Design a More Productive Workspace with Biophilic Design Expert, Oliver Heath

Design a More Productive Workspace with Biophilic Design Expert, Oliver Heath

Jenn DeWall:

Hi, it’s Jenn DeWall, and in this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, I sat down with an industry-recognized expert in the field of sustainable architectural and interior design, Oliver Heath. What? Are we talking about architecture and interior design on The Leadership Habit podcast? Yes! And we are going to be talking about how you can actually design and create workspaces that can improve productivity, reduce stress, and maybe actually make you want to go to work. Oliver is a trusted voice of authority in interior design. He’s written three books, and his last, Urban Eco Chic, sold over 30,000 copies in eight different languages. He is a frequent contributor to the likes of The Guardian, The Sunday Times, House Beautiful, and BD Online. And today, he is going to share with us how we can incorporate elements of a biophilic design to create and design the optimal workspace.

Meet Oliver Heath, Biophilic Design Expert

Jenn DeWall:

Hi everyone. It’s Jenn, and I am so excited to be sitting down with Oliver Heath! Yeah, well, you may not know him, but he is someone well-known— at least in my book— and in the area of biophilic design. He is an architecture and interior designer who specializes in well-being. And I know what you might be thinking. What in the heck does that have to do with how I lead my teams? More than you think! Oliver, can you please go ahead and just introduce yourself and tell us how you came to be someone that was really vested in specializing in well-being and especially in terms of creating the spaces where we can be our best and perform at our best.

Oliver Heath:

I would love to, thank you! So I run an architectural and interior design practice in Brighton, in England, where we specialize in human-centered design. And when we talk about human-centered design is how we design with people in mind now in particular that investigates health and well-being and the impact that buildings have on people, on their physical, mental, and emotional states. And more specifically, the work that we do is around what we’ve called biophilic design, which essentially is how we enhance the human connection to nature in the buildings that are so important to our lives.

Jenn DeWall:

Okay. So biophilic design as a definition is how we can enhance our connection with nature in a physical office space.

What is Biophilic Design?

Oliver Heath:

Well – biophilia means a love of nature. It kind of explains our innate attraction to nature and natural processes. It kind of explains it away. Why when we go on holiday, we choose to go to the beach, the mountains and the forest. And when we’re in those spaces, we get this incredible sense of calm and relaxation. And we start to react differently to people. We feel more positive, open, optimistic. We kind of get back to being at our best. And then we go back to the office, and we feel all that stress come back to and all that tension. And it’s as if we’ve never been awake before. So in a way, it’s about how we borrow some of that amazing well-being from being in nature and find sophisticated ways of bringing it back into the workplace.

Jenn DeWall:

I, you know, as someone that is a nature lover, I, you know, we just talked to prior to I was in the mountains this weekend, I love going there to recharge. Please tell me the secret. How do you harness the power of nature? Because I’m from someone that really does get that relaxing feeling, the calm, the sense of it’s okay. And you are removed from that stress. I would love to have it in every single space that I go to or to feel like that. So how do you harness that power?

Oliver Heath:

Well, I mean, I think that’s the amazing thing, that design styles come and go. They can be very polarizing people like this style or that style. It’s too minimal. There’s too much detail. The nice thing about nature is that everybody has had a positive experience of nature at some point. So in a way, it’s about eliciting a similar emotional response to space as we’ve had in nature. And it kind of reminding people how you remember the smell of that forest or the touch of the grain or all the verdant sort of diverse plants. And it’s about bringing that back into places that are ordinarily very cold and stark and lots of hard geometric lines that are very sort of cold and, and more, unlike nature than you’d have believed. So, you know, it’s about bringing some of that, that, that goodness. Now I feel like design doesn’t need to be that complicated. There are three key aspects to it.

The first is how we bring in what we call the direct connection to nature? So this is how we bring in, you know, things like real plants, as you can see here in my office in Brighton. So it’s about trees, natural light, fresh air. It might be about the subtle changes that we see throughout the year. Maybe about water features. The second aspect is about indirect connections to nature. And this is how we mimic or evoke a feeling of nature using natural materials, colors, textures, patterns, and even technology. And the third one is what we call a human spatial response.

And this is how and why we create spaces that are exciting and stimulating and aspirational, you know, to create buildings that we want to go to, but also to create places that are calming, relaxing, and restorative. Because so many of the spaces that we live and work in are exhausting, they’re overwhelming. And when we become tired and fatigued, our productivity goes down. So we need to treat people with some respect and make sure that they don’t get tired because that’s not good for anybody. And to keep them productive, we have to make sure they get this kind of level of micro recuperation. So they’re always performing at their best.

