge

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Over almost a century, the building that stretches along Easton Street, just off Exmouth Market, had been home to iconic companies that manufactured stylish wallpaper, invented the first superheated steam machines and even fought for human rights.

Now called Ink Rooms, the 37 offices and studios will once again be home to an inspiring range of innovative businesses. “It’s a unique space in that part of town,” says Kahroon Tanvir, Senior Project Manager at Workspace. The new top floor is one office space, lift and green roof including a terrace, while the rest of the building offers offices of varying sizes.

As well as specialising in the stylish refurbishment of existing buildings, Workspace also offers new developments.

Taper Studios provides 12 brand new offices and studios in The Leather Market complex, near London Bridge and bustling Borough Market.

Each office features floor-to-ceiling glazing, engineered timber floors and mezzanines, and high-specification kitchens and bathrooms. Tanvir says, “You have the

opportunity to brand the spaces and put your own company’s stamp on it”.

As well as enjoying their own private facilities, customers at Taper Studios can benefit from the café, co-working space, events calendar and vibrant community provided by the small and growing companies in The Leather Market business centre.

Meanwhile in east London, demand for flexible office space is growing rapidly.

Brickfields opens in June around the corner from the Geffrye Museum and Hoxton rail station. The industrial design of the building features a steel-frame interior. All units are accessed off galleries circling a long central atrium and a stunning ribbon staircase weaves along its length. There will be a café for refuelling, socialising and meeting clients and neighbours, and a dedicated coworking space in a vibrant and budding part of the Capital.

To find out more about moving to a fantastic new Workspace business centre, visit workspace.co.uk

homeworkmagazine

WIN BIG WITH WORKSPACE

WorkspacePerks launches We all love a good bargain – look no further than Workspace to find great deals for you and your business. WorkspacePerks is a new platform that will offer even more opportunities to do business with the thousands of other companies based at Workspace.

Head to workspace.co.uk/workspaceperks to browse the two-for-one offers, discounts and free consultations from Workspace customers, including florists Bloom & Wild and printer Shades of Colour, based at Vox Studios.

Ensure you’re logged into My Account when on the website to see the full range of offers available to you as a customer.

“It’s a free service which is exclusive to our customers,” says Brij Ghedia, Workspace’s Business Development Manager. “WorkspacePerks is designed to encourage businesses to trade with each other and build up the community.”

Discover more at workspace.co.uk/ workspaceperks

Know thy neighbour The best businesses in London are “super connected” to suppliers, clients, peers, funding networks and more – it’s why Super Connected is one of Workspace’s core pillars. Our Club Managers had this in mind when they started a series of Show & Tell events with the aim of creating a space for new co-working members at Club Workspace to network.

“We wanted to create a series of events designed for people to get to know each other and make the most of those connections,” says Lisa Carroll, Head of Club Workspace.

The events have proved extremely successful: 40 people from businesses based at both Club and Workspace attended the last event at London Bridge. It’s been about more than simply getting to know your

workspace.co.uk

neighbours. “The Show & Tell events have helped people find new customers and business partners,” says Lisa. NatWest is on board as a partner for future Show & Tell events.

The next Show & Tell is at Kennington Park towards the end of spring

Club Workspace The Leather Market

Do you have a great idea for a business but need a helping hand? Workspace has teamed up with the Founders Institute to offer a place on its renowned Founders Institute start-up programme, as well as three months of free co-working space at Club Workspace.

This is a brand-new regular initiative between Workspace and the Founders Institute, a pre-seed start-up accelerator that has helped over 3,500 companies raise more than $800M across 65 countries.

The programme lasts 14 weeks, and relies less on theory and more on building up your business alongside London’s top start-up experts. It focuses on revenue models, legal and finance expertise, how to go to market and ways of funding your business.

Our first ever winner will share their success story over the summer, so keep an eye out on workspace.co.uk to read about how Workspace is helping them pursue their dream, and details on how to apply. To find out more, head over to fi.co/overview

JOIN THE CO-WORKING CLUB Freelancers, entrepreneurs, sole traders and start-ups continue to be well catered for at Club Workspace. Two new dedicated Clubs, with all the usual amenities and events calendars, are launching at China Works near Vauxhall, and Brickfields, which is seconds from Hoxton rail station in east London.

On top of these, you can find Club Workspace Hangouts at Edinburgh House in Kennington and The Frames in Shoreditch, which offer a relaxed location to run your business while you’re on the move.

STAY IN THE LOOP Do you want to know what is on offer at Workspace? Some of you may no longer receive our regular emails because of GDPR, so you’ll being missing out on all the great things happening in your centre and across the network.

Stay up to date with offers, discounts and events, including the Workspace Business Insight Dinners, which bring together thought leaders, entrepreneurs and other Workspace customers, and make the most of free financial support from Informed Funding.

Log on to My Account via workspace.co.uk/ my-account, register your details and choose which updates you wish to receive.

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find your funding

investment news Show me the money Looking to grow your business?

Financial journalist Jenny Bollen presents some exciting new sources of funding and 10 top investment successes from the past year

UK seed funding “worrying”

Seed-stage investment activity has fallen to “worrying” levels in the UK as investors, particularly angel networks, await clarity on Brexit. UK seed-stage deals dropped to 663 last year – the lowest level since 2014 – according to a 2018 report published by database Beauhurst. Seed-stage funding is often described as a canary in a coalmine – if it drops, the pipeline of investee companies at the venture and growth stages typically diminishes with time.

However, there are lots of funding options available. Enterprise Nation, which provides advice to small businesses, runs Show Me the Money. Different funders get together and business owners work the room to decide on the best seed funding or growth capital.

Learn more at enterprisenation.com/ campaigns/show-me-the-money

Start-ups get government boost

The government has unveiled a multimillion-pound fund aimed at boosting small businesses’ productivity. Tech projects and pilots including AI, cloud computing and digital dairy farming have benefited

Informed Funding Informed Funding independently connects businesses with finance.

This April, it’s partnering with Workspace for its first food and drink seminar, addressing trends, technology and more, on Thursday 4th April 2019, 6-9pm, at Kennington Park. Find out more at informedfunding.com or #iFSeminar

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from the Business Basics Fund. Fifteen projects have won a share of £2m from the first round of funding. Small firms, local authorities and academic institutions can apply for a share of the next funding wave.

The deadline is 17th April, and there may be further rounds.

three years ago by alumni of venture capital firm Balderton Capital, its investments to date include marketplace Oberlo, paymentscard provider Soldo and design-technology specialist Shapr3D.

Find out more at gov.uk/government/ collections/business-basics-programme

Bright Ideas for communities

Entrepreneur First launches £90m fund

Fledgling business owners can apply to Entrepreneur First for an investment from its new £90m fund. The accelerator’s new pool is backed by big names, including US venture capital firm, Trusted Insight, Zoopla Founder, Alex Chesterman, and Transferwise Founder, Taavet Hinrikus.

Based at The Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey, Entrepreneur First chooses promising founders and gives them £2,000, plus help forming a team to build a new company.

Take a look at inreachventures.com

Charitable trust Power to Change has launched a £3.2m Community Business Bright Ideas Fund to offer support and grants of up to £15,000 to 150 groups for project development. For three years, the fund will offer early-stage finance to conduct consultations with locals to develop business ideas for communities in England. It will also provide tools to set up their businesses.

Check out powertochange.org.uk

Apply at joinef.com and follow Entrepreneur First on Twitter @efLDN

€53m on the table for techies

InReach Ventures, a venture capital firm that uses artificial intelligence to seek deal opportunities, has €53m up for grabs for tech companies. It reached a first close earlier this year – the point at which it can begin investing capital – for early-stage European technology businesses. The fund exceeded its initial €50m target. Co-founded

Who?

Informed Funding is a free resource to help small businesses identify the range of options available to them to raise finance. It offers a combination of bite-sized information and guidance, with self-service tools to narrow down the providers that best match businesses’ needs.

What?

A wide range of finance providers have a presence within Informed Funding, many with dedicated micro-sites, where they outline their offering, provide updated information on services and receive direct contact from companies and their advisers.

The platform breaks down traditional barriers between different types of funding and makes a wide range of sources accessible, understandable and searchable using tailored criteria.

homeworkmagazine

Big Winners Here is our top 10 pick of businesses, including Workspace customers, that won over investors. Find out more about these companies and the type of funding they secured

Bloom & Wild (Vox Studios) £15m: Florist disruptor Bloom & Wild received its largest funding round yet from backers Piper, MMC Ventures, Burda Principal Investments and existing angel investors.

Founded in 2013 by Aron Gelbard and Ben Stanway, its winning offering is simple: hand-picked fresh flowers that fit through a letterbox. Read more about Bloom & Wild in The War for Talent on page 24.

Featurespace £25m: Fraud-detection and risk-management analytics. Venture firms Insight Venture Partners and MissionOG led the round.

Aire $11m: This credit-scoring start-up went down the series B funding route with investors that include Crane Venture Partners.

Nutmeg (Vox Studios) £45m: Wealth-management planner Nutmeg plans to expand its product offering following its latest funding round. Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments Group, which targets fast-growing technology businesses, co-led the funding round with Convoy, a Hong Kong-based financial advisory firm, which invested in Nutmeg in 2016.

Gousto (The Shepherds Building) £18m: The meal-kit company raised equity funding in January from household names like Unilever, and health influencer Joe Wicks. This is on top of £28.5m it received in 2018, bringing total investment since it was launched in 2012 to £75m. Gousto is already ahead of its target to help families serve 400 million balanced and nutritious homecooked meals by 2025.

Rapyd $40m: A fintech-as-a-service platform that helps businesses and their customers choose how to pay and be paid, it completed a series B financing round led by General Catalyst and Stripe.

Muzmatch (East London Works)

£1.5m: A dating app that has helped over

half a million users find love. Aimed at Muslims, it has tailored the online-dating process to focus on marriage, adhering to Islamic beliefs and values. Its £1.5m funding in January came from FJ Labs, Hambro Perks and California-based Y Combinator.

Urban Jungle £1m (Kennington Park): The insurer start-up is disrupting the slow-moving insurance market with its smartphone-first products aimed at millennials. It scored its seed funding from a group of top angel investors that included Rob Devey, ex CEO of Prudential UK and HBOS insurance, and Funding Circle.

Virtuo €20m: It’s getting more expensive to run a car, with rising car tax costs and London’s new £12.50 D-charge, but this is good news for the car-rental market. Startup Virtuo has raised €20m to help crack the UK market. Balderton Capital invested, alongside Iris Capital and Raise Ventures.

Find out more about the D-charge in Business News on page 6.

Share your funding success by emailing HomeworkEditor@workspace.co.uk to feature in next issue’s Big Winners

Why?

The range of financing opportunities for small businesses has broadened significantly in recent years, thanks to the growth of alternative lending, peer-to-peer finance and crowd funding.

Knowing about how various forms of finance work, and the providers available, can make the process less daunting. Workspace customers have free and exclusive access to financial and funding-strategy consultations, finance seminars and workshops.

workspace.co.uk

Who do they help?

Small businesses facing issues like replacing existing bank facilities, emergency cash needs, rising trade debts or a lack of credit from suppliers. Those seeking advice from Informed Funding could be at any level, from buying their equipment, to considering growth, or mulling an acquisition or management buyout.

What next?

Informed Funding’s seminar on 4th April will explore the huge opportunities for food businesses and investors. Consumer attitudes and technology are transforming supply and delivery. Two-thirds of 18- to 24-year-olds are likely to choose a reusable coffee cup; the number of vegan restaurant dishes exploded last year; and Just Eat delivers almost 100 million meals a year. Panellists include Adrian Valeriano at OpenTable.

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OUR EVENTS

ISLIN

Don’t miss Workspace’s top business events hitting London over the next six months. Find more information at workspace. co.uk/community/events CAMDEN

KING’S CROSS LADBROKE GROVE

#WBIDINNER 9th July, Clerkenwell Workshops Workspace Business Insight dinners bring PADDINGTON together customers for a networking event and panel discussion.

FA

WEST END

NOTTING HILL

WATERLOO

HAMMERSMITH

INFORMED FUNDING EARLS COURT

VICTORIA

Business Trends in Food, Drink and Hospitality, 4th April, Kennington Park Informed Funding connects businesses with finance. It is partnering with Workspace for its first food and drink seminar, addressing trends, technology and more.

BATTERSEA

WANDSWORTH

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KENNIN

NGTON

#WBIDINNER

Going Places, 30th May, The Frames How the latest tech investment in London’s transport system can put your business on the world stage.

SHOREDITCH

ARRINGDON

OLD STREET

STRATFORD

BETHNAL GREEN

THE CITY

LONDON BRIDGE

O

CANARY WHARF

NGTON

#WBIBREAKFAST

12th September, Fleet Street Join us for a morning of discussion and meet your neighbours at Workspace’s Business Insight breakfasts.

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leadership

“People often associate bravado with effective leadership. Actually, that trait might be an indication of a deficit” Dr Bernice Ledbetter, Chair of the Leadership and Management programme, Pepperdine University

do we need to rethink

leadership?

CEOs affect business performance by less than 5%. Diverse teams are up to 35% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability. The age of the “heroic leader” is over – long live the team. Mansoor Iqbal reports In the age of absolute monarchy, kings and queens used to claim a divine right: that they were the direct emissaries of a higher power, and accordingly their word was sacrosanct. We’ve thankfully moved away from the notion of an infallible leader in the sphere of politics; whether we have in the world of business is up for debate.

Visionaries like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Carlos Ghosn have highlighted the dangers of unchecked power combined with unfailing self-belief.

