We are living in a time of change. Above all, the Covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the transformation of the working world. Thanks to this transformation, organisations face great challenges in terms of their culture and structure. The digital age has arrived and has been transforming the world for a while now – especially the working environment. This not only involves the technical implementation of new possibilities, even though digital tools – among others – enable efficient teamwork, almost no matter where the team members are located. Workplaces and work locations are becoming increasingly flexible: in addition to working from home, co-working spaces and digital nomads are becoming just as common as meeting rooms with walls or hybrid meetings and workshops.
Agile working methods are becoming increasingly important. However, people are always at the centre of major changes. Both managers and employees are facing completely new demands on themselves and their roles. For companies, this means breaking down all areas – leadership and culture, structure, strategy, as well as processes and systems – and in some cases, completely rethinking them. Topics such as development potential, work–life balance, flexible working arrangements and the participation of employees in decision-making are becoming increasingly important. To remain fit for the future, companies ought to deal with the topics of new work and new leadership to be able to find and retain good employees in the long term.
The City of Graz’s Department for Economic and Tourism Development has been dealing with these changes in the world of work not only since the outbreak of the pandemic. The topic has increasingly become a focal point over the last few years. In the summer of 2018, the department held an event titled ‘Zukunftswerkstatt’ [Future Workshop] on the topic of digitisation and the new working world, during which the participants worked on the topic for three days using design thinking. In November 2019, some 600 guests attended the Club Zukunft on the topics of new leadership, new work and shaping the future at Messe Congress Graz. Seven international speakers elaborated on digital leadership programmes, analogue adventures and digital change on four stages. Apart from this annual event, the quarterly Club Zukunft KOMPAKT was established, to give experts the chance to add to topics such as ‘digitisation and mindset’ or ‘disruptive innovation’ in a smaller setting.
During these challenging times, we – the City of Graz’s Department for Economic and Tourism Development – aim to rethink Graz’s economy together with our partners. Above all, we would like to provide innovative impetus to the focal point of ‘new work and new leadership’, not only using our own formats, but also by supporting formats established by Graz’s economy itself. With LENDHAFEN the City of Graz provides a central, flexible and multifunctional space for Graz’s businesses. It functions as a meeting place, workshop and a stage for companies. During its first trial year, it was free to use. Innovative ideas will be set and mindsets and tools developed – cooperatively and co-creatively – and above all, in the focal area of new work and new leadership.
With LENDHAFEN, the Department for Economic and Tourism Development Graz has created a space that is to become the centre and lighthouse for these topics – a space in which the economy is rethought. We are making this space available to the Graz economy. In the trial operation until the end of June 2021, it was used free of charge. The deciding factor is what the space is used for:
- As a meeting point – for public events on the topic of ‘new work and new leadership’.
- As a workshop – a space for cooperation and co-creation, above all for non-public B2B events between at least two Graz-based companies or institutions that promote exchange and networking of the domestic economy.
- As a stage – a space for joint presentation.
- As a showroom – that promotes the services or products of at least two companies or institutions.
LENDHAFEN is equipped in such a way that it can be prepared for various settings in the shortest amount of time possible, from workshops to small group events to cinema seating. All the furniture and technical equipment is mobile: anything that is not equipped with castors is stored in such a way that it can be moved easily and quickly when needed. It offers 160 m2 of space for up to 90 people and has an outside area of 100 m2.
In 2018, Mayor Siegfried Nagl commissioned the Department for Economic and Tourism Development with creating a concept for the future use of the vacant floor space on the ground floor – directly underneath the department’s premises. The department suggested using it as a meeting point, workshop and stage for Graz’s economy. The space was not only intended to serve its own formats; the goal was to develop a space in which the economy in Graz is rethought with targeted thematic focuses.
At first this focus was on the area of new work and new leadership. Right from the start of planning, it was important to hold talks with experts from Graz who were involved in the design of the space. In the sense of a co-creative process, LENDHAFEN, its equipment and design were thus adapted to the users in the best possible way.
The space was also actively offered to the Graz business community free of charge during the planning phase. Until the start of construction, the empty space was used several times as a pop-up store and as a location for workshops and events. To be able to adapt the space, its original restaurant equipment had to be removed.
Subsequently, the space had to be redesigned and optimised, especially in terms of acoustics, light and ventilation. To meet the necessary funding the Graz City Council decided, at the request of the department, to make a budget of € 480 000 available. A designated employee from the Department for Economic and Tourism Development was given responsibility for the coordination and implementation of this project for a period of about 16 months. During the last 6 months prior to the opening of LENDHAFEN, three other employees from the department provided support as needed.
GBG Gebäude- und Baumanagement Graz GmbH (a subsidiary of the City of Graz) was commissioned with the overall management and coordination of the conversion. They commissioned Studio WG3 with design, construction supervision and coordination of the individual trades. ITG Informationstechnik Graz GmbH (internal IT service provider of the City of Graz, Holding Graz and its holdings) was commissioned with the media equipment.
Unfortunately, the planned completion at the end of March 2020 could not take place due to delays and a halting of construction caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite these obstacles, LENDHAFEN was ready to be used for the first time on 2 July 2020 as part of ‘Gründungsgarage’. On Friday, 3 July 2020, it was officially opened for a press conference. The first trial use took place on Monday, 6 July 2020 with an ‘Agile Graz Meetup’.