How Can Bring Nature Into Office Design?

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh. So we said three things there- the direct connection, the indirect connection, and human spatial response. Is there one that’s easier or that you see as more common for smaller organizations to try and incorporate into their space?

Oliver Heath:

Well, you know, I mean the easiest thing, of course, you know, put a few plants in. The nice thing is these plants are just the most amazing things. You know, not only do they look lovely, they add a soft visual texture that we’re familiar with, that it’s kind of gently calming. They provide some movement, create some richness into the space. Many plants can also remove toxins that we find in interior environments, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde particles that come from the emissions from cars, or all the burning substances. And they can also modify temperature and humidity, remove CO2, and countless studies have shown actually that reducing levels of CO2 can actually enhance decision-making in offices. So, multiple benefits. And, you know, they’re not just nice to look at. They can literally provide a measurable benefit to people and productivity.

Jenn DeWall:

Okay, let’s go into that because I think there might still be some people that are like, why in the heck are they talking about nature in the office of mayor myth? Let’s talk about the benefits of actually creating a place that incorporates nature, whether it’s through one of the three methods that you said. Well, let’s talk about the benefits that the organization can see for the individuals or just the organization itself. I know you, you talked about a few different statistics, which were pretty eye-opening for me, but what are the benefits of connecting with nature?

How Design Affects Productivity

Oliver Heath:

Yeah, I mean, I think this is one of the most fascinating aspects of biophilic design for me is that it’s what we call an evidence-based approach to design. Now, ordinarily, most design styles are picked from current trends or things that people have liked. But when we talk about an evidence-based approach, what we’re essentially suggesting is that the work that we produce as designers is underpinned by years of research studies by environmental psychologists that have demonstrated that an increased connection to nature in the built environment can have measurable and tangible benefits for occupants in the space, but also the organizations that run them. So across all sorts of building typologies, there are known benefits. So, in particular, workplace, studies have shown that actually when natural features have been applied, there’s a 15% reduction in absenteeism.

Other studies have shown that when office workers were found to perform from 10 to 25% better on tests for mental recall and functioning when they had the best possible— so looking out onto nature and greenery and movement. And then separate studies by an organization that I work with very closely called interface have shown the office workers in workplaces that have increased levels of nature self-report a 15% higher level of well-being and a 6% more productive, and 15% more creative. So what’s important about this is essentially that we’re creating a business case. We’re saying this isn’t just nice to have. This is an essential component of how we create places that people want to work in and that support them and a physical a mental level to enhance productivity, communication, engagement, and involvement. And, you know, for me, it, it just says, you know, you’ve got to be doing this. It’s not a nice to have, you know, you’re, you’re now competing against other organizations in what we call the war for talent. So how do you get the people to come and work for you? Well, you create a beautiful lush environment where people walk in, and they can understand that through this sort of diverse element of greenery and spaces, that there’s a space that can actually support them, not just to survive, but to thrive and flourish.

Jenn DeWall:

You said a lot of really powerful things that I think, you know, a lot of leaders are like, I would love to reduce absenteeism. I would love to create a place where people are more productive, but then also, as we think right now, you know, burnout rates are so high. I love that when we can focus on creating that physical environment that’s better for someone’s space, we can have an impact on that mental well-being, which is so important. I love that this is one way that we can really approach mental wellness like mental health. Again, there are other options, but this is a great, easy, accessible one for people to start maybe incorporating. How has the pandemic affected this? Is it that people that are kind of creating spaces that are boxier then, and they don’t even look at that. Like, how has the pandemic impacted how we work and the biophilic design that you’ve done at home?

Biophilic Design at Home

Oliver Heath:

Yeah, I think prior to the pandemic, it was clear that people felt that it was their employers who bore the responsibility of the health and well-being of the workplace. So there was an expectation that the workplace should be delivering on enhanced well-being through air quality, access to natural light, good ergonomics. Now, when the pandemic hit, we started to work from home. It was clear that we were all having to kind of find places in our homes. You know, we weren’t necessarily, it wasn’t a given that anybody had spaces, but we had to find spaces that could support our intended activity. And I think what happened was that because we were not having that rich diversity of spaces that we would have in our ordinary lives, that suddenly we recognized just how much architecture affects us, because, you know, we’re surrounded by it. It’s very, multi-sensory contains us. And it really does affect our physical, mental, and emotional states. So I think over the pandemic, what’s been clear is people have been locked at home in a single space. They started going a little bit stir crazy. They’ve got cabin fever. And I think people recognize the need to connect with nature as a means to recuperate, to relax and reduce stress maybe at the beginning of the day to get out and get what we call a photon shower, which is an intense burst of natural lights, very good for circadian rhythms, or perhaps at the end of the day, just to sort of de-stress to relax. So people have been getting out, walking, connecting with nature in the UK. We see a massive increase in the number of people who are now getting dogs and really benefiting from the kind of change in physical activity they have because of those dogs. So, you know, the lots of, lots of subtle ways people have really valued that, that nature connection.