Such leaders, however, remain prevalent.

“For a long time, there have been myths about what makes a great leader and they boil down to some pretty unhelpful assumptions about what the greatest leaders do and who they are,” reflects Zara Bates, Head of Consulting and Training at Strengthscope, a skills assessment and development system headquartered at The Print Rooms in Southwark.

workspace.co.uk

Humility vs. bravado

It’s important to avoid the trap of expecting or encouraging leaders to conform to archetypes. Building an organisation around who they really are and creating an environment in which staff feel positive and committed will foster better results.

The cost of not doing so can be high.

Countless studies show the negative effects of low engagement – in performance, turnover, and even employee health. On the other hand, research from Harvard Business School’s Professor of Leadership and Management, Amy C. Edmondson, shows that leaders who foster a culture of humility – and encourage staff to ask for help – achieve better results.

Dr Bernice Ledbetter chairs the Leadership and Management programme at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School in California. She also moves to dispel the myths that cloud our perception of what constitutes

good leadership. “People often associate bravado with effective leadership. Actually, that trait might be an indication of a deficit.

Charisma alone does not qualify a person for leadership. The most effective leaders are humble, have a clearly defined and articulated moral compass, and possess the poise to communicate with clarity and inspiration.”

These principles are backed up by numbers. A 2015 study by consulting firm KRW found that companies led by CEOs who are deemed to be moral by their employees performed better. The World Economic Forum called having a strong moral compass “the most overlooked leadership skill”.

Hanna Naima McCloskey is CEO of Fearless Futures, a leadership education organisation focused on tackling inequality, based at Canalot Studios in Ladbroke Grove. She believes that being uncompromising with core values is key to

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Zara Bates, head of consulting and training at Strengthscope in The Print Rooms

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leadership Below: A Rum Fellow’s Caroline Lindsell visits rug-making artisans in India Right: Dylan O’Shea and Caroline Lindsell, Co-founders at A Rum Fellow

The team at Strengthscope, based at The Print Rooms in Southwark

How to be a great leader at any level Zara Bates, Head of Consulting and Training at Strengthscope BE YOU: Build around your own skills, strengths and passions, rather than just playing the role of other leaders.

HONE YOUR STRENGTHS: Find the things that make you positively different and master those so that you can be authentic in the way you interact with and lead people.

LISTEN DEEPLY: This can help you to challenge your own perspectives and open your thinking to diverse solutions.

If done well, listening also builds respect and trust. Give genuine time and space for others to be heard.

SHOW HUMILITY: Acknowledge that you don’t know all the answers, you might be wrong, you’re not wedded to your own ideas and you have weaknesses. Lean on the wisdom of the group; find those people who have strengths in areas you don’t. Develop and nurture them as individuals.

BUILD YOUR TRIBE: Make diversity central to your team. Research consistently shows that diverse teams with a range of perspectives derived from dissimilar experiences outperform homogeneous teams. When everyone is an outsider it drives curiosity as a team to build inclusivity through diversity. Are you valuing and recruiting similar people, or are you building a truly diverse tribe?

Read Dare to Lead by sociologist Brené Brown; it explores how to develop brave leaders and courageous cultures.

Turn to page 62 for more recommended books on talent and team-building

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“It’s okay not to know the answers – indeed that’s the point of a team” Hanna Naima McCloskey, CEO Fearless Futures

good leadership – for example, prioritising equity in our workplace cultures.

Vulnerability is also important. She says, “It’s okay not to know the answers – indeed that’s the point of a team. Saying ‘I don’t know’ more often is probably healthy for us all, but particularly those in formal leadership roles.”

Lead at all levels

We can measure business performance more effectively by looking more closely at the people around a leader. Apple’s shock profit warning in January left some wondering if Steve Jobs would have let it come to this. Contemporary management theory, however – namely Phil Rosenzweig’s Halo Effect – argues that a chief executive has limited impact. A 2003 study by Marianne Bertrand at University of Chicago and Antoinette Schoar at MIT quantified this, finding that CEOs can directly affect performance by no more than 2–4%.

The role of a leader, then, becomes about getting the most out of other people.

Leaders must foster an egalitarian culture, says McCloskey.

“Challenging inequality is essential to leaders because they are ultimately stewards of the people in their organisation. Building cultures of equity

and belonging is a priority. Leaders who are really committed to challenging inequality in all its guises are those whose values shine bright and are there for all to see.”

Once again, the figures back this up; a McKinsey study found that companies that are in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have fi nancial returns above their respective national industry medians.

A culture of equality and respect will allow those at all levels of an organisation to perform to their full potential. “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers,” as political activist Ralph Nader put it. Th is is important. The realities of contemporary business mean that leadership does not need to be concentrated solely at the top.

Bates at Strengthscope says, “Everyone can build their [own] leadership brand and ultimately change and impact the culture before rising to the ‘top leadership roles’ of any business. Seniority or pay grade does not assume leadership. [Those at all levels] can positively impact the organisation through challenging traditional and negative leadership traits, and creating positive waves in the organisation.”

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Below: Fearless Futures CEO Hanna Naima McCloskey and her team at Canalot Studios in Ladbroke Grove

Sylvia Metayer The CEO of Corporate Services Worldwide at global food and facilities management company, Sodexo, Sylvia Metayer explains how to be a “servant leader”. First, she takes a collaborative approach to leadership. She told website Chief Learning Officer in 2017 that “to be a CEO is to be a servant”. Servant leadership was coined by Robert Greenleaf, an executive at telecoms company AT&T, who started its first management development programme. It means listening and helping staff instead of ordering and directing them.

Metayer describes one of her main roles as supporting Sodexo’s employees and making their lives easier. She keeps an eye on automation robot technology and how this will change the career paths of employees. Sodexo may have started out in 1966 with a traditional top-down model, but following its reorganisation in 2015, it is all about collaboration.

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“Look to powerful societal movements, such as #MeToo for examples of leadership” Hanna Naima McCloskey, CEO Fearless Futures

Refresh our idea of what a leader looks like

The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that half of all employees want their employer to be a trustworthy source of information on social issues. Look beyond the workplace for examples of leadership to powerful societal movements, such as #MeToo or the move against plastic.

Bates says, “Energy, impetus, momentum and people actively talking about and participating in powerful messages is how change and leadership happens.”

We certainly need to move towards a more inclusive vision, says McCloskey, like the group of 300 dinner ladies in Camden who successfully lobbied to be paid the London Living Wage in 2015, or the

founders of Black Girl Fest, who created a platform to celebrate the overlooked achievements of black women. She says, “All around there are people who deviate from the default by courageously building the kind of world that will be that bit more just – and they aren’t the archetype.”

And really, isn’t that what we should be looking for in our leaders? People who are helping to build a better world – not singlehandedly, nor simply for their own benefit, but by working with and bringing others along with them.

Read on for our new Advice Clinic to see how business leaders based at Workspace tackle common dilemmas in the workplace

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Do you have a workplace dilemma zapping your time and energy? A problem shared is a problem halved!

Email us at HomeworkEditor@ workspace.co.uk and let us help you find a fix.

Business coach Ramona Da Gama and business leaders, Hanna Naima McCloskey, Founder and CEO at Fearless Futures based at Canalot Studios in Ladbroke Grove and Jesse Wilson, Co-founder at Jubel based at Edinburgh House in Kennington give their expert advice on two work dilemmas.

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“My Co-founder likes to be on top of everything and struggles to hand over the reins to anyone else. It’s damaging our relationship, and creating discord within our small team. Help!”

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Jesse: “Start-ups are a wild, exciting ride and process can be seen as slowing things down to a boring, corporate level. I actually think getting really clear on roles, setting good ways of working, and establishing process helps give more autonomy in a start-up rather than being restrictive.

At Jubel, we had no idea what we were doing on day one of starting a business, so my Co-founder and I did everything.

If we could both go back to the start, we’d definitely spend more time being clear on what was my responsibility versus his.

When anything pops up you know exactly who needs to pick it up, rather than having “job creep” and starting to feel like you’re stepping on someone else’s toes.

A healthy dose of process can keep you accountable to each other. A weekly check-in on functional progress can be really helpful to cover “what do I want to achieve this week; what do we need to make a collective decision on; and what challenges have I got that I need your help with”. A bigger

monthly catch-up is a good idea to review progress made over the past month against the key performance indicators you set, and looking forward to the next month to set out what you want to achieve.

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Ramona: Fear of letting go is the most detrimental emotion. But letting go is the only way to grow and develop your business, make a profit and become more sustainable. A company grows because it retains its people; they are happy, self-motivated and want to be part of a viable and profitable business.

Like Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of one the most successful football clubs, Manchester United, get your employees to work in a team. One person cannot score goals on their own – it’s the input and support from your team that is your good fortune.

They have to feel they belong and are respected by the brand, but also have the freedom to help you grow your business, creating a win-win situation. Business owners, you can either keep your people in the dark and fail, or work with them and win.

Q

“My tech business is growing rapidly but the gender split is uneven, with only a few women on board. I don’t have a huge recruitment budget, but how can I attract more women?

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Hanna: First off, it’s good you’re thinking about this early! This is mission-critical for your organisation, and the best news is that the sooner you lay solid foundations the better.

You don’t need a huge recruitment budget either. To start, you’ll need to reflect on your internal culture because there is a reason you have the current demographics you do.

Ask the tough questions. For example, is drinking a central part of how your team has “fun” together? Which groups might be excluded by this? Are sexist and racist

ramona da gama

ADVICE CLINIC

jesse wilson

hanna naima mccloskey

advice clinic

comments masked by calling them banter?

Do your senior leaders have the language and tools to emphasise why inclusion must be prioritised? Do you make excuses for why your building isn’t accessible, even when this means excluding disabled people from working with you? What do such excuses say about who you prioritise?

Think about how you communicate your change process externally. If you’re really serious about this, can you be honest on your website about your failings to date and outline your plans to make progress? Those looking for jobs will then see that although it may be a homogeneous place now, serious effort is underway to change this – and the people who want to be part of that may feel more trust to apply.

Don’t rush recruitment – if you do, you’ll end up reverting to what’s easy for you and only targeting existing networks. Instead, take the time to build relationships rooted in integrity with the many companies building a community of underrepresented folks in tech. Show up at their events, meet with the talented people there and listen. The real answer to your question then is really to enter a mindset of humility, challenge, commitment and action.

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Ramona: Organisations should have a definite diversity policy. Most often, diversity is so that they can tick the boxes and be seen to have a diverse culture.

Diversity is not about this – it is about equality and making sure that everyone in the organisation gets a chance to succeed.

Provide new starters with induction programmes, internal training, send them on external courses and provide coaching.

This creates a culture of equality where everyone has the opportunity to succeed, irrespective of their diversity. Business owners should also have a mentoring programme in place. Each employee should have a mentor who becomes their brand ambassadors within the organisation and fights their cause.

To read more about the benefits of teamwork, check out Do we need to re-think leadership? on page 14. For a longer read, browse Workspace customers’ book recommendations on talent and teamwork on page 62

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“ We saw a huge opportunity to save the retail sector a lot of money�

Raz Ghafoor, Co-founder at AI start-up ThirdEye, at East London Works in Whitechapel

meet the founder

MEET THE FOUNDER Arthur House caught up with Raz Ghafoor, Co-founder at start-up ThirdEye based at East London Works. He shares how he turned his belief that AI will change the world into a game-changing business that fights theft ThirdEye uses intelligent computervision software in the retail sector, analysing CCTV footage to detect and notify staff in real time of situations including queues, theft and stock-outs. Its “distributed camera mechanism” captures images that can then be analysed

by ThirdEye’s AI technology to identify patterns from the video feed. It helps security guards spot problems on the shop floor.

How did you come up with the idea for ThirdEye? I’d done a lot of work on computer vision at university and my Co-founder, Peter, did his PhD in it. We’d always thought that AI and computer vision were going to change the world. We built a flashy prototype that caught the interest of lots of companies. Then it was just finding our focus. In retail we saw a huge opportunity to save the sector a lot of money, but it wasn’t like a government where we’d worry about super-long procurement cycles.

At what point did you realise that ThirdEye had legs and that you’d be committing the next chapter of your career to it?

When we started talking with one of the big supermarkets early on they gave us validation that we were solving a big problem. Theft costs brick-and-mortar retailers 30–50% of their profits every year, so we realised that if we could automate their CCTV cameras and detect theft it would transform their business.

We thought, “If we can get this right we can build something really big.”

How do you find and retain talent in this competitive field?

We built our core team through our own network of contacts, but that doesn’t scale for 20 or 30 employees, so for the next phase we’ll be using an in-house recruiting function. We prioritise passion over experience. If someone has decades of experience but their heart isn’t

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really in it, we’d rather take someone with no experience but who really wants to do it. What keeps people here is the idea of growing with the business. When you join a small company you really get to see the impact of your work.

What was your experience of building a team from scratch? What would you do differently if you were to do it again?

We’re still doing it. We’re nine people right now but we’re hoping to go to about 30 by the end of the year. It’s important to manage expectations. There’s this idea that start-ups are all about sitting on a beach with a laptop and then the next year you make a billion, but actually it’s a lot of hard work. It doesn’t happen as fast as people think.

What came more naturally, pitching to investors or to retailers?

At first I was much better at pitching to investors. I had a vision and a new technology and investors love that. We didn’t know so much about the retail sector. The second time round, once we’d got the initial investment, I found the opposite. My retail-selling skills had improved so much. After a year of doing it you understand your customer much better.

Do you see ThirdEye branching out beyond retail?

