Imagine this: You’re sitting on the train, concentrating on a project – and suddenly a photo of you appears on social media: “This is not what working from home looks like!” 🚄💻
Headlines like this appeared recently when there was discussion in Germany about employees who regularly use their train journeys as working time. Critics see this as blurring the line between productive work and leisure time. But for many, mobile working has long been part of everyday life.

Recent studies provide solid insights:

• Stable trend: According to the Ifo Institute, 24.5% of all employees in Germany worked at least partially from home in February 2025—a stable figure compared to 23.4% in August 2024. This means that working from home has become firmly established.(ifo Institut, The Munich Eye)

• Industry differentiation: Employees in the service sector are particularly likely to work from home (34.3%) – less so in areas such as manufacturing (16.9%), retail (12.5%), and construction (4.6%). (ifo Institut, The Munich Eye)
• Lack of enforcement of formal requirements: A survey conducted by the Indeed platform also showed that over 25% of employees work from home more often than officially permitted—often through informal agreements with their supervisors. (Newsworm)

Imagine: Work is no longer a grueling eight-hour marathon, but a creative raft full of flexibility, personal responsibility, digital tools—and the occasional keen eye on the coffee mug.

New Work is not just buzzword ping-pong, but means: spaces (physical & digital), tools, knowledge transfer, coaching – and above all, people who have a say in when, where, and how they want to work.
At 3kubik, we firmly believe that good work is not just something that gets done – it should be fun, inspiring, and connect people.

1. Hybrid remains, but flexibility reigns supreme

Working from home isn’t dead, but a rigid “everyone comes to the office on Mondays” approach is no longer the norm. Hybrid working is becoming the standard, offering real flexibility and a human touch.
👉 Forbes – 8 workplace trends 2025, IMD – Future of Work

2. Upskilling is the new career supplement

If you stand still, you rust – and today, rust is online. Continuous learning remains the number one trend, especially in areas such as AI, digital working, and soft skills.
👉 Forbes

3. Artificial intelligence is not a hobby – it’s your new colleague

Agentic AI (yes, you read that right) will become a project assistant, idea generator, or memory aid in 2025 – and not just as a gimmick. Digitalization never sleeps – it works with you.
👉 CIO Dive, The Australian

4. Humanity beats algorithms

New work requires empathy, inclusion, and mindfulness: Good workplaces offer mental health, appreciation, and recognition on an equal footing – not robot dictionaries.
👉 BI Worldwide, News.com.au

5. Gig Economy 2.0: Skills are now your calling card

It’s no longer your degree that counts, but what you can do. Project ticket instead of permanent employment? Exactly. More and more high-skilled freelancers are rocking the business on their own.
👉 LinkedIn – Future of Work 2025

In many organizations, information lies dormant in various tools, departments, or minds. It is often compiled manually on a monthly basis from Excel, SharePoint lists, Microsoft Forms, or other sources, processed, and then inserted into PowerPoint presentations for supervisors or meetings. This is a process that costs valuable time and starts all over again every month. But there is another way.

Power BI is a business analytics tool from Microsoft. It helps companies connect, evaluate, and visually present data from different sources.

The results are displayed as interactive dashboards and reports. Unlike traditional spreadsheets, the focus here is not just on presenting numbers.

Instead, the emphasis is on visualizing connections. Power BI helps users identify patterns, track developments, and make informed decisions.

And it does so in real time.

But let’s be honest:
An AI project is not an end in itself.
Without change management, it will remain just the latest buzzword – and you will miss the opportunity to create a real market advantage.

👉 Studies such as those conducted by Changefirst show that projects with professional change management generate an ROI of up to 650%—and even 200% for smaller projects.

Without change management, the result is often:

great AI that no one uses,
an overwhelmed team that sees AI as a threat,
or a project that fizzles out before it creates real value.

Real-world examples:

• NHS Digital in the UK: Digital services were successfully rolled out because change agents were involved early on.
• Microsoft’s AI introduction: Success not through technology, but through employee involvement.

Conclusion: Only those who combine AI with change can turn hype into real advantage.

You know how it is: a meeting starts, someone seems irritable, the next person is quiet, and somehow there’s a “storm” hanging over the room—even though the agenda promised nothing but sunshine. Most of the time, we politely ignore it, but secretly everyone is wondering: what’s going on here?
That’s exactly why we have our “Weather Mood” check-in deck—a small set of cards with a big impact.

A quick check-in at the beginning makes the difference between a tedious “drizzly meeting” and a lively exchange.
• No more guesswork: Instead of speculating why your colleague is grumbling today, you know: He’s just having a “storm in his head.”
• More understanding: When someone says, “It’s cloudy in my head right now,” it gives everyone else the chance to respond with empathy.
• Focus instead of drama: A quick check-in about the weather situation – and suddenly it’s all about the matter at hand, not underlying tensions.

In short, the check-in deck is like an umbrella for meetings – it protects against small mood showers ruining the whole meeting.