How Does Office Design Go Wrong?

Jenn DeWall:

Where do organizations get it wrong? I mean, I struggled because I— I will say this— and it’s a personal preference. Sometimes when for me, a building is very modern. I can see aesthetically that it’s wonderful and it’s beautiful, but it can also feel really sterile and not necessarily freeing. It doesn’t feel warm or relaxing. Even though I can appreciate the design, it doesn’t elicit a [positive] response. And I’m assuming many organizations might be like, yeah, I get the, you know, that modern, that trendy, that neat technique. And we don’t even consider that. So, where do companies get it wrong when they think about their office design space?

Oliver Heath:

Yeah. This is really interesting actually because I think a lot of organizations use design as a means to express identity, power, wealth, status. You know, we’re a big company, we’re powerful. Look at our design, you know, it’s cold, it’s hard, it’s all stair. We’ve got people inside this building, they’re doing jobs, and they’re doing well. They’re like little cogs in a machine. So that, so in a way that they’re using design to express an outward message of power and wealth and status, now I call that, you know, essentially that’s a very extrinsic message. It’s pushing it out there. And well, our approach is much more intrinsic. We say, well, what about if we turn that around completely? What if we just design buildings that put people in the best physical and mental state to do the task at hand? What would that look like? What would it feel like? What would it be like? What would it be like to walk in in the day? How would it help you to be productive when you’re sitting at your desk? How might that help you to connect with others and have creative conversations? And how might that help you feel better when you leave at the end of the day so that you have a good work-life balance that you can go home and not feel stressed and that you can sleep well and come back to work, feeling refreshed and had excited about doing another good day’s work.

So this intrinsic approach it’s really about putting in that deep, in the best, most positive, optimistic, and open state so that when they pick up the phone to somebody, they’re not angry, they’re not stressed. They’re like, how are you doing? You know, having, you know, and having a really good open conversation because to me, that’s what I want from my staff. I want people to feel happy, to be excited about coming to work, and to be in a really good mental state to do the work that I need them to do.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. So organizations may get it wrong by just not including or incorporating any elements of nature and maybe not considering the warmth. So the warmth that it takes, and trying too hard to, I guess, lean into the brand of what they want that to look like instead of the human side. And I’ve definitely been in organizations where- and again, they look so glamorous, they look so cool, but it’s not necessarily the place that I would thrive in. And I know we’re going to talk a little bit about what you can do, but I think of even organizations that use a lot of like very bright colors and like how that can also feel overwhelming, it doesn’t feel as natural or just those hard lines. So if companies get it wrong, it might be leaning too much into your brand, creating a more sterile environment that doesn’t necessarily foster that. And it’s, so you’re not necessarily saying it can be any type of design. It’s just that when you do not include nature, so you could have a very modern, beautiful design, but you can incorporate nature. So we’re not saying any design is bad, right? We’re just saying that you need to also incorporate that element.

Oliver Heath:

Yes, yes. Biophilic design is an evolutionary design ethos. It sort of builds itself on that basis. But as human beings, we evolved in very close connection to nature for 99.5% of human evolution. And as a result, we have a genetic inheritance that allows us to recognize landscapes that can help us to survive, thrive, and flourish, and equally landscapes that are potentially threatening. So if you can imagine walking into a workplace where it’s just row upon row upon row of desks,                                                                                                 and you’re, you know, row F-5, you know, all of you know, A-Z rows of death. I mean, your heart’s going to sink at that. All it that’s all it is. Think about the lack of diversity, just the sort of monoculture of your daily experience. But if you were to walk into space where you can see that you can work in lots of different ways, there’s somewhere to sit and work by a window, to have a bit of privacy. There’s somewhere to have a little quiet conversation. You can pick up some food, some drinks. You can have a little conversation. There’s a meeting space, maybe a town hall. There is kind of little workspaces that have acoustically private or meeting rooms. And that there, this sort of diversity of spaces matched by diversity or furniture, but also plant life. You will immediately understand that this space is going to support you in all the different needs and physical and emotional needs that you need throughout the day. And also, your work needs so that you can work in different ways in a variety of different spaces. So in a way, it’s that sort of the richness of the diversity of spaces and products that you have in that, and of course, planting and greenery that immediately puts you at greater risk because space delivers on all your physical, mental, and emotional needs throughout that timeframe.