Definitely. We think of ourselves as using computer vision to give workers better visibility in their environment. So that could apply to transport or hospitality – detecting if an escalator is blocked, or queues building up.

Eventually we should be able to detect when a crime happens in a public space. We can program the AI to look for very specific things, like someone carrying a gun or a knife.

Should we be worried about public surveillance powered by AI? In Europe we’re protected by GDPR so we won’t be seeing the sort of facial-recognition tech that goes on in China. Otherwise we should be cautiously happy about the use of AI

in public surveillance. There is a great potential for good – computer-vision systems operated by local councils could detect when your bike is being stolen or your house is being burgled and then notify the police. Currently we don’t have the capacity to do that.

What’s been the biggest learning curve on your start-up journey?

Neither of us have a ton of work experience, but running a start-up is so broad that no-one is really prepared for it. The most difficult thing is learning to balance the high-level strategic stuff with the low-level details.

What would you be doing if you weren’t running ThirdEye? Probably working at different start-up. Maybe I’d be in an engineering team or doing products at another company. Not necessarily computer vision but definitely AI and sensors.

I’m really passionate about this space.

What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs in the AI field?

Always focus on product and market rather than technology. AI is amazing, but what’s going to differentiate you is not whether you have the most accurate algorithm, but the problem that you’re solving and the product that you’re building to solve it. Think about product-market fit above everything else.

Why did you choose Workspace?

We wanted a space where we could be creative and leave our stuff hanging around, but at the same time we didn’t want to commit to a two-year lease. So we have our own unit on a six-month lease on flexible terms and we’re not restricted in terms of what we bring in.

Find out more about the power of AI and its deployment in the workplace in The War for Talent on page 24

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SHOP WORKSPACE

From stylish bike helmets to statement jewellery, ethical slippers to Wi-Fi on demand, Workspace customers are creating products to meet your every need.

Browse a few of our favourite picks

Thousand PopLock Bicycle Helmet The must-have for any urban explorer.

Featuring PopLock anti-theft system, vegan leather straps, a magnetic buckle and multi-vents, this piece of kit is guaranteed to brighten any morning commute.

Bear & Bear (Canalot Studios) ÂŁ85, bearandbear.com

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products

Beeline for Bicycles The bike computer with smart point-topoint navigation. See your ride history, track your progress and share your journeys with friends. Strap it onto your handlebars and hit the road.

Beeline (The Biscuit Factory) £99, beeline.co

Milk Chocolate Skinny Coated Almond Dips Bite yourself happy with Mighty Fine’s Milk Chocolate Almond Dips. Lightly roasted, Californian almonds, skinny coated in milk chocolate with a light dusting of cocoa powder.

Mighty Fine (China Works) £2.99, mightyfine.co

Helio Statement Stud Earrings Made to impress, these gold earrings are handmade. Ottoman Hands works closely with local Turkish gem cutters and artisans to produce antique-inspired pieces. Pair with a matching necklace to complete the look.

Ottoman Hands (Westbourne Studios) £49, ottomanhands.com

Hepworth Ceramic Pot Plümo’s slightly wonky pots are crafted and decorated in a naive folksy style. Good for drinking out of, planting into or just admiring, each piece is handmade and unique. Complete your pot family with Grayson Perry, David Hockney and Frida Kahlo.

Plümo (The Chocolate Factory) £38, plumo.com

Teppy Wi-Fi

Suede Babouche Slippers

Travel abroad without data roaming.

This pocket-sized personal Wi-Fi hotspot will enable you to enjoy unlimited internet on up to five devices at one time. It’s the ultimate work-trip companion.

Slip on these traditional babouches after a long day in the office. Ethically handmade in Morocco from 100% suede leather, they mould to the shape of your foot for maximum comfort. Read the Yonder Living story at workspace.co.uk/community

Tep Wireless (Canalot Studios) Rent for £6.95 per day, tepwireless.com

Yonder Living (Fuel Tank) £32, yonderliving.com

Check out our exciting new WorkspacePerks platform. Pitch services, products and discounts to fellow Workspace members.

Visit workspace.co.uk/workspaceperks for more information and to get involved

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Below: The team at Signify Technology at The Frames in Shoreditch

THE WAR FOR

Talent isn’t just something that Simon Cowell’s looking for on The X Factor. It’s serious business, with companies vying for the best people to gain a competitive edge, but the current squeeze on talent means the search is about to get a lot fiercer. By Rosalyn Page

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war for talent

TALENT workspace.co.uk

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war for talent

Ryan Adams, Founder at talent search firm, Signify Technology

Businesses have been put on notice that a squeeze on talent is on the cards, according to UK employment statistics. January’s Labour Force Survey reveals that job openings have climbed to the highest level recorded, while unemployment has shrunk to its lowest level since the 70s. This mismatch means that businesses need to look harder and smarter to find the right people.

AI-driven tools are easing the timeconsuming process of vetting candidates, while “social search” – using social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter – improves the human side of recruitment. However, finding talent is only part of the process.

In today’s competitive market, businesses need to focus their own efforts on retaining and nurturing the best talent to meet these new challenges. It begins with understanding the importance of human capital in any organisation.

The value of great people

The concept of talent as integral to business success is relatively recent. It was born some 20 years ago through groundbreaking workplace research by McKinsey that defined talent as the human capital of an organisation – the innovative ideas, skills and experience of its people. In the late 90s, the renowned management consultant firm surveyed 13,000 managers from 112 US companies on talent-management practices and beliefs.

This was the first comprehensive workplace survey that delved into the people side of an organisation and set out to measure the value of having the right people.

The research showed that the importance of the right talent can’t be underestimated – it separates winning companies from the rest. Its conclusion is based on striking differences in companies’ bottom lines related to their talent management. It found that companies that placed strategic importance on talent management had returns 22 percentage points higher than the average in their industry.

The research spawned the book The War for Talent in 2001, which demonstrated how better talent is worth fighting for in business.

Ultimately it gave rise to a new humanresource industry, helping organisations create, inspire and motivate their people to win the war for talent. This begins with the search for the best people.

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Shahram Mossayebi, CEO at Crypto Quantique

Finding your tribe

In 2019, finding the right talent is no longer a case of posting an ad on a generic job site. Increasingly, finding the best people, particularly those who are highly skilled and experienced, is about meeting them in their environments.

Signify Technology, based at Workspace’s The Frames in Shoreditch, is a niche recruitment company that finds soft ware engineers who can write in Scala, a complex back-end website programming language. Signify relies on an individual approach to get to know candidates and help them with their careers, not just into their next job. The emphasis on personal engagement means the team is focused on customer service, rather than sales, to find potential candidates for the web businesses that use Signify’s recruitment service.

Founder Ryan Adams knows that finding soft ware engineers is a constant challenge because they tend to keep to themselves in certain online platforms.

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His recruiters have to engage through social media with the Scala community to build rapport and trust. Adams says, “Soft ware engineers hang out on Twitter.

We share links and content, join in on discussions, use relevant hashtags and connect individually through the platform.

GitHub and YouTube are also great ways to share expert tips and reach our coders.”

Signify also hosts meet-ups in city locations through meetup.com, so coders can get to know the business and how it works.

Crypto Quantique, based at Metal Box Factory in Southwark, adopts a variety of methods in order to target its search for a very specific type of hire. Crypto Quantique produces cutting-edge Internet of Things (IoT) security technology that embeds a chip in an IoT device, using a cryptography algorithm connected through a cloud service to secure it.

Naturally, the business needs specialised people with an aptitude for deep technological work. “We require highly

skilled, highly educated people such as those with PhDs,” say CEO Shahram Mossayebi and CTO Patrick Camilleri.

Crypto Quantique taps into the traditional routes of universities and academic agencies, as well as start-up job sites like AngelList and social media sites like LinkedIn to find STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) candidates, typically post-doctorate students and researchers.

The new smart search

Artificial intelligence (AI) has gained a strong foothold in organisations of all types and sizes in just a few years, according to the 2019 Gartner CIO Survey. It found that around four in 10 organisations have used AI in some form, a staggering 270% increase in just four years. Nowhere is this more observable than in recruitment, where AI is being deployed in everything from crafting job advertisements and analysing CVs, to predicting the suitability and performance of

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potential candidates and improving the onboarding of new hires.

Google Hire, the search giant’s recruitment platform that helps small to medium-size businesses track candidates and schedule interviews, recently launched a new feature powered by AI. It creates a shortlist of potential candidates for job openings based on previous applications, and integrates with Gmail and Calendar for communicating with candidates and scheduling interviews.

Unlike with search engines, Google does not dominate the recruitment sector. Ideal, based in Ontario, boasts customers including Netflix and Lush; it uses AI to analyse thousands of CVs in seconds, while its online chatbots automatically score potential candidates on suitability. It claims that the platform can slash the number of interviews by up to 40%.

compared to, say, mid-level salespeople that are being recruited pretty much all the time.

I also think that people at board level do not want to think that something completely vital to the organisation is handled by a machine rather than a human.”

Building value from within

Finding talent is the first step, but how do you nurture your workforce? In its 2018 Global Talent Trends report, HR consultancy Mercer defines nurturing talent as developing someone’s connection to the organisation’s mission. When that mission is to save lives, the connection is paramount. The National Health Service (NHS) set up a new programme in 2016 to modernise its talentmanagement plan by developing a pipeline of future leaders and style of leadership that is both compassionate and inclusive.

Martin Hancock, Director of Talent

The NHS came under fire last year when the new Health Secretary slammed its poor diversity record, pointing out that only five NHS chief executives are from a black and minority ethnicity background.

The Developing People: Improving Care programme is intended to change this.

Hancock says, “In particular, we intend talent management to be an enabler for improved diversity of leadership.”

The value of diversity is echoed by Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s Vice President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He believes bringing new voices into any discussion is integral to better decision-making in the workplace, but it can get overlooked if it’s not a key part of the definition of talent.

“When looking for talent, if you’re not thinking about the methods in a diverse and inclusive way, you could end up missing that contribution [from diversity].”

“When culture works well it can be an incredible magnetic pull”

Bruce Daisley, VP for EMEA at Twitter

Start-up HireVue has taken it a step further. Its AI-powered recruitment platform analyses speech and facial expressions from video interviews, instead of relying on conventional CVs. It predicts candidate suitability and claims to improve diversity by weeding out unconscious bias and widening the potential talent pool. Hilton, Vodafone and Unilever have signed up.

However, AI has its limits in the recruitment space – the upper echelons remain out of reach. Gordon Montgomery is Head of Executive Search at Ciesco, an advisory firm that connects entrepreneurs and investors. He says that AI becomes less useful as a recruitment tool as you move up the food chain.

“Look at CEOs. They are recruited less frequently and there is less choice and available information in the market,

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Management at the NHS Leadership Academy, says the Developing People: Improving Care programme is about both staff and patients.

“From a patient perspective, it is the impact that really good staff engagement has on patient care. If we want staff to be engaged, we need to make sure that they’re properly supported to fulfil their potential, to have meaning at work, and to be properly supported in terms of their development and progression. For some, this will be to progress to the most senior levels; for others simply to do a great job where they are.”

It’s the most comprehensive talentmanagement plan developed by the NHS to date, says Hancock, but “real success will only come if we see a shift in culture, mindset and behaviour in staff at all levels, especially our most senior leaders”.

Daisley has a keen interest in how workplaces function. His new book, The Joy of Work, tackles job satisfaction, and his popular podcast, Eat Sleep Work Repeat, examines the way we work.

Talent can be summed up as the personal attributes that define someone, such as “attitude, energy, integrity, intelligence”, says Daisley. He recommends prioritising a good attitude and qualities like being a powerful team player above set qualifications like an MBA.

Foster the right culture

For a business to get the best out of its talent pool, experts recommend looking beyond compensation and more towards things like role development and even staff wellbeing.

“When culture works well it can be an incredible magnetic pull,” says Daisley.

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war for talent

“There’s a lot of debate around the use of the word ‘family’. Some experts like Patty McCord, who wrote the Culture Document for Netflix, which states its core values, say that we shouldn’t claim workplaces have the feeling of being a family, but if you ask employees in good teams they definitely say there is a close-knit family feel to them. When cultures work well we do find ourselves valuing the trust that we feel.”

Personal-development programmes are one way of showing employees that they are part of the family, says business coach, Ramona Da Gama. She says, “These programmes show employees that the company genuinely wants to promote them.”

Da Gama’s advice for employers is to allow employees to become part of the company’s vision for the future, and share its long- and short-term business strategy.

She says, “Making them responsible for the success of the company empowers them and makes them feel that they belong.”

Workspace hosted a Business Insight Breakfast at its Fleet Street business centre in January on how to build a game-changing talent strategy; our panel of experts agreed that building the right culture is a huge factor. Sharing company values with staff is paramount, said Ade Akin-Aina, Global Director of Talent Acquisition at rentalmanagement company Hostmaker, based at The Biscuit Factory in Bethnal Green.

Hostmaker is a fast-growing company, and as such it seeks to attract high performers. She said, “We want to be authentic to who we are, so we project a brand that attracts these kinds of people, and if people are driven by the propertytechnology space, they come to us.”

People want a great place to work, and to feel appreciated, says Jane Bright, Director of People and Talent at florist Bloom & Wild, based in Workspace’s Vox Studios. “It’s about shaping the people experience, making sure that people have a lovely experience, feel really cared about and invested in.”

The days of recruiting top talent solely with the promise of a company car, corner office and impressive salary packets are dying out, says Leanne Spencer, Founder at Bodyshot Performance, based at Workspace’s Parkhall Business Centre in Dulwich. She works with businesspeople to help improve their health.

