Roland, Bessie and Urve have travelled from Berlin and Estonia to talk about their passion to develop the perfect working environments to allow people to thrive.

Berlin Adlershof is Germany’s leading science & technology park. How do you plan such a layout, from historic buildings to new developments, and design their interior, to maximise personal happiness when working and high impact results?

This is one of the questions at the heart of Roland Sillmann’s management. As CEO of WISTA Management, which looks after Berlin Adlershof, his quest is to attract and retain the best talent to tackle the great challenges of today.

In this endeavour he is aided by Dr. Bessie Fischer-Bohn, Head of Human Resources. Bessie’s own career path is rather unusual. Having started with medical studies in her hometown of Berlin, she developed a deep interest in the psychological background to symptoms and illnesses, and then trained as a psychotherapist. Bessie went on to build a company, and was also a management consultant for a decade.

Urve Liivak, from Tallinn, Estonia, is a former world-ranking gymnast (winning two silver medals in World Championships in Aesthetic Group Gymnastics). After suffering with her own depression and burn-out, Urve now designs interiors to maximise personal and team success.

Roland believes that to ‘solve big challenges’ the working environment is key. At Adlershof they want to attract impact driven people and the best talent.

Bessie, Roland and Urve have worked together to design an ambience where employees succeed: perform, cooperate and stay healthy. All of this work is also part of a research project with Humboldt University’s psychology department to see how working environments can continuously be improved.

The designs include different zones such to inspire:

concentrated work (calm offices for desk work)

Discussions, meeting new people (the lounges)

XR studio, 3D-Printer areas like a maker-space

Relaxing ‘mind spa’

Movement with swings

“In an anxiety-free organisation, interpersonal anxiety is minimised so that team performance is maximised.”

Bessie talks about the need for psychological safety to allow for the best ideas to flourish, and the constant health of a team. This is a mix of great leadership plus the physical environment to fit the demand of talent.

Bessie is also passionate about being a role model in all domains of her life. She does so as a female scientist and as a bisexual. Bessie instigated WISTA’s academy and also their diversity day.

Please let us know about your own work environments - what’s done well and what could be improved. It’s always great to hear from you!