Jenn DeWall:

Okay. What do you do? Because I have absolutely worked for multiple organizations where I have been in the gray cube land. How do you even begin as an organization to approach this? Because I worked at one organization where there were over 3000 people in our corporate office. So if you could imagine the number of cubicles we had, we had a lot! But how do you start? Like, how do companies even start this is? I know we’re going to get more into the design, but how can you start with even cubicles? If you’re in an organization, what do you do? How do you take the gray and make it green?

Great Workplace Design Can Attract Talent and Reduce Absenteeism

Oliver Heath:

You know, your organization is made up of people. And, and I think for a lot of organizations, 90% of typical business operating costs are on stuff. So you put your people first, and whilst you may have what we call in the UK facilities manager, do you have those in the states? They manage the building. Who may be the person in charge of the building and the layout? They may be the one that’s leading the kind of consideration of how well that space is working, but actually, it’s the people in that space that are going to be experiencing it on a day-to-day basis that really should be talked to. So what we promote is the idea of pre and post-occupancy evaluations. So essentially, it is surveys that help you understand more about the state of that space. There are quantitative aspects that measure things like the level of light temperature, humidity. You might be measuring things like absenteeism or workplace injury.

Oliver Heath:

So these are things you can put little numbers to. And then you’ve got the qualitative aspects. And very often, buildings are- qualitative aspects, basically asking people questions like, how do you feel when you walk into the space? Does it allow you to be productive? Do you have connections to people that you may not otherwise bump into? How do you feel at the end of the day? Do you sleep well? You know, some of these qualitative questions are really important because very often a building might measure or write in one aspect, but when you speak to people, okay, this building doesn’t reflect who we are. I don’t like it. I feel embarrassed by it. I’d never bring people here. And we’ve literally worked on buildings where the quantitative and the qualitative aspects are completely diametrically opposed. So we always suggest that the organizations undertake the survey to really get under the skin of what it’s like to work in that place.

And we’ve written a white paper with our knowledge partners, Interface Flooring. You can download this from the interface or from our website, which is OliverHeath.com. And this is basically an introduction to pre and post-occupancy evaluation. Essentially it’s about getting your design right from the outset, not just having one person with an opinion, but gathering that data and understanding what it’s like to work there and how the needs of those people should inform what the design is eventually going to become.

Jenn DeWall:

So start with your people. I mean, have maybe you’re the secret ingredient and to making people want to go to work?

Oliver Heath:

Absolutely. Yeah,

Jenn DeWall:

I mean, if I knew that I was going into a place that was going to feel calmer, I would, you know, that absolutely changes the mindset that I have for going in and doing that, especially if it was in, you know, the cubicle environment where I may not even see a light that’s natural unless I go out for lunch. But if I eat at my desk, then chances are not. I think the only natural light I had, and I was very lucky in our cubicle land, was that there was a big atrium that I was next to. So I was fortunate to have that sunlight, but many people were just between gray cubes and white walls, which I don’t know why we ever thought, like, this is probably a great place for people to, to work. They’d probably love this. Like where, why did we start like that? Why is that the root of office design? It has to be there, you know, this basic, like we’ll put the gray cube there, we’ll get those white walls. This is all fine. Do you know anything about the history of when they decided to even create these color schemes or kind of the aesthetic of a modern-day office?

Oliver Heath:

Yeah, I mean, I think it was in the forties and fifties, maybe the sixties, when we started to look at how we might enhance the productivity in the layout of workplaces, you know, human beings are very adaptable. You know, we can technically work in those spaces. Are we getting the best out of people? Probably not. You know, so we really do need to kind of put people first and go, well, how, how would you feel better? How, how would you work without stress?

The 20-20-20 Rule

Oliver Heath:

You know, stress is enormously damaging. A little bit of stress is probably good to have a deadline, but if people are under constant stress from their workload, from social media, from emails, from deadlines, then actually the body’s sympathetic nervous system doesn’t have an opportunity just to stop. If you think about how we evolve, we might have had intense periods of activity when we were hunting and tracking, but actually, being able to stop to recuperate allowed us to regain our physical and mental approach and to get back to being at our best. But if we’re always on, that’s when we’re at risk of burning out. So essentially, as biophilic designers, we look to kind of create places where people can have that intense level of work but also have that opportunity to stop, to reflect, to recuperate. And we promote this idea called the 20-20-20 rule, which means basically every 20 minutes, people stop for 20 seconds and look at a distance of 20 feet away.