Being the boss and yet not being one. No title. No announcements. No controlling gaze over the desk. Just the responsibility that remains—no matter how much we work on an equal footing.

For me, New Work means not less responsibility, but a different way of dealing with it. No power games. No hierarchies that delegate decisions. Instead, trust. Genuine closeness. And the courage not to always intervene.

Every day, I assume that everyone here is doing their best. Not because I check up on them, but because I know that these people WANT to work here and always give their best.

I don’t work with employees, but with colleagues. It’s not just a question of language, but of attitude. I want to work on an equal footing as often as possible. Nevertheless, there are moments when decisions are made differently than I would have done. When I think, “I could solve that faster/differently/better.” When my gut screams, “Intervene!”

That’s when leadership begins. Endure. Leave space. Allow growth. Only those who make their own decisions – and make their own mistakes – truly grow.

And sometimes that’s difficult. Especially when I realize: I would have done that completely differently. Then a comment slips out. Or I’m too quick with my assessment. It happens. But I learn, again and again.

For me, trust is an advance payment. I believe that people are here because they want to be and that they give their best. And that’s exactly what I don’t want to do: destroy that through control.

“Trust doesn’t mean looking away. Trust means giving space, even if it’s sometimes difficult.”

Efficient work organization is essential for productive and structured work. Especially in a digital environment like ours, it is important to use clear processes and tools that make everyday work easier. Hybrid working models, digitalization, modern working environments, and remote work are becoming increasingly important. Here are some proven methods that help us at 3kubik to maintain an overview and work efficiently.

Well-organized task management is crucial for efficient and productive work. That’s why I strongly recommend using a central tool that bundles tasks in a transparent and structured way. Digital solutions such as Microsoft Planner, Trello, Jira, or Asana offer many possibilities here—the key is to clarify in advance which functions are really needed and which systems need to be integrated.

KanBo has proven itself to be absolutely indispensable for us. Although Microsoft Planner is included in our license, we deliberately chose KanBo because it offers us decisive advantages. In addition to seamless integration with Microsoft, KanBo enables more detailed and flexible task management that is optimally suited to our requirements. Particularly impressive are features such as parent and child cards, mentions of people, individual notification settings, and the ability to map predecessors and successors in task processes, and much more. These features facilitate collaboration, make workflows more transparent, and help us to control processes efficiently.
In addition, we have stored various templates that optimize our processes and make recurring tasks more efficient. This allows us to maintain an overview at all times, work more productively, and map our workflows exactly as we need them.
Another advantage is the integration of external customers into our boards, which eliminates the need for long email chains. This keeps communication direct, efficient, and transparent. There are separate boards for customer projects so that external partners receive exactly the relevant information. At the same time, we have internal boards for areas such as marketing or acquisition to efficiently organize internal company processes.

KanBo also offers a high level of transparency, even in the event of sick leave or vacation. Thanks to centralized task management, every team member can view the current status at any time and seamlessly take over if a colleague is absent.

MyBoard is particularly helpful, as it filters all tasks that you are either directly assigned to or “following.” This allows you to see at a glance which tasks are pending without having to click through different boards. MyBoard can be structured individually, for example with columns for: New, Next, Today/This Week, Done, Regular, Etc. This allows everyone to keep track of their priorities and flexibly adjust tasks.

If someone had told me a few years ago that I would one day be working with LEGO, I would have looked at my resume with great surprise. Sure, I grew up with LEGO, building castles and fantasy worlds, visiting LEGOLAND in Billund as a child, and somehow never really stopping. My key ring? A LEGO figure (first Gandalf, now Darth Vader). My office? Full of little LEGO setups. But it wasn’t clear to me for a long time that the colorful bricks would one day find their way into my work as a serious method for strategy development and teamwork.
Then came my first contact with LEGO in a design thinking workshop. There, it was used for prototyping. Exciting, but not yet what I pursue today with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. Because that’s something completely different: a well-thought-out, scientifically based method for taking creativity and communication to a new level.

The biggest difference to “normal” LEGO building? There are no instructions. No ‘right’ or “wrong.” Instead, it’s about making thoughts visible, shaping ideas, and developing a common language. This happens through metaphors—I build something and explain what it means.
With just six standard bricks, there are over 900 million possible combinations. That’s exactly what makes LSP so powerful: it brings diversity to thought patterns, breaks down mental blocks, and enables a change of perspective. Why does it work?
1. Hand-eye coordination & cognition When building with your hands, new connections are created in the brain. This promotes deeper insights and helps to better understand complex relationships. Studies show that we understand better when we physically design things instead of just talking about them or writing them down.
2. Metaphorical thinking & storytelling Instead of explaining abstract concepts in words, participants build models that make their thoughts and ideas visible. This creates a common understanding, even if there were previously different perspectives.
3. Equal communication Everyone builds and presents their model, which also helps introverts to express