“Does your company have standing work stations? What about a policy of short meetings? Are there signs on the floor, guiding you to the stairs and not the lift? When people are more energised, productivity goes up.”

Some employees simply want more flexibility in their hours to take care of things like childcare arrangements, says Bright. Trusting staff to manage their own time can generate a strong sense of loyalty,

which means they will stick around and go the extra mile, if needed.

However you go about introducing a wellbeing strategy, keep it authentic. Almost eight in 10 surveyed by Edelman for its 2019 Trust Barometer believe that CEOs should take the lead on change rather than waiting for it. Be the boss who leads from the top.

Signify Technology has a points-based Health League Table for all its staff – to which boss Ryan Adams has signed up – that documents their daily workflow and wellbeing markers, like diet and personal bests. The top three win a day at the spa.

Adams says, “You’ve got to lead from the front. My leadership team has bought into it.

Last year, hardly any of us went for jogs. Now people come in earlier and leave earlier to go to the gym; they have more energy. This month, productivity is through the roof.”

Businesses of all shapes and sizes will need to respond to the changing conditions in the labour market throughout 2019 and beyond. Those that thrive will do so by continually developing how they find and retain their valuable talent.

Check out Bruce Daisley’s top pick of work-related podcasts on page 56

Make time for mothers Coach Roomana Hussain speaks from the heart Returning mothers are an untapped source of potential talent for businesses, says Roomana Hussain, Talent Coordinator and Executive Coach at Aviva. Working mothers are often overlooked and undervalued but Hussain explains why hiring them is great for business. A mother herself, she specialises in maternity transition coaching at Aviva, which offers support to pregnant women, those planning to adopt and fathers taking paternity leave.

“When I had my second child, maternity transition coaching was really relevant to what I was going through – going out and coming back into an organisation. Once I was back, I started coaching women returning to work after being in their roles for maybe 10–15 years, some up to 20 years.

The obstacles and challenges they found were phenomenal. Some went back to the

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same roles, others went back part-time and shared their responsibilities with others; some completely lost their responsibilities.

When I moved to Aviva, I found that mothers returning to work didn’t have anyone to talk to. In 2016, Aviva launched its maternity-coaching programme.

“People want employers to invest time in them and recognise their skills. They have a hungry appetite to come back to work and are super-efficient because they have developed strong time-management skills. Life changes completely once you have a child, as does your outlook on life.

Returning mothers have taken time out specifically to have a child and they will work hard, because they need to support their family! Somebody working four days a week will not necessarily work less efficiently than someone working full-

time. Employers need to work with them rather than against them. They can offer a wellbeing space and provide support via mentors or buddy mothers.”

Find out more about Hussain’s services at firmvaluecoaching.com. For women returning to the workplace, check out She’s Back, by Lisa Unwin and Deb Khan at shesback.co.uk

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club profile

Johanna Ho, Founder at PHVLO in Club Workspace The Leather Market, London Bridge

“It’s a movement.

It’s a community” Johanna Ho, Founder at PHVLO

Johanna Ho, PHVLO

GO WITH THE PHVLO Camilla Allen meets the woman behind the athleisure label fighting fast fashion and winning over fans like Gwyneth Paltrow with her quirky designs and “buy less, buy quality” ethos We know that fast fashion harms our planet and is unsustainable, yet high-street retailers are slow to phase out society’s throwaway culture. It can seem almost impossible to find a fashion brand that places quality over cost, choice and availability.

However, British-Chinese designer Johanna Ho, the brains behind ethical fashion brand PHVLO (pronounced “flow”) based at Club Workspace The Leather Market in London Bridge, is out to take things slow. Since launching in 2017, she is on a mission to set a new standard for the world of fashion, with sustainability, collaboration and education embedded into the core values of her business.

With hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothing ending up in household residual waste every year – around 80% goes to landfi ll and 20% is incinerated – as reported by The Environmental Audit Committee, Ho has set her ambitions higher than simply making a profit from selling clothes. “The concept behind PHVLO is to fuel the growing dialogue around sustainability. It’s a movement, it’s a community,” she says.

Boasting fans such as actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosamund Pike, PHVLO is about engaging with wider problems with people from all walks of life, and setting an example for generations to come, says Ho. The Central Saint Martins graduate is now collaborating with MA students at the

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Discover Johanna Ho’s innovative and ethical fashion pieces at phvlo.com

university to create an eco-friendly capsule collection and “form a cooperative of like-minded people.”

At every stage in the clothes-making process, Ho is mindful of PHVLO’s wider impact. She has ditched the toxic substances that often coat performance wear in favour of environmentally friendly materials; PHVLO’s Minotech raincoat is waterproofed using an old weaving technique used on roofs in Japan in the 19th century. Its puffer jackets adopt a 3M Th insulate Featherless fabric – a loose-fi ll

insulation alternative to natural down – to avoid animal cruelty. “What you do should resonate with how you feel and what you’re passionate about,” says Ho. “It should have an element of flexibility and evolution.

PHVLO is all about going with the flow and moving forward.”

Before moving to Club Workspace, Ho spent time researching the best place to launch. She divides her time between Hong Kong and London, but chose to launch PHVLO in the UK. She says, “London is fi lled with such an artistic buzz, especially here in London Bridge, and there are lots of very talented art students – the crème of the crop!”

The relaxed co-working environment at Club Workspace The Leather Market attracted PHVLO because community building is a core part of its ethos.

“Sometimes when you have your own private office you don’t actually talk to other people and make connections, but the space here allows people to link up and connect,” says Ho. “We look forward to meeting all collaborators who could be our potential partners and we can work together to create a positivity-driven community.”

Would you like to grow your business in a co-working space? Why not come and see what Club Workspace has to offer? With locations spread all across London, we’re sure there’s somewhere perfect for your business. Check out workspace.co.uk/co-working for our offers and free co-working days!

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nutrition

WORK

EAT MINDFULLY nih ilitatureri ius in conem haribus recupta quisi que earchite volut quias volliquia con nis corro blab id ea nemquis as nos dolupicatis molorempos dus eum restrum nim ut idipicae es maio est vendi omusaest iorporundunt exerio videbistore, nonsequia

We spend most of our lives at work. How can we get the most out of it? Find out what a cleverly designed workplace can do for us, from enhancing productivity to improving our health and wellbeing. Workspace’s design experts share their know-how with Editor Farah Khalique XX

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WELL Epudamen diorere voles ilibus re sitatum volles iducidione velias esequodi voluptasit et es re evellorio destotasped evelesedites

The Leather Market in London Bridge

“Our first few steps into the workplace can hugely impact our working day�

John Robson, Asset Management Director, Workspace

work well

“The only important thing about design is how it relates to people” Victor Papanek, Viennese designer

The glass-fronted breakout area at Kennington Park offers a relaxed meeting spot with plenty of natural light

What would your perfect workplace look like? Would it be within walking distance of your home or a commute away? Super-cosy or well ventilated? Full of character or minimalistic? The options are endless, but one thing is for sure – details like the design of the lobby, where we sit and the ambience of our work area play a significant role in our job performance. It can even affect our health. London is leading the way with its Healthy Workplace Charter, backed by the Mayor, which empowers employers to make the workplace healthier and happier.

34

Our first few steps into the workplace can hugely impact our working day, says John Robson, Asset Management Director at Workspace.

“The front of house in our business centres is almost like a hotel lobby. It is generally focused around the café area and has satellite features like breakout areas and quiet booths. We design our buildings around accommodating these in the frontof-house area, because when things are displayed people use them far more heavily than when they are hidden in the building.”

This design approach allows people to make the most of the space on offer.

Frans Burrows is Founder and Director at

architecture and design firm, Bluebottle, which has worked on a number of Workspace business centres, like The Leather Market in London Bridge and Vox Studios in Vauxhall.

Vox Studios’ main courtyard-style area has a clear distinction between the cafe area and the quieter study zone. Bespoke joinery separates the open space to segregate it into areas for different types of working.

Burrows says, “The alcove seating with lower ceilings is a bit cosier so people can concentrate and do more quiet reading. At The Leather Market, you come into a lively hub with atmosphere but can also disappear into the corners for quieter work. Tucked

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Epudamen diorere voles ilibus re sitatum volles iducidione velias esequodi voluptasit et es re evellorio destotasped evelesedites

lighten

UP

Natural light not only makes us feel good, but also boosts our health. Sunlight helps our brains release the hormone serotonin, which is a natural mood booster associated with feeling calm and focused. Low serotonin levels are associated with a seasonal form of depression. Try to catch a few rays every day to keep your serotonin topped up and help your skin generate vitamin D. Workspace’s business centres are designed to make the most of natural light. Metal Box Factory in Southwark has a large atrium that is flooded with sunlight on a sunny day, attracting people to its worktables for informal meetings. Edinburgh House in Kennington has the added benefits of very high floor-to-ceiling windows in the lobby area, which means that customers are spoilt for sunlight.

Robson says, “People are drawn to natural light. It offers a feeling of refreshment so we know if we put a sofa there, people will use it. It gives that feeling of space.”

Light-filled atrium at Edinburgh House in Kennington

work well

Left: Emma Morley at her design agency, Trifle, based at Pill Box in Bethnal Green.

Trifle worked with business-card maker Moo on its office redesign (below)

DIY design “ Connection to nature is a long-proven reducer of stress” Emma Morley, Founder at Trifle Creative

36

The design features at Workspace’s business centres benefit customers, but what changes can you make to your own work area to boost productivity? No matter what the size of your space, a small tweak here and there can make all the difference.

Emma Morley is Founder at interior design agency, Trifle, based at Pill Box in Bethnal Green, which has worked on projects for businesscard maker, moo.com and sports agency, Octagon.

Morley says, “Space is not just bricks and mortar, it’s a powerful asset to any business. You can have some very radical impacts on the way that companies work and how staff feel about the place they work at.”

Hard surfaces can be softened with a few soft chairs or a rug, and soft furnishings like drapery are useful to conceal distracting office mess. A good chair can make all the difference to how well we work; Morley recommends an ergonomic chair to support the back.

The right kind of lighting can also impact our mood; swap harsh, white light for cosy warm

lights and small table lamps.

One of the best – and easiest – tips is to add a plant or two to the office. Research from Washington State University shows that plants can noticeably lower workplace stress and enhance productivity.

Morley says, “Connection to nature is a long-proven reducer of stress, plus plants help freshen the air by producing oxygen. Particularly good mood boosters are anthuriums, Kimberly ferns, Chinese evergreens, golden pothos and mother-in-law’s tongue, also called snake plant.”

For a more radical way to encourage quiet time, consider buying an off-the-shelf phone booth. The Shoreditch Phone Booth from Meavo is equipped with noise insulation and an interior felt lining made from 100% recycled polyester. It even comes with a power socket and a bar stool. Prices start from £1,999.

However, simple things like providing healthy snacks and filtered water can also make a difference to our wellbeing. Make the time to tweak your environment to boost your wellbeing, and work that bit better.

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Below: Alcove seating and lower ceiling for quiet study, behind the café at Vox Studios in Vauxhall

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing” World Health Organisation

behind the café servery are a series of meeting rooms for hire.”

Most of us have to endure meetings, but where and how we choose to hold them can greatly impact how productive they are.

Do you really need to spend an hour sitting down in a formal meeting room?

Consider sofa catch-ups for quick meetings and semi-private work tables for open discussions. The glass-fronted breakout areas at Kennington Park Business Centre are popular because they provide privacy for meetings.

Environmental factors affect how well we work; these include acoustic and air quality, cleanliness, maintenance, lighting, office layout and furniture and temperature.

Brunel University London has research

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expertise in the use of biomimicry – using nature’s principles – in architectural design, health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Rob Holdway, Professor at Brunel University London and Innovation Director at Co-Innovate says there is an inextricable link between the design of our working environment, culture, productivity, and health and wellbeing.

Pollution is a recognised problem.

London’s new ultra-low emission zone will commence from April, in a bid to improve air quality and cut the thousands of deaths triggered by car fumes each year. Motorists will pay £12.50 a day to drive in the zone. Holdway says, “There are increased concerns over volatile organ compounds, allergens and asthmagens. Air quality

can impact productivity by as much as 11%, according to the UK Green Building Council, and improving ventilation from around five litres per second to 20 can improve employee performance by up to 8%.”

Design firm Peldon Rose recommends running heating, ventilation and airconditioning at optimum levels, to provide comfort cooling and healthy air for everyone. Temperatures that are too hot or too cold will reduce productivity and affect morale. Employers can improve ventilation by extracting pollutants from server rooms and printers, to help keep people healthy and alert.

Sickness absence costs businesses in London alone £10.4 billion every year, and a

37

work well The atrium at Metal Box Factory in Southwark is flooded with natural light

“Environments have to be designed to show the company means what it says.

You can’t eat, drink or sit on vision and value statements” Wolff Olins (brand consultancy firm)

38

tenth of the UK’s gross national product is lost due to job-related stress. The London Healthy Workplace Charter gives employers steps to make their workplaces healthier and happier, which includes the workplace environment.

Many of Workspace’s centres are designed with healthy living in mind, offering showers and ample bike storage to encourage cycling to work. This design feature is based upon customer feedback, which Workspace acquires on an ongoing basis via its centre managers and regular surveys. When building new business centres, customer feedback helps inform the design process.

For instance, Workspace’s new centre in Fitzrovia, which is now being designed and will open in 2022, may offer standing meeting rooms with no furniture, in order to encourage quick, informal meetings.