Oliver Heath:

And that just relaxes their eyes. It kind of reframes you just for 20 seconds that allows you to get back to being at your best. So it’s kind of one small little thing that you can do, even if you’re in a cubicle, just stop and just get that longer view. You might have to stand up or stand on a chance to do it, but, you know, if it means that your productivity isn’t going to be hindered and your stress levels have kept managed, then I think that’s probably a good thing.

Jenn DeWall:

Okay. I just want to say it, but I want to say it a little bit slower, so excuse me. So now we’re moving into one way that you can, oh my gosh. Sorry. Hi. All right. So now we’re kind of talking about, you know, just different things that you can do in your own place. And one of the things that you just shared. So the 20-20-20 rule says that for me one more time, just a little bit slower. So every 20 minutes, I stop, and I, I know I looked for 20 feet distance of 20 feet. What was it again? Okay. Every 20 minutes for 20 seconds, look at a distance of at least 20 feet, but hopefully, outside, it’s gotta be outside?

Oliver Heath:

Yeah, no, not necessarily, but I think if you can look onto plants and greenery, what has been sort of demonstrated again, is that sort of around and exposed to nature is a very good way at reducing stress.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. Okay. Fantastic. Like, I love that it’s the 20-20-20 rule. That’s a pretty easy one. Just reminding yourself that you’re likely going to be, you might be grueling looking at a challenge, but taking that break just to give yourself that mental reset again, we’re talking about simple things that you can do to create an environment that supports your well-being because we do want to be so mindful of stress. I mean, I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but I have so many friends lately that as a result of the pandemic, have been overly burnt out with a lot of different health challenges, just from, you know, stress, keep going, keep going, keep going. And I love that here’s one accessible way that we can start to kind of make a better design place. So I want to back it up. You talked about the three different ways that we can do it. So if we’re starting with the direct connection, then that’s adding in plants and trees. Like if you wanted to approach having, or excuse me, incorporate the direct connection, what could you do?

Natural Light is Essential to Workplace Design

Oliver Heath:

Yeah, so, so getting more natural light is probably fundamental to that. So, so natural light balances your circadian rhythms. Your circadian rhythms are your body’s reactions to periods of light and dark across a 24 hour period. It affects your mood, your behavior, and the body’s hormone release. In particular, is the release of melatonin and serotonin, which are the body’s sort of control of the sleep-wake cycles. So if we don’t have those sort of subtle changes that we see in natural light throughout the day as the sun, as the light goes from sort of orange in the morning to yellow, stimulating blue in the middle of the day, and then yellow and orange and red into the evening.

Oliver Heath:

And, you know, as we, as we spend so much of our time indoors, it’s under a single color temperature of light, but when we have more natural lights, our body can sync up to the kind of the changes the diurnal changes that we see. So having more natural light is really important. So doing a simple thing by moving our desk closer to the window, facing the window, means you’ve got light falling onto your face now. So when you’re doing a, you know, I kind of online conversation like this, you kind of well lit, but also you’ve got the art, the light falling into your, your eyes. So your body’s circadian systems are becoming more level and balanced. That will mean that you’ll sleep better at night, and you’ll wake up feeling more refreshed, able to do a good day’s work. So that’s a really simple thing when you have more natural light, the plants thank you as well. So they grow, they flourish, and we know that plants can help remove CO2, produce oxygen, remove toxins, modifying temperature, humidity, multiple benefits from plants. So, you know, natural light plants, they kind of go hand in hand together. And if plants can survive and flourish, then you know, so can humans.

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh, I, yes, I love the natural light comparison. You actually inspired me. I know that we had our pre-call a few weeks back or last week, and yesterday I took my laptop, excuse me. And I went, and I sat outside on my patio, and that’s what I did for work. I’m like, Oliver would tell me that I need to make the 20-20-20 rule and, or at least take a moment to look at nature because I think you gave me a tip on looking at nature, but I did do that yesterday. I’m like, am I? They’re going to work in my dining room facing the natural light, which is outside and a piece of nature, or going to work my back patio. And that’s what I did. So thank you very much for those tips because they very much stood with me and it was nice. It was nice to be removed from my environment that has natural elements to some extent but really doesn’t. And I know we’re going to talk and give a few more tips, but thank you for that. So when we go into indirect connection, that was all about then the colors of nature. So how do you replicate that? Is that just with, maybe we can change the way or the walls of cubes start there. Maybe I should write a letter to cube manufacturers. Can we start with not producing gray?