Standing meetings can be more productive; they cut meeting times by up to a third, according to data in the Journal of Applied Psychology. Health experts say that standing

can help us live longer. Sitting down can quicken the onset of type 2 diabetes and is even linked to breast, prostate and lung cancer, as well as cardiovascular disease.

A cleverly designed office can do more than just help us work more efficiently, it can help us live longer and better.

Find out more about the right kind of light to promote rest, and browse our top selection of spine-protecting ergonomic chairs in the Wellbeing section, which starts on page 51. Learn how to beat procrastination and boost productivity in Just Do It, on page 46

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interiors

STYLE YOUR SPACE Add a splash of colour to your office with these quirky designs from some of London’s finest interior specialists

Electra glass shade

Inject serious style into any room with this industrial-style pendant light. Try clustering a few together for maximum impact.

Swoon, £59, swooneditions.com (formerly based at The Print Rooms)

Cage shelving

These stylish shelving systems are built to last and can be reshaped to fit your space perfectly. Get in touch to request a bespoke piece.

Rawside London, rawside.co or email hello@rawside.co (The Undercroft, Kennington Park)

A1 ‘LON DON’ Giclee print Add a splash of colour to your office with a RUDE print. Get in touch to request a bespoke piece.

RUDE, £195, shop.thisisrude.com

(Almost) unkillable houseplants LinkUP seating

Get in touch with Nowy Styl Group for tailor-made office design solutions.

Nowy Styl Group, nowystylgroup.com (Clerkenwell Workshops)

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Plants are proven to lower your stress levels.

Make life easy with a low-maintenance Susie the Snake plant; use discount code LOVEPLANTS for 15% off.

Patch Plants, £20, patchplants.com (Havelock Terrace)

39

AI-generated art for Smirnoff from design agency Yarza Twins

artificial intelligence

“Thinking about human and machine as a team is what’s going to drive the future” Ben Gancz, Director at Qumodo

ART state of the

Camilla Allen speaks to experts, including Workspace customers, at the forefront of the creative AI world, bridging the gap between man and machine to bring out the best in human creativity Distrust in artificial intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous. The late Stephen Hawking dubbed AI the “worst event in the history of our civilisations”.

Tech giant Elon Musk declared that “AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation”.

However, as we hurtle towards a world in which intelligent machines are fast becoming seamlessly integrated into the workplace, is such fear warranted?

One concern is our jobs. A report by management consultancy firm McKinsey predicts that AI will replace 75–375 million jobs – up to 14% of the global workforce – by 2030. But where does that leave creatives?

Surely, original thinking, serendipity and external, sometimes random influences – all intrinsic to the creative process – make

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creativity a profoundly human trait that is safe from emulation?

The human touch

Indeed, the complexity of the human brain is astonishing. Every human, regardless of their sphere of work, is fundamentally creative, constantly relying on “deep mental models to take known components from our environment and construct new things from them,” says Dr Peter U. Tse, cognitive neuroscientist at Dartmouth College in the US. This internal virtual reality that we might call imagination – rooted in both conscious experience and the world around us – is something arguably reserved for humans, not machines. “In the absence of mental models that reside in conscious experience, robots and AI systems will at best approach tasks ‘as if’ creative,” says Tse. More and more, however, creatives are lacking the time to be just that – creative.

Trading dreaming for sift ing through fi les of stock images to meet client demands, creative jobs have become increasingly menial. A study by global computer soft ware developer Adobe found that almost threequarters of creatives spend more than half their time on repetitive, uncreative tasks, yet time is crucial for creatives to do what they do best: experiment.

“Over 30 years or so, the professional creative industry has become less and less creative,” says Roelof Pieters, machine-learning pundit and Founder at Creative.ai. “Agencies and design firms have started to industrialise creativity and the real fear should be the fact that people are now working like machines – not the other way around.”

This working dynamic needs to be inverted, suggests Pieters. AI can streamline and optimise complex, tedious or repetitive

41

artificial intelligence Left: Portrait of Edmond Belamy, the first AI-generated art to sell at auction house Christie’s

“It’s a new era of design and that’s exciting” Marta Yarza, Co-founder at Yarza Twins

Trio of French students and founders of AI art business, Obvious

The business of AI A trio of 25-year-old French students have signalled the arrival of AI art on the world auction stage with their business Obvious. Portrait of Edmond Belamy was the first AI-generated art to go under the hammer at international auction house Christie's in October 2018, where it sold for a staggering $432,500, nearly 45 times its upper estimate.

To create the portly 18th century gentleman, the collective fed a GAN (General Adversarial Network) algorithm borrowed from high school graduate Robbie Barrat into a data set of 15,000 portraits painted between the 14th and 20th centuries. The results were exciting; the trio claim it's the next art movement.

"We foresee that new technologies will play a role in the future of arts," says Hugo Caselles-Dupré, a member of Obvious. "These technologies have a great impact on our society, thus it's only logical that they show up in contemporary art." For now, collectors seem to agree, judging by the bidding war over the portrait signed “min G max D x [log (D(x))] + z [log(1 – D (G(z)))]” (pictured above).

42

processes to remove the drudgery and to free up time to allow humans to do what they do best. Together machine and human can work in tandem to empower creativity, he claims.

Shaking things up

Workspace customers are at the forefront of this new wave of making and doing. Yarza Twins, an award-winning design agency formerly based at Workspace’s China Works in Vauxhall, has enlisted AI to help it produce visually stimulating artwork for British vodka brand Smirnoff (see page 40). For this particular project, the team uploaded 21 faces, 21 bodies and a selection of backgrounds to a machine-learning soft ware named D4D, and were taken aback by the results.

“We threw our designs into the soft ware and the computer amalgamated this data and churned out a vast amount of different random combinations – all new, different and exciting.” says Marta Yarza, who cofounded the business with twin sister Eva. “We like the fact that it’s a mix between something you make and something the computer makes for you.”

From here, the sisters take on the role of creative curators. They select the artwork they like best, using their uniquely human “deep mental models” – as Tse terms it – to do what the machine can’t and make the most interesting choice of image. It is at this point that their creative vision has legs to reach fruition. Rather than their being

slaves to technology, the technology acts as an enabler. “A lot of designers and creatives have been experimenting with AI – and even holograms – and we’re at the beginning of something new. It’s a new era of design, and that’s exciting,” says Marta.

A collective of expert designers and engineers who go by the name of BDI Precision, also located at China Works, is enabling such creatives to reach their full potential. The business uses a wide range of computer-aided design soft ware of a type more commonly applied to the animation and gaming industries, but in an engineering context.

William Wood, Design Engineer, says “We couple a more fluid design approach with 3D-scanning and 3D-printing technology to bring the most complex forms to life. By reducing the cost of one-off parts, we are able to foster creativity and promote design iteration.”

Uniting forces

Working together is key, says Ben Gancz, Director at AI developer Qumodo, based at The Print Rooms in Southwark. “We need to look at brokering that relationship between the user and the machine so that the user can form a team with the machine and get the strength of both agents.”

“The human aspect is so ridiculously important but thinking about human and machine as a team is what’s going to drive the future,” he says. “Humans are very good at context when they look at an image. They

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MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR MEETINGS “Great space, brilliant service and we won a substantial piece of business there and then, the client was really impressed, all worked seamlessly.”

John Graham, adcreative

Instant Access, Anywhere We pride ourselves on our huge range of high-spec meeting rooms across London. You can book any of these by the hour and you don’t even need to be a customer to do so.

Tech City

Portrait, The Frames, Shoreditch

Our rooms are kitted out with the latest technology, including business grade Wi-Fi, 44˝ LED screens as a minimum and many have ClickShare, a wireless presentation tool.

Stay Fuelled We’ve got award winning cafés and restaurants on-site, to keep you and your team fully functional.

Master, Edinburgh House, Kennington

We’ve teamed up with Excell to offer technical support on speed dial for all meeting room bookings

There are over 100 meeting rooms featured on our site for you to browse and book instantly, visit

workspace.co.uk/meeting-rooms

Get yourself AI-quipped AI is accessible for anyone who knows where to look. Check out these four creative resources to get started.

Below: Marta Yarza and Eva Yarza make up award-winning design agency Yarza Twins

Bloma

bloma.ai Use Creative.ai’s app to create simple 2D layouts for different social media formats. It’s a tool specifically for visual design work.

Sympaphonic

aimusic.co.uk If you’re in the music sphere, this tool is for you. It listens to the music you like and finds you the perfect track, especially for an audio advert.

PoseNet

github.com Great for those working in augmented reality and animation, Google Creative Lab’s machine learning model allows for real-time human pose estimation.

Prisma Photo Editor

prisma-ai.com Take photo-editing to a new level.

Transform any image into the style of a famous artist using AI.

“It’s a really knotted and complex issue - trust in AI” Ben Gancz, Director at Qumodo

can appreciate context, they can understand the back story,” he says.

And, just like the Yarza Twins, Gancz sees new technology as something worth embracing, along with 63% of creatives who are strongly or very strongly interested in having a head start in AI, according to Adobe’s study.

“It’s a really knotted and complex thing around trust in AI,” says Gancz. “People aren’t perfect and machines aren’t perfect but quite a lot of what we’re seeing is that when you put the two together, you can get much more from either counterpart than on their own.”

As we step into the unknown, it seems one thing is for sure: AI will have an impact,

44

but only on productivity. It may be supreme in detecting patterns at lightning-fast speeds, but that far from defines creativity. In order to break down such patterns in unexpected ways, and to venture into the unforeseen, the creative vision will always have to be there first – that’s where humans come in.

Find out more about the effect of sleep on creativity on page 52.

Or if you’re a developer keen to learn more, head to fast.ai for courses in AI deep learning

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Familiar sight?

You’re busy. Very busy. So the last thing on your mind is finding a trustworthy cleaning company to keep on top of your office chaos.

Olivers Mill is Workspace’s trusted cleaning operator and for good reason. It is ISO accredited for quality and has a DBS-checked workforce, and you’ll love the fact that you can pick and choose the services you want. No equipment is stored at your office, there’s secure access management and no long contracts.

Get a quote for the services you need by getting in touch via workspace@oliversmill.co.uk

Because life is too short for messy offices!

oliversmill.co.uk/workspace Cleaners are paid the Living Wage, which is more than the Minimum Wage, and all rubbish and recycling is processed in line with the Workspace Waste Strategy

doit productivity

Epudamen diorere voles ilibus re sitatum volles iducidione velias esequodi voluptasit et es re evellorio destotasped evelesedites

Just

One in five of us admit to being prone to procrastination, a behaviour that can take a heavy toll on finances, relationships and personal wellbeing. How can we stop dilly-dallying, and does technology help? Fleur Macdonald reports

XX

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just do it

“Do not put your work off till tomorrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn” Hesiod, Greek poet

The average office worker is only productive for two hours, 43 seconds a day, revealed a recent survey of almost 2,000 professionals across the UK Procrastination is “the voluntary, and intentional delay of an important and necessary task, despite knowing that you will be worse off for the delay,” says Dr Fuschia Sirois, an academic who researches its effects at the University of Sheffield. She estimates that around 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators.

“Modern life can be more difficult because there are so many other things you could be distracted by,” says Sirois. “There are many more demands.”

Texting, checking our phones and scrolling through Instagram are just some of the things that distract us in the workplace.

The average UK office worker is only productive for two hours, 43 seconds a day, shows a study from money-saving site, VoucherCloud. Checking social media and reading news websites are the most popular forms of distraction at work, according to the survey of 1,989 office workers across the UK.

Common misconceptions

Th is is not to say that procrastination is a recent phenomenon. In a Greek poem written around 700BC, Hesiod advises his brother, “Do not put your work off till tomorrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fi ll his barn.” Mr Casaubon in George Eliot’s Middlemarch compiles notes rather than fi nishing his magnum opus, The Key to All Mythologies.

Psychologists Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen dismantle the misconception that procrastination is due “to laziness and lack of discipline”, in their book, Procrastination: Why You Do It, and What To Do About It Now. Fear of failure, a need to rebel against authority, and self-esteem issues are just a few of many potential causes.

A matter of life and death

Sirois found that procrastinators are more prone to stress, headaches, colds, muscle pains and insomnia. Her research even suggests a correlation between chronic procrastination and heart disease.

Sirois’ team divided 980 volunteers into those who were healthy and those with hypertension and/or cardiosvascular disease. The volunteers completed Lay’s

Procrastination Scale, a 20-question survey that measures procrastination as a personality trait, which showed a link between those who procrastinate habitually and those diagnosed with heart conditions.

Sirois says that it can often mask deeper mental health issues and is not simply due to ineffective time management. “The heart of procrastination is poor emotion regulation,” she says. “It’s a form of avoidance.”

Many procrastinators are perfectionists.

“It allows people to take comfort in believing that their ability is greater than their performance indicates,” argue Burka and Yuen. “As long as you procrastinate, you never have to confront the real limits of your ability, whatever those limits are.”

Procrastinators in the workplace need to feel supported, says Sirois. Reinforce the strengths they bring to the task and get them to find something positive in the process.

“Don’t try and guilt them or make them feel bad,” she says.

Think ahead to get ahead

“It’s about communication,” says Clare Evans, productivity coach and the author of Time Management for Dummies. Managers need to work out why a team member is procrastinating before tackling it. “Is it

Josh Bowyer, CEO at Zint Technology

Daily ways we procrastinate One hour and five minutes reading the news

44 minutes browsing social media

40 minutes chatting with colleagues Source: VoucherCloud

because this person is feeling overwhelmed, is there a lack of skill, or do they simply not know what they’re meant to be doing?”

“One of my clients used to spend five hours a day answering emails,” says Evans.