Using Colors to Create a Productive Workspace

Oliver Heath:

Yes. Yes. So, we use a color theory called ecological balance that suggests that we react well to colors that we’ve had previous experiences of. Now, as a population in general, we’ve had positive experiences of nature. So the theory goes that if we use colors that are, have elicited a positive emotional response in nature, we bring them indoors. They can elicit a similar emotional response. So the suggestion goes that there are sort of shades of blue or calming, relaxing, and restorative that remind us of cool, calm pools of water. Whereas shades of green might be more energizing and inspirational, and creative. They remind us of the fresh shoots of spring and all that incredible energy that we get this time of the year. Whereas yellows might remind us of the wards that some sunshine and bright summer crops, they’re very kind of warming, welcoming, and sociable colors. So they’re great in kind of a canteen or cafeteria spaces, social areas of bringing people together, making people feel kind of happy and open and optimistic. And then sort of reds and oranges are more energizing and stimulating and have to be a little bit careful not to overwhelm people, but they’re a little bit like the energy associated with fresh fruits and berries and the energy that you might need to expend from gathering them, but also from eating them.

Oliver Heath:

So it’s about how you use those colors in the appropriate ways and appropriate proportion. So not overwhelming people with blues or greens or yellows, but just kind of introducing those colors. And it could be as simple as, you know, adding them into fabrics, maybe wall colors, maybe even paintings maybe, you know, there’s the color of surfaces as well.

Jenn DeWall:

So green is the one that’s energizing, right? So that’s spring. If I’m trying to remember, this blue is cooler—

Oliver Heath:

Great. So thinking about where you find them, so energizing and creative as green shades of blue and more calming and relaxing yellows, this kind of very warm, welcoming color. Reds, reds, and oranges, you know, more stimulating.

Technology Can Help Bring Nature Indoors

Jenn DeWall:

Now, what did you mean when you said, okay, so we can consider those. That’s fantastic. What did you mean when you said technology? What technology with that nature? I think we’re talking to opposite sides. No, I’m teasing.

Oliver Heath:

And this is the amazing thing that actually, so much technology is developing to mimic and evoke a sense of nature. Both in the way that we produce materials but also how we represent nature. So think about, you know, our kind of really cliched one is you might have a TV screen with a flickering fireplace. Yeah? So we get all that kind of beautiful movement of the flames are getting the colors. You might have the sound of nature and, of course, that’s a TV screen representing it. But now, with high-definition TVs, what we see organizations do around the world, and I visited one in Japan recently was creating sort of recuperation rooms where it happens for great, big, very, very high definition TVs. They filmed local natural landscapes that people may have visited, just a static shot of a waterfall cascading down with trees and birds flying around. You can literally see the mess rising up. You can hear the water and people just sitting in chairs, looking back in a darkened room, watching this very calming, very gentle scene. And it brings up this idea of what we call non-rhythmic sensory stimuli. That’s kind of a complicated name for something you would probably know; non-rhythmic sensory stimuli is that very gentle calming feeling when you start to have a sense of movement. We see in nature like ripples moving on a pool of water, or maybe trees blowing in the wind. You know, it’s things that are constantly moving. It remained the same, that very non-threatening, and these things are very good at relaxing in the story. And you know, most built environments are very static. So introducing the sense of nature is really good.

Oliver Heath:

Now that might happen on a TV screen, but increasingly what we’re seeing are many technologies, be they acoustic or olfactory. So, you know how you produce scents or even sound to help multiple senses. So I’d say like a water wall might re-circulate water going down a wall. What that does is it introduces the sound of water. You get the beautiful non-rhythmic sensory stimuli of the movement. And you also get that increased humidity, which you can feel on the skin. So you think about the sort of three different senses that can refresh and restore and also help to distract from otherwise sort of potentially conflicting acoustic bits of information, what speech?

Jenn DeWall:

Sure. Oh my gosh. I wanted, like, I want this for every place that, you know, is that big gray corporation that I’ve worked in many times. And I know many people have just even having and replicating that experience. I think that’s such a great way to use and leverage your technology or do a sound system. Thank you so much for explaining more about how we can leverage technology right. It doesn’t always have to be a bucket of paint you can do or a picture. It could also just be putting an active, like a fireplace or a fire that’s on the screen or waterfall.

Oliver Heath:

Fish tanks are another good one. Do you know what I mean? There’s a lot of technology that goes into fish tanks, but again, it’s sort of produces that that beautiful movement and the richness of colors and that sense of nature.