Wasting time adds up. Do the maths; that’s one day a week – 52 days a year – spent emailing. “Switch off alerts and check your email two to three times a day at the most,” advises Evans.

To tackle a headache-inducing task, Evans recommends starting with an end goal and working out what steps are needed to get there. She says, “It’s about not being able to see the wood for the trees.” She recommends reducing the task to smaller components to ensure the task isn’t a project in itself, establishing a routine for regular responsibilities and spending an appropriate amount of time on each task.

Spending hours in the office doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being productive, says Josh Bowyer, CEO at Zint Technology, a business information platform based at Salisbury House in Finsbury Circus,

which helps sales teams find customers.

Zint has come up with a unique solution to procrastination: Bowyer bans communication channels like LinkedIn, Twitter and even phone calls and emails for set periods throughout the working day.

Bowyer says, “We have isolated our key hours for each channel, which means we switch off all others until that key period is over. For example, if a prospect asks for an email on a call, which may take five minutes to write, during that time 10 calls could have been made which convert at a much higher [success] ratio, and so that email is put together and sent after the key calling time. This allows us to eliminate distractions and maximise the output from each block of time.”

This practice of “time boxing” allows the team at Zint to set amounts of time to specific tasks without distraction from things like an overflowing inbox.

However, it’s not quite as simple as battling a bulging inbox. We’re battling our brains. Dopamine, a feel-good hormone, is

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just do it

Left: Virtual reality training technology offered by Immerse, based at The Record Hall in Farringdon

released when we achieve something, be that emailing, checking Twitter or finally fi ling your tax return. Unfortunately, our brains are hardwired to go for the easiest hit at the expense of longer-term gratification.

Make work satisfying

What if we could get instant gratification and still achieve our long-term goals?

Immerse, a business based at The Record Hall in Farringdon, offers virtual-reality training technology to clients like Shell, GE Health and DHL. “Desk-based learning can be a massive drag,” says chief marketing officer, James Watson. “People procrastinate because a lot of the time that training doesn’t have an obvious or meaningful benefit.” To combat this, Immerse uses virtual-reality training scenarios to help businesses increase staff retention and engagement, as well as inform real-life operations.

For example, DHL trains its staff to load cargo efficiently using Immerse technology, which saves space in the cargo bay and time loading packages. “It’s a bit like Tetris,” says Watson. “We’ve put a score against it and there’s a global leader board.”

“Every time you do something you get feedback,” he adds. “It’s instant gratification.”

Games aside, even using a straightforward time-management app can provide a sense of achievement. We asked Workspace customer Andy Baddeley to share his experience of using time-management apps to organise his team.

#MondayMotivation

When it comes to productivity and endurance, Andy Baddeley, Head of

workspace.co.uk

Operations at sports media and PR agency Fusion Media, also based at The Record Hall in Farringdon, knows a thing or two. He’s a two-time 1500m Olympian and Parkrun world record holder. However, powering through to-do lists requires a different set of skills. For this, Baddeley relies on Monday, an app that allows teams to manage workloads and track projects together. “It’s simple,” he says, “A team member writes the details of a task into the appropriate client or project area, assigns a lead person responsible for that task, and enters a deadline.”

It also means you can prioritise your own day, he says. “You can search the system for tasks assigned to you, so that you can see all of your pending tasks (and associated deadlines) across all projects in one go.” This, combined with the time-tracker app Toggl, allows team members to record how long they’re devoting to specific clients.

It’s not only digital apps that motivate Fusion Media’s sporty bunch. “We’re pretty competitive,” admits Baddeley. “Our teambuilding days and Christmas parties have seen us go mountain biking, tackle the Crystal Maze and play mini golf.” Compared to competing against a two-time Olympian on the mini-golf course, tackling a to-do list no longer seems quite so overwhelming.

Find out if you’re a procrastinator at tinyurl.com/Take-the-procrastinationtest. Whether you need to reflect more deeply and ask your manager for help, download a time-management app or simply put down your phone during working hours, there is a solution to help you work better and feel less guilty about procrastinating

Don’t delay, download!

Screen Time This iPhone function in Settings generates useful snippets like how often you pick up your phone, how long you spend on Facebook and which apps you spend the most time on.

Headspace “Mindfulness apps can be helpful for procrastinators,” says Dr Sirois. “They focus on helping you regulate emotions.” The Headspace Basics course is free and teaches the fundamental techniques of meditation and mindfulness.

Be Focused Time-management expert Clare Evans recommends the Pomodoro technique, which breaks down work into 25-minute chunks with a fiveminute interval.

Habitica The ultimate in gamifying your todo list. As you tick off real-life tasks, your avatar earns rewards and gains experience online. Bizarre but certainly worth trying out.

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Join our fast-growing network of creative co-working clubs

As part of Club Workspace we’ve been able to immerse ourselves in an environment of like-minded professionals, which has opened up new ways of thinking and doing.

It was really easy to get started. We just rocked up with our laptops – that was all.

Jimmy Williams, Urban Jungle, Club Workspace, Kennington Park

Over 20 locations

Business grade Wi-Fi

Connect with over 4,000 businesses

Bursting events calendar

Bookable meeting rooms

Rolling monthly membership

Find out more at

workspace.co.uk/co-working

Sleep well

Eat smart

Desk-ercise

Get your best rest

Boost business with nutrition

Say goodbye to sedentary

Find your work balance Michael Adu, wellness coach and Founder at Stress-Less Fitness, based at Club Workspace Clerkenwell Workshops, meditating

DREAM BIG

Cultivating a positive sleep culture at work is critical to boosting creative thinking and performance across your entire team, writes James Langton, Editor at Less-Stress London Work is where we do some of our most intense thinking, but it’s at bedtime that we lay the foundations for our mind’s creative prowess.

Sleep is fertile ground for the imagination as our dreams attempt to make sense of the subconscious – our wishes, hopes and fears.

Can dreaming help us find answers to our work problems? Sleep experts believe so.

Dr Els van der Helm at sleep consultant Shleep explains that creativity and execution are the cornerstone of innovation. “Though improving sleep won’t guarantee the next breakthrough, it certainly increases the chances of coming up with extraordinary connections and pushing through with them.”

How REM works

When it comes to dreaming, we know that REM – dream sleep – stimulates the intelligent information processing that

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inspires creativity and promotes problem solving. In his 2017 book Why We Sleep, neuroscientist Matthew Walker hypothesises that during REM sleep, the part of the brain responsible for what one would call our reality-evaluating system – the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex – stops operating. This freedom from everyday rational structure allows the brain to creatively form strange, fantastical connections and links that otherwise would never come together in the same way.

Whether a person is looking for a shortcut in a number sequence or learning a new language with higher-level grammatical rules, studies show that they appear more likely to come up with innovative solutions to tricky problems the morning after a dream-filled night.

Good sleep also boosts cognitive (IQ) and social-emotional (EQ) skills through a deep impact on the prefrontal cortex. We use emotion for navigating decisions and logic to calculate risks and opportunities.

The big sleep problem

Positive sleep awareness has moved to the top of many organisations’ wellbeing agenda for one major reason. Diminished productivity resulting from a lack of sleep hits the bottom line. Worst-case scenario, a single incident of tiredness-related mistakes, like a fat-finger error, may have personal, legal and cost implications that could last for years.

Compared to a person who is well rested, a highly fatigued worker will be less alert, less able to mentally process information, less situationally aware and, crucially, work with slower reaction times.

However, denial is rife. Many of us are so deeply in debt at the sleep bank that we consider our tiredness to be a perfectly natural state. A proactive approach to good sleep is a matter of personal responsibility, but when it comes to chronic insomnia, it can help to speak up. Self-styled sleep geek James Wilson believes that most sleepdeprived workers are only too willing to reach out for help once the subject is raised

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sleep as part of a wider conversation about health and wellbeing.

Wilson says, “Poor sleep is something that many of us suffer from, but often hide because we fear being stigmatised. We cannot force ourselves to sleep better, but we can get better at preparing ourselves for sleep. I find that when people understand the distinction – when they feel they are being supported rather than patronised – we see some great results.”

Make the workplace sleep-friendly

Dr Van der Helm suggests employers start with a team evaluation to see how well employees sleep. Awareness of any issues – if introduced subtly – will create a platform for positive change.

Psychologist Hope Bastine of wellbeing consultancy Fresh Perception stresses that a sleep-positive work culture has to be part of a more contemporary, holistic view about productivity in general. Bastine says, “It’s all about trust and balance. Most employees are highly motivated to do good work and get the job done. This mindset can be encouraged by appreciating that conflicting home and work priorities are often best met through flexible working agreements.”

Supporting colleagues flexibly as individuals is the most effective policy to help people bring their best selves to work, recommends Bastine. “Autonomy supports wellbeing. All of us have our own biological rhythms, and this is particularly evident when looking at sleep patterns.”

Small, yet effective changes

The most common problems are insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality. Some people need help de-stressing. Others can make small changes like eating earlier, changing their bedding or altering the temperature in the bedroom. However, perhaps the most important change is simply to learn to prioritise sleep as something to look forward to, while being consistent in the times you go to bed and get up in the morning, even at weekends.

The future of positive sleep awareness as part of a well-at-work programme may point to advanced chronotype-analysis techniques, to find out at what time of day a person works best, and then optimise when it is best for us to work, rest and play.

The implications of buying in to a 24-hour flexible workday are enormous. Combined alongside other smart working practices, this could help organisations reach new levels of productivity, employee retention and personal satisfaction.

workspace.co.uk

Wind down for the night Why does late-night exposure to blue light waves from screens make it harder to fall asleep?

Our brains are still wired to the same animal instincts and rhythms that keep us connected to the natural world, and this includes our relationship to sunlight. As the sun goes down, the brain’s pineal gland produces the neurohormone melatonin, which slows and cools the body down, ready for sleep.

Harsh, short, blue light waves from TVs, computers and mobile tech all suppress melatonin production. Our body forgets what it feels like to be naturally tired, making it more likely that we stay awake for longer and fall asleep through exhaustion.

Try these expert tips to get the best sleep

We produce melatonin gradually over two to three hours, so respect this natural process. In your phone’s settings, turn on the blue-light screen filter and wear blue-light filter

spectacles for watching TV a couple of hours before bedtime.

Install a smart lighting system in your home. Controllable from your phone, smart lighting changes and softens colour tone, while gradually dimming throughout the evening.

Imagine returning home late after a long and stressful day and finding your home is sleep-ready and relaxing, encouraging you gently towards an early night.

Results from a recent Chinese study show that exposure to regular redlight therapy before bed not only speeds skin-cell regeneration while the body rests, but also increases the production of melatonin to help sleep come more easily. Red-light therapy devices include light-emitting diodes and lasers that emit wavelengths between 610 and 700 nanometres.

Find out how better sleep can boost your company with Shleep; enquire about a sleep pilot at shleep.com

Our body-clock biology All humans have a master biological clock that measures time in our brain, as well as a series of smaller clocks located throughout our bodies.

For most adults, the biggest dip in energy happens in the middle of the night somewhere between 2am and 4am, when we’re usually fast asleep, and around 1pm to 3pm, when we can suddenly hit a wall of tiredness.

Everyone’s circadian rhythm is slightly different, falling in to different classifications called chronotypes.

An extreme lark might be waking up just around the time that an extreme owl is falling asleep. Our circadian rhythm works best when we have regular sleep habits, like going to bed at night and waking up in the morning around the same times from day to day.

Want to know more about chronotypes? Try reading The Power of When by Michael Breus

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nutrition

Check out Livewire Kitchen’s healthy array of food at Vox Studios, China Works and Edinburgh House

EAT MINDFULLY Running a business takes serious amounts of energy - but where do you get yours from? Do you power through on diligently prepared packed lunches, or plough through the day on a rollercoaster of sugar, coffee and refined carbs?

Health writer Sarah Graham explores the “intuitive eating” movement

Whether you’re a follower of all the latest diet trends, or a grab-and-go muncher, it’s easy for food to become just another stressful pressure on the workday to-do list. But a movement known as intuitive eating wants to help us all reconnect with what our bodies really need – and there’s a compelling business case for getting on board.

“Intuitive eating looks slightly different on everybody, but it’s a set of ten overarching principles that are designed to help guide you towards a healthier relationship with food,” explains Laura Thomas PhD, a registered nutritionist and author of Just Eat It: How Intuitive Eating Can Help You Get Your Shit Together Around Food.

“So often what I see with office workers who are super-busy all day long is that they just push on and on, and don’t take a lunch break. By the time they do go for lunch at 2 or 3 o’clock, they’re starving,” she adds. “It means their concentration is worse, their focus is worse, they can’t really think clearly, so they’re a lot less productive.”

Instead, intuitive eating encourages you to honour those hunger pangs before they

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start affecting your work. In the same way that you give your business what it needs to thrive, intuitive eating is about regularly tuning in and giving your body whatever fuel it really needs in that moment.

Sounds worth a try? Then buckle up for the long haul. “It is a little bit of an investment in terms of the process – there is no shortcut to intuitive eating,” Dr Thomas adds. “But ultimately you will waste a lot less time and energy worrying about food and overthinking it.”

Nick Owen is founder of What-Food, based at Workspace’s China Works in Vauxhall, which aims to make nutrition fun, practical, tasty and relevant. He says, “You can start to observe trends and patterns around your mood, physicality, energy levels, concentration, mobility, sleep and stress.”