What is Human Spatial Response?

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh. I love that. What about the human spatial response? So can we go a little bit into that one? I think that one’s probably the most. What does that mean? I don’t know what that means. What does the human spatial response? Oliver, I’m just gonna own that. I don’t necessarily know.

Oliver Heath:

It’s complicated. It’s okay. It’s okay. So, so basically, it’s about producing spaces that are exciting and stimulating that when you walk into them, you go like, wow, look at that, it’s amazing, but also spaces that are calming relaxing. So with know that certain types of architectural features excite us and stimulate us. So imagine I’m looking over an atrium over the handrail and looking down ten stories. What’s that going to do to you? You know, if you have vertigo, you’re going to get that sense of like that, you know, you’re going to feel that rush of blood. And if you walk under a gantry or around a waterfall, then again, it can, it can stimulate you. It can stimulate adrenaline. It can complicate your excitement about walking into space. Maybe, you know, it’s about creating areas that have that palpable sense of buzz and excitement. So that’s about creating that, that sense of real excitement or aspiration about the building. And equally, and I think this is the one thing that so many organizations get wrong is, is the kind of relaxation, recuperation, restoration aspect. You know, having people burn out is not good. You know, having people leave organizations to take time off costs organizations and incredible about money, but having somebody sit in a chair, look over a waterfall or a view of trees, or just have a moment in the sunlight. You know, even for five minutes, if that’s all it takes to relax somebody, to get them back to being at their best, to give them a moment, to get to, you know, reduce that stress and get them back to their desk. Then how damaging is that? Truly it’s far better to help people manage stress than to have a build-up to the point that they can’t come in. So, you know, it’s the one thing we see organizations really get wrong is going well, no, we’ve got all these spaces, so you’ve got, you know, it’s just on, on, on all the time, we’re not designed as human beings like technology just to be on all the time. We really do have to stop. We have to manage our sleep. We have to make sure that we stop to eat, to communicate, to have a break, to change our headsets, and even just have a moment to ourselves. It’s just so important.

Jenn DeWall:

I love that you bring that up because I’m going to translate that into maybe how I see it. And I was working with a client. This was actually last evening. And the reason that she is leaving her job, one of the reasons, is because she can’t even take a 15 to 25-minute break. If she was going to take one, right? She’s a salaried employee. She works more than eight hours. Let’s call it 10 or 12, but she can’t take a break because then if she’s away from her Slack or her Google Hangout, that’s when frustrating. They expect an on-demand response. And her challenge with that is I can’t even just go for a walk outside quick to, you know, decompress, to unwind, and we need to find and build-in opportunities for people to unplug. We cannot; I love that you said that we cannot be continuously on. There’s no way! We don’t have the momentum for that. You don’t leave me enough free cookies in the lobby to even make me go that far. No, I’m teasing, but really we have to be mindful of what we are doing in our spaces in our life to give people the breaks, to decompress, sit with nature and just unwind. So what, what are the simple things that we can do at home?

Oliver Heath:

Well, I, as I mentioned, you know, firstly, you know, reposition your desk near a window. If you can get a view onto some level of nature, whether that’s trees or plants that generally move, then that’s a really, really good thing. Make sure you take regular breaks. So go outside maybe in the morning, maybe in the evening, get some connection to nature. Fill your space with tactile surfaces and think about your what we call the haptic journeys. And haptic journeys are on a sort of sense of touch. So I think about, you know, what’s on the floor, maybe you’re going from stone floor in your bathroom to timber, to rugs. Think about your acoustic environment. I think very often people are working in, in not in spaces that are very distracting as human beings. We can’t actually filter out human speech very well. We can get used to all the sounds and get kind of habituated to it, but human speech is very difficult and very distracting for us. So minimizing that maybe masking it with other natural sounds of birds on the water is very, very good. And there are, there are lots of apps that you can download just to provide a sort of masking level, of water noise or background bird noise. What else can you do? Tactile surfaces, colors, even images of nature and walls can be very good.

The Power of Soup

Jenn DeWall:

Little things. So even if you’re at home and you’re remote environment, you could add in some plans you can T you can turn your desk, and you have that window view. I love this. There are simple things, be intentional about the workspace that you’re creating because it has so many benefits to our mental health. Oliver, let’s talk about the final wrap-up story, which is just a beautiful tradition that you do within your organization. All about the power of soup! Because we’re bringing it back. We’ve got to bring it back. What is the power of soup?