Unlearning the diet mindset

In essence, intuitive eating is a mind-body process of unlearning everything you think you know about “good” and “bad” foods and, instead, reconnecting with your body

in a kinder and more balanced way. “It’s really taking food down off a pedestal so we can look at it and make an informed decision about what would feel good in that moment – whether that’s something more comforting, or something that’s going to give you energy and stamina, or some combination of both things, rather than following an external diet rule that says, ‘you have to eat the salad’,” Dr Thomas explains.

Owen says, “Part of mindfulness is accepting that no food is off limits, but if a food or a way of eating is not something that is congruent to our goals, we should learn from that to make better future decisions.”

33-year-old Sara Tasker is a creative business coach, Instagram expert, and author of Hashtag Authentic. She discovered intuitive eating after years of skipping meals and “trying to cheat my hunger”. She has been working one-on-one with Dr Thomas.

“I’ve learned that my appetite’s not the enemy,” she explains. “Instead of always thinking about how I can cheat hunger, now it’s much more about how I can respond to

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my hunger in a way that actually makes me feel satisfied.”

And, Tasker adds, it’s made a remarkable difference to her life as a digital entrepreneur.

“Turns out, if you eat breakfast you can actually get some work done in the morning – you don’t fall asleep at your desk!” she laughs.

“A good day for me now starts with breakfast, has regular snacks, and is really when I just don’t worry about food. I’m not constantly thinking about it, or putting calories in an app; I’m just eating and my energy feels consistent throughout the day,” she explains.

Making mindful choices

While intuitive eating might be a new one on you, chances are you’ve already heard of mindful eating, or at least mindfulness – the ancient eastern philosophy that’s entered mainstream wellness lexicon in recent years.

Mindfulness involves bringing your consciousness to the present moment and, while mindful eating isn’t the same as intuitive eating, it is an important part of the process.

“It requires the person to be fully present with their body and their mind when they’re eating,” explains Dr Cinzia Pezzolesi, a chartered clinical psychologist who specialises in mindful eating.

“This means becoming more attuned to the natural signals that the body sends us about when we are full or hungry, and there’s also an element of treating your body with respect and compassion.”

Owen says, “We can certainly make time to eat more slowly, and plan that in our day.”

For behavioural change specialist Shahroo Izadi, author of The Kindness Method, reclaiming her lunch breaks and embracing mindful eating have been an important part of being kinder and more nurturing to herself.

“I decided that I would treat work lunches – even when I was working from home or on the go – as if I was having lunch with a friend,” she says. “When I did that, in quite a holistic way, my tiny decisions changed. I take care in where I choose to sit, and how I present my food. I sit at a table, I turn my laptop off, and really try to taste my food, and look at it as a break.”

Izadi adds: “I like to associate it with other healthy habits too – so if I’m at home, I’ll have lunch and then go outside for a walk.

It’s another opportunity to check in with your body, give it what it needs, and invigorate yourself in as many ways as possible.”

Intuitive eating for busy people

Of course, all of that sounds great in principle – but, as a busy professional, what

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Livewire Kitchen super salad bowl

Bite-size intuitive eating tips Listen to podcasts. Check out Don’t Salt My Game, Food Psych, and Nutrition Matters for starters.

Set reminders. Dr Thomas recommends setting calendar reminders to check in with your hunger fuel gauge. This should help you notice and act on your hunger before you reach the “hangry” zone.

Use mindfulness apps. Business consultant Karen Kwong says that practising mindfulness, even for just five minutes a day, helped her become more aware of her emotions and catch emotional eating habits in their tracks.

Apps like Headspace or Calm are easy to use on the go.

if you don’t have time to devote a full hour to tuning in with your body and practising mindful lunch breaks?

The good thing is that, unlike every diet you’ve ever been on, there are no rules.

Intuitive eating is a set of guiding principles, it’s not hard-and-fast. There’s nothing wrong with grabbing a sandwich and a packet of crisps on the go when you’re very busy.

Dr Thomas says, “If you can’t make every meal a mindful meal, a smaller step would be to have one mindful bite. At the beginning of the meal sit down, think through the texture, the flavour, the temperature, and all the other sensory qualities of the food – just check in with it as literally a bite-sized moment you can enjoy straight away,” she explains.

“Intuitive eating is a process, and it does

Chew your food more. Instead of shovelling it down, chewing helps pay attention to what you’re eating and develop a more mindful approach.

Put your phone and other devices away when sitting down to eat.

Adjust your mindset. Unfollow “clean eating” influencers on social media, break up with your fitness trackers, calorie-counting apps, and ditch all the external diet rules.

Don’t cut out food groups. Unless there’s a medical need, don’t cut out whole food groups like dairy or grains, says Owen. Instead, aim for a balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates.

take time, but the nice thing about it is that it’s flexible,” she adds. “Of course it’s great if you can make time to close your laptop, even if it’s just 10 to 15 minutes, but I’ll sometimes work through my lunch break because I don’t have time.”

Similarly, don’t beat yourself up if you only have time to grab a granola bar between meetings. It’s always better to eat something than to just keep pushing on because you can’t take a perfect lunch break.

Have you tried eating more intuitively and mindfully? Let us know by tweeting @WorkspaceGroup and share your experience. Turn to page 60 to find a relaxing travel retreat to recharge your batteries

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podcasts

pod up your life Stuck in the rat race with no time to reflect more deeply on your work path? Try listening to a podcast on your commute or lunch break.

Bruce Daisley at Twitter shares his top four suggestions 56

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HOW TO MAKE WORK SUCK LESS

HOW TO MAXIMISE YOUR WORK MOJO

Adam Grant is the king of organisational psychology – the study of workplaces. Frustratingly his books so far haven’t been as comprehensive and stimulating as his brilliant podcast, WorkLife. Grant goes to meet the biggest names in the world of work and tries to dissect why they succeed. The association with TED means that this is a highly produced show, and that frothiness is sometimes to its detriment.

It doesn’t stop the show being one of the most energising ways to ask – as Grant directs us – “How can we make work suck less?”

Returning in spring 2019 for a new season, Victoria Stoyanova takes a beautifully poised look at some of the creative thinkers behind tech and design businesses around the world. Stoyanova’s style is full of wonder and inquisitiveness, a charming antidote to some of the familiar machismo of the business world.

The Work We Do is one of the only podcasts that asks what state should we be in to be creative. Stoyanova’s past interviewees include Google’s Sarah Drinkwater, author Gillian Davis and Instagram’s Niran Vinod.

WorkLife Adam Grant

The Work We Do Victoria Stoyanova

Bruce Daisley, Vice President for EMEA at Twitter “The podcast revolution is gradually winning people over as a great way to get fresh thinking without having to do anything as daunting as read a book. The last few years has seen a fantastic explosion of new and diverse voices in the world of business podcasts. These aren’t dull and dusty BBC broadcasters, but shows that are funny and full of personality. For new starters, find your podcast app (Apple Podcasts or Podcast Addict on Android are great places to start). Short on time? Take a tip from ‘podfasters’ and listen on a speeded-up tempo!”

Being Bruce

HOW TO SHARPEN YOUR HUSTLE

HOW TO LOVE WORK AGAIN

Before smartphones and the internet started bringing us everything for free, this meaty series would have sold out faster than a Jane Fonda workout video.

Each week Guy Raz hears from the founders of successful businesses about the travails they survived to become the “overnight successes” we perceive them to be today. The joy of this show is the diversity of the subjects and the demystification of ideas of genius. The struggle is real – and it’s great to hear inspiration from some of the people who’ve battled through it.

Yes, it’s my own podcast, but I recommend it because I’m very much not the star of it. Each week I chat to the leading academics studying work or to experts from different professions.

What can office workers learn about dealing with stress in the police force?

Each week we lift the lid on what makes the best workplace cultures, and ask what can we steal for our own jobs.

How I Built This Guy Raz

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Eat Sleep Work Repeat Bruce Daisley

From growing up on a council estate in Birmingham to landing his first job by drawing a cartoon CV of his life, Bruce Daisley has scaled the ranks to work at some of the biggest technology firms, like Google and YouTube. Author of best-selling book The Joy of Work, he shares his learnings on 21st-century office life and asks the tricky questions.

Are lunch breaks for wimps, or do they actually make us more productive? Is it true that you can improve team performance simply by moving the location of the kettle or coffee machine? Also, what are Monk Mode Mornings and Hack Weeks, and why do people swear by them?

“The last few years has seen a fantastic explosion of new and diverse voices in the world of business podcasts” 57

“Sitting inactivates those muscles, so then when you stand or do other things, pain might start to set in�

Michael Adu, Stress-Less Fitness

BACK PUT YOUR

INTO IT

A sedentary lifestyle can have serious repercussions for your spinal health, writes Sarah Graham. Stand tall and ease backache with these expert tips

Right: Micah Campbell, Trainer at Stress-Less Fitness

It’s no secret: sitting hunched over a computer all day is no good for your back. Health experts say a sedentary lifestyle can lead to damaged health but, thankfully, there are things we can do every day to limit the impact.

Osteopath Simon Freedman was the first academic to put forward the thesis that our bodies are simply not designed to sit – and certainly not for eight or more hours a day.

“Most of us have seen the ‘sitting is the new smoking’ headlines. It’s pretty scary because most of us can choose to stop smoking, but not to stop sitting,” he says. Worse still, Freedman adds, “Research also shows that going to the gym for a few hours a week won’t reverse the problems created by excessive sitting.”

So, what exactly is sitting at your desk doing to your body? “Sitting for a prolonged amount of time affects the posterior chain – the hamstrings, the glutes, and the lower back, which are all connected,” explains fitness coach Michael Adu, Founder of Stress-Less Fitness, based at Club Workspace Clerkenwell Workshops. “Sitting inactivates those muscles, so then when you stand or do other things, pain might start to set in.”

Sitting also puts your spine into an un-neutral alignment. “When we stand, we should have a small arch in the lower back, but when we sit we often slump and reverse this curve,” explains Idris Moudi, an osteopath, Pilates instructor and Founder of Natural Moves holistic health clinic.

“This overloads and stretches the lower back muscles and ligaments, as well as increasing the pressure within the intervertebral discs,” he adds. “We also tend to bring our head forward, which can result in tightness in the back of the neck and weakness in the front.”

High-end The RH Logic 400 (approx. £950) Mid-range The Herman Miller Celle (approx. £500) or The Humanscale Diffrient Smart Chair (approx. £450) Budget Ikea Markus (approx. £150)

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Prevention and prehab

The first step should always be adjusting your work setup. Although it might not be financially viable to make major changes like buying an ergonomic chair, there are small changes that everyone can make – from investing in a comfortable backpack for carrying your laptop around, to ensuring your desk space is set up correctly.

“The one thing that all chair research agrees on is that people adjust their office chairs very rarely. It’s essential you get your chair adjustment and workspace set up right,” says Freedman, who offers illustrated guidance on correct computer setup at simonfreedman.com Moudi advises desk workers to sit with your seat at a height where your elbows and knees are at 90 degrees, and your line of sight is in the centre of your computer screen. “This may mean working on a desktop rather than a laptop, or getting an extra keyboard and putting your laptop on a stand. You should also have your keyboard directly in front of your screen to avoid having to twist,” he says.

Adopting a good posture and taking regular breaks are also crucial. Take a microbreak of 30–60 seconds every 15 minutes – stand up and walk around your desk, or to the water cooler.

For a more quirky approach, Less-Stress Fitness offers “youthful movement” classes, which encourage you to embrace your inner child and move in a more youthful way.

“We believe that the majority of humans moved in our best and most natural way when we were children, between the ages of two and 11, and this has been lost with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles,” Adu explains. “Our programmes are designed in a way which restores or expands this movement capability.”

Be a great chair person Upgrading to a more spine-friendly, ergonomic desk chair can be a huge investment for your health. Most importantly, it should be height adjustable and have a seat pan that slopes downwards towards the front, or can be adjusted to slope.

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The RH Logic 400 chair

Desk-ercise!

These exercises recommended by Simon Freedman can be done without even leaving your desk chair.

1. WHOLE BACK TWIST (a) Lift up arm in seated position. (b) Cross one leg over the other, and twist your shoulder in the opposite direction. Breathe in and push the arm and shoulder back against the thigh, breathe out and twist further round. Repeat.

2. STRAIGHT/BENT ARM UPPER BACK STRETCH (a) Keeping your arm straight, stretch it across your body. Pull the straight arm back, push against resistance, relax and increase stretch. Now repeat several times. (b) Do the same thing but with your arm bent – this focuses the stretch more on the arm and shoulder, and less on the back.

3. NECK AND SHOULDER STRETCH (a) Stretch your neck over to one side, using your hand to ease further into the stretch. (b) You can increase the stretch by sitting on the other hand.

4. FOREARM STRETCH Keyboard users take note. (a) Stretch your forearms out, pull the finger tips back, push, hold, elongate the stretch and repeat. (b) Then stretch again with your hands down and wrists flexed.

travel

Relax and unwind Wellbeing Escapes, based at ScreenWorks in Islington, offers a range of wellbeing holidays to help you unplug, unwind and re-energise. From country retreats just an hour from London to far-flung sandy resorts, here are our top four picks

Best for: Country retreat

Ockenden Manor Cuckfield, UK

Best for: Exotic getaway

Somatheeram Ayurveda Beach Resort Trivandrum, India Kerala’s original, award-winning Ayurveda resort sits among coconut groves on the west coast of India. For expert herbal medicines and oils, along with dosha-specific meals to revive body and mind, head to the sandy beaches of Trivandrum.

Look no further than this charming Elizabethan manor house in West Sussex for a rest break less than an hour from London. Its 28 lavishly decorated rooms, state-of-the-art spa, and award-winning restaurant, all set in eight acres of grounds, make it the perfect setting to escape the city.

Best for: Practising yoga

Shanti-Som Malaga, Spain Set within the Sierra de las Nieves Nature Park near Marbella, this intimate Asian-style retreat brings the exotic a little closer to home.

A panoramic view of mountains sets the tranquil tone of Shanti-Som, where you can spend the day practising yoga amid waterfalls and lush gardens.

Best for: Indoor sports

Grayshott Health Spa Surrey, UK The former home of British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson is now a 47-acre estate refurbished to combine the best of old and new.

Just an hour’s train journey from central London, it offers a range of fitness classes, tennis coaching, swimming lessons and woodland walks.

To find out more about Wellbeing Escapes and to book a wellbeing retreat, head to wellbeingescapes.com, call 020 3735 7555 or email info@wellbeingescapes.com

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Double meaning clue, e.g. Annoy insect (3) Answer: Bug (which means annoy and insect.)

Homonym clue, e.g. Naked animal can be heard (4) Answer: Bare (which is pronounced just like bear – so animal can be heard, and the definition is naked.)

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Your cryptic clues

Workspace customer Joe Jenkinson, a consultant at 2MC at Metal Box Factory in Southwark, has created our first cryptic crossword. Joe’s dad taught him how to make crosswords. Follow the rules below to solve the puzzle. Snap your completed crossword and send to HomeworkEditor@workspace.co.uk for a chance to win free flowers from Bloom & Wild*. It’s more fun if you try it as a team!

Cryptic clue rules

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GO TEAM!

Compound clue, e.g. Underwear in clean condition (9) Answer: Brainwash (Underwear = bra, clean = wash, so underwear in clean becomes bra + in + wash = brainwash, which means condition – to condition someone is to brainwash them.)

Abbreviations, e.g. Large and small countries (5) Answer: Lands (Large is abbreviated to L, and small is abbreviated to S, so large and small becomes L + and + S = lands, which means countries.)

Across

Down

9. Bizarrely, a leadership without Sherpa is perfect (5) 10. Country where one’s inside another country (9) 11. Split a pie unevenly, they’re found behind cars (9) 12. Leader almost disturbed singer (5) 13. I busted out to check and correct (7) 15. Potentially guilty fan starts to chant: United score equalising deflection (7) 17. You and I will listen to disc (5) 18. That man hears song (3) 20. I’m blue, left out to permeate (5) 22. Went through a past experience to deliver order (7) 25. Drawing I’d return with a weight (7) 26. Go in with some talent erratically (5) 27. Footballer’s son organised mate’s club (5,4) 30. Fresh meat spoiled in new Workspace centre (3,6) 31. Protective part of body requires skill when I am replaced by union leader (5)

1. Present talent (4) 2. Strangely, Lee Blair is trustworthy (8) 3. Hit pals up (4) 4. Extremely talented chap is confused by mail (8) 5. Poems by South African leaders on city in Ukraine (6) 6. Cat in car at resort in cold place (10) 7. Me and you and that woman’s attendants (6) 8. Partner switches team (4) 13. Someone who places seeds in worse position (5) 14. Saviours get animal’s inner organ (10) 16. Doctor and team without leader have ambition (5) 19. Team slid away from prizewinner in America (8) 21. Hear hairdresser wait for cook (8) 23. Note that is 1 of 26 (6) 24. Leave suddenly and made P.C. move (6) 26. Has food with most of team when injured?

Some leader! (4) 28. CEO produces something that has a strong, sweet smell (4) 29. Half-talented story (4)

Anagrams, e.g. Women with strange ideals (6) Answer: Ladies (ideals is an anagram of ladies, so strange ideals becomes Ladies, and the definition in the clue is Women.)

Hidden words, e.g. Constellation visible from Iceland, Rome, Damascus (9) Answer: Andromeda (The defi nition is constellation, and the word Andromeda is visible from IcelAND ROME DAmascus, because the word is hidden within the clue.)

General cryptic clue, e.g. Not the right way to go (4) Answer: Left (In these clues, the entire clue provides a description for the word, but tricks you into misinterpreting them.)

Wordplay: Strange doctor with American degree returns (6) Answer: Absurd (Doctor = Dr, American = US, degree = BA, so Dr with US BA gives drusba. Returns means puts back and if you put drusba backwards, you get absurd, which means strange.

Some clues combine more than one of the above.

Remember that the clue will often contain a standard definition for the answer, either at the start or the end of the clue, and the rest of the clue is the cryptic part. Make sure your answers fit with the cryptic part of the clue as well as the definition.

* Receive delightful blooms again and again (and again!) with three months of flowers. Once a month for three months, Bloom & Wild will deliver a different fresh flower bouquet to your door. Each bouquet is designed by Bloom & Wild’s expert florists for a varied and beautiful present you will enjoy for weeks to come

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Workspace Book Corner We asked the people interviewed for the magazine which books inspired them and helped them to find success in business, particularly in the fields of talent and leadership. Here are five top recommendations

Hanna Naima McCloskey CEO of Fearless Futures, Canalot Studios “I’ve learned a lot about issues related to inclusion and talent from this book.

The author’s intellectual breadth is vast. This book is for any leader who is prepared to dig deep and grapple with the ways that inequity plays out in our world, in them and around them. Unusually, while this book is most obviously speaking to professors or teachers, there is a parallel power dynamic with a leader. Whether you want to create cultures of equity, justice and accountability in your classroom or company, this is an extremely powerful book.”

The author, bell hooks – writer, teacher and insurgent black intellectual – writes about a new kind of education: education as the practice of freedom. Full of passion and politics, Teaching to Transgress combines a practical knowledge of the classroom with a deeply felt connection to the world of emotions and feelings.

This is a rare book about teachers and students that dares to raise questions about egos and rage, grief and reconciliation, and the future of teaching itself.

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business books

Zara Bates

Marta Yarza

Ben Gancz

James Watson

Head of Consulting and Training at Strengthscope, The Print Rooms

Co-founder at Yarza Twins, formerly based at China Works

Director at Qumodo, The Print Rooms

Chief Marketing Officer at Immerse Learning, The Record Hall

“This book is full of super-practical tools and techniques to support teams and leaders to achieve their best through a strengths lens.”

Discover your unique edge.

Each of us has strengths, abilities and skills that allow us to shine and deliver exceptional results. These are the underlying qualities that energise us and we are great at (or have the potential to become great at). But how do you understand and build upon your strengths, and how do you inspire others to do the same? Optimize Your Strengths provides a proven strengthsbased approach to achieving peak performance for you and your team. You’ll discover your core strengths and learn to use them to bring out the best in yourself, and inspire passion, innovation and engagement in the people you lead.

“It’s all about how Andy Warhol saw life, and it’s a really interesting glimpse into the mind of somebody as creatively talented as him. This unique perspective on the world can help to inspire creative talent.”

Andy Warhol – American painter, filmmaker, publisher, actor and major figure in the Pop Art movement – was in many ways a reluctant celebrity. Here in his autobiography he spills his secrets and muses about love, sex, food, beauty, fame, work, money, success, New York and America, and its place in the world. But it is his reflections on himself, his childhood in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, the explosion of his career in the 60s and his life among celebrities – from working with Elizabeth Taylor to partying with the Rolling Stones – that give a true insight into the mind of one of the most iconic figures in 20th-century culture.

“A rare book that dares to raise questions about egos and rage” workspace.co.uk

“This is a really interesting book that looks at the interaction between humans and technology.

It digs deep into human psychology and looks at the dopamine hit you get from endless scrolling on the internet. It gives a great insight into human addiction.”

Why do some products capture our attention, whereas others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us? This book introduces readers to the “Hook Model”, a four-step process that companies use to build customer habits. Through consecutive hook cycles, successful products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back repeatedly – without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hooked is a guide to building products people can’t put down. Written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders and people eager to learn more about the things that control our behaviours, this book gives readers actionable steps for building products that people love, and practical insights to create user habits that stick.

“The key takeaway for me from this book is the four stages of organisational change: a case for change – there needs to be a real need for it; a compelling picture of the future; a sustained capability to change; and, finally, a credible plan to execute.

The All Blacks applied this to their team over the course of four years, culminating in reaching the final of the Rugby World Cup in 2013. Good work if you’re a Kiwi!”

In Legacy, best-selling author James Kerr goes deep into the heart of the world’s most successful sporting team, the legendary All Blacks of New Zealand, to reveal 15 powerful and practical lessons for leadership and business. It’s a unique, inspiring handbook for leaders in all fields, and asks: What are the secrets of success – sustained success?

How do you achieve worldclass standards, day after day, week after week, year after year? How do you handle pressure? How do you train to win at the highest level? What do you leave behind you after you’re gone?

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the workspace advantage

Sweet like chocolate What does the Workspace Advantage mean to our customers?

Meet Kit Tomlinson and Ross Newton, Co-founders at Mighty Fine based at China Works in Vauxhall. With their honeycomb products filling the shelves of major retailers, including Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, the growing start-up is on a mission to become the UK’s next iconic confectionery company. Since joining Workspace, Mighty Fine has been able to take advantage of all it has to offer.

#NoLimits

Mighty Fine started out at Vox Studios in Vauxhall before upgrading to a larger office space at China Works. “The process was really easy,” says Tomlinson. “We’re a small but fast-growing business. We don’t want to over-extend ourselves with space but we still need to know that when the time comes for us to add more people into our office, we can take advantage of Workspace’s flexibility.”

#WiredDifferently

A superfast Wi-Fi connection throughout the building has enabled the team to work wherever they like. “We are able to walk out of our office with a laptop, go and have a meeting in the breakout spaces and keep our business running,” says Tomlinson. “It has given us the illusion of having much more space than we actually rent, which is great for a small and growing business.”

#SuperConnected

The relaxed and sociable environment at Workspace has been a springboard for Tomlinson and Newton to meet new businesses. “Both the Workspaces centres we’ve been at have had a great vibe to them and a real community feel,” says Tomlinson. “The centre managers are really open with communication and make everyone feel welcome, and that’s the core of how you make an atmosphere work – people feel inspired to network.”

Are you part of a growing business looking to make your mark in the capital?

Find out more about what Workspace can offer by visiting workspace.co.uk/advantage

“Workspace gives us the illusion of having much more space than we actually rent, which is great for a small and growing business” Kit Tomlinson, Co-founder at Mighty Fine

Kit Tomlinson (left) and Ross Newton (right), Co-founders at Mighty Fine in the communal space at China Works

my workspace

Ryan Adams Signify Technology Ryan Adams is Founder at Signify Technology, a tech recruitment company based at The Frames in Shoreditch.

Spanning Europe, the US, Tokyo and Australia to help software engineers secure their dream job, his start-up is shaking up the world of job hunting. We find out how the proud husband, father and entrepreneur creates a thriving company culture, his top tips for work-life balance, and his favourite secret London spot Where is home?

Home is Surrey. I love working in London but also enjoy getting away from the hustle and bustle to be surrounded by trees and fields to enjoy time with my young family.

First thing you do when you get into work?

After saying good morning to the whole team, I sit down and get a plan in place.

It’s important to get tasks prioritised, clear emails, check my calendar and make sure I’m on top of urgent tasks to get myself geared up for the day ahead.

Office view you’d kill to have?

Santa Monica, LA, would have to be my dream location. I’ve been obsessed with it ever since I started working, and we’re actually about to open an office out there, which I’m very excited about.

Best place to celebrate a work deal?

We like to celebrate deals as a team in the office. You choose a great song, do your “deal walk”, then write it up on the communal board. It’s a bit of fun for the whole office, followed by high fives and lots of noise – of course.

What motivated you to launch Signify Technology?

After working in the recruitment sector for some time, I got to a point where

I was frustrated with the way the industry operated. For me, the client-candidate relationship is crucial. I wanted to connect talent with opportunities in a new way and fl ip the negative perception people often have of recruiters.

Worst work habit?

I get impatient and always want results yesterday. When you own your business, it’s hard to leave work at work. It can become your whole life. I love what I do, but it’s all about striking a good working balance.

Who has been an inspiration in your life?

My mum. She is the defi nition of a fighter.

From a young age she has suffered with ill-health and has recovered from cancer twice. If I even have a quarter of her drive and determination, I will do okay in life.

If you were Mayor of London for the day, what would you do?

Ban cars in the city so that everyone has to run, cycle or walk. Great for exercise but also helps the environment.

Best night out near The Frames?

I am a big foodie and there are so many amazing places in Shoreditch, like The Curtain Hotel, Nobu, Sushi Samba and Dishoom. I still love to party and drink a few glasses of wine but food is where my heart is.

Top tip for businesses to encourage work-life balance?

Care about your staff ’s wellbeing and they will be happy. If it’s possible, speak to individuals in your company to fi nd out what’s important to them. That could be shorter work hours, taking regular breaks or integrating yoga and meditation into the working day. Also, taking an hour away from your desk for lunch is a big must.

If you were locked in The Frames for a night, who would you choose as your buddy?

I’m a big football fan so it would have to be Th ierry Henry. He’s a hero in my eyes and I would love to meet him.

Best secret London spot?

The Curtain Hotel. I recently joined as a member and spend a lot of time there.

The Frames got me a great discount, too.

What’s on your bookshelf?

How to Win Friends and Influence People,

by Dale Carnegie. We also have a library at Signify where we share books to help with self-development.

Find out how Adams’ business cherrypicks the best talent in The War for Talent on page 24. Find out more about the business at signifytechnology.com

“Care about your staff ’s wellbeing and they will be happy” 66

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“Happy employees equal productive employees, which in turn creates long-term loyalty” Ryan Adams, Founder at Signify Technology