Oliver Heath:

So the power of soup is an idea that we’ve developed in our office. And it’s a really simple thing. Ordinarily, in organizations and in many workplaces, people sort of sit and have lunch at my desk. I’ll bring a sandwich like I’ll buy one and sit at their desk and look at the computer. But that’s what they’ve been doing all day already. And they’re just sitting there in their chair. So what we do, or we ordinarily do before the pandemic, and we hope to get back to it. We really miss it. It is basically producing and making soup in the office. So basically what happens is mid-morning, we’ll start about the soup, cause it’s the highlight of the day, rather than working, you know, here. So, so we’ll start talking about ingredients. Somebody will pop out to the shops, and we’ll come back, chop, prepare the vegetables, put them into a soup maker, turn the soup maker on. And then half an hour later, we’ve got, we’ve got to have some whole pot of steaming, fresh soup. Everyone gathers around the table, and we just stop for half an hour, and we eat, and we share soup. Now the lovely thing about that is it. It’s very sort of democratic.

Oliver Heath:

Everybody sits around the table; everybody has to stop work. And that’s really important. You stop, you, you, you kind of don’t look at your screens, and we have a chat. You know, we talk about, you know, what are you watching? What box sets, what are you reading? You know, what things are you noticing that people are wearing, listening to, what are kind of trends? And it’s been so fantastic, just this opportunity to reconnect with the people around you. To start to recalibrate, but also to talk about ideas. And you know, one of the interesting things about biophilic design is that it’s not just about how it affects us individually, how it reduces stress and helps us to recuperate. There’s also an associated psychological element to it as well about how it can enhance the connection to places, spaces, and the people in those spaces. So thinking about the senses and using our gustatory senses, that sense of taste, we use soup as an opportunity to connect with one another, to bring people around our kind of mindful moment of sitting around a table and having a conversation really amazing.

Oliver Heath:

It’s just the number of ideas we have when sitting around the table, eating soup, you know, because you know, when you start to talk, you share ideas, you share knowledge, you say resources. And from all of those from different people, you start to innovate. You come up with new ideas, and a business-like us as designers thrives on innovation. So the “Power of Soup” is all about how we use our senses to get people, to connect, to talk, to share ideas, and come up with new ideas.

Jenn DeWall:

I love that, Oliver. I want to come over to Brighton sometime and get that soup. I would love it. And you’re right. Innovation is all about building on the other or on other’s ideas. How can we replicate that? How can we create a place where people can connect? They disconnect from the computer, and they’re actually still kind of working if you’re talking about different things, but it’s not in the same way. And we actually just get to build that sense of community over. Thank you so much for just sharing with us different ways that we can approach our mental well-being, how we can create spaces that people can thrive in. How can people get in touch with you? Because you go around the world, you work with a lot of different organizations to create different spaces. How can they get in touch with you?

Oliver Heath:

Yeah, yeah. We often work remotely. I mean, as say I’m not traveling quite as much as you can look at our website, which is oliverheath.com. And on there, there are lots of resources that you can download about biophilic design in the workplace. And we’ve got a new online course called biophilic design in the home as well. So if you want to really bring those ideas into the place that’s probably the most important place in your life, your home, then we’ve got a course you can look at and download, and it’s kind of full of great ideas. That’s really inspiring. It’s not about telling you. It’s got to look like this. It’s about using your own sense of style and helping you understand the framework to apply those ideas.

Jenn DeWall:

Fantastic. And you also, I want you to just hold up that white paper again, because if they go to https://www.oliverheath.com/online-courses/, that not only can you have access to this class for how you can incorporate it in your home, but they also have additional white papers called Creating Positive Spaces where you could download that and then help to understand what you can do in your organization. So you’re working remotely with clients. I think that’s fantastic. I love, you know, the adaptability that we all have to have, but Albert, thank you for the work that you do, especially in changing the way that you know, the environment we spend, the majority of our lives at work. Why do we sometimes forget that the environment plays that part? I’m so glad that you’re putting a platform and a spotlight on that and ways that we can actually create a place that people want to work in. Thank you so much for taking your time to be with us today, Oliver!

Oliver Heath:

It’s been a total pleasure talking with you!

Jenn DeWall:

Thank you so much for listening to this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast with Oliver Heath. If you want to connect with Oliver, head on over to OliverHeath.com. If you know someone that could benefit from hearing this podcast and understanding how they can change and transform their workplace, don’t forget to share this with them. And of course, don’t forget to leave us a review on your favorite podcast, streaming service, and side note. Here’s a promo. If you don’t already come, Crestcom offers complimentary monthly webinars. And we would love to see you there. You talk about a variety of different topics, all designed to help you become the best leader that you can be.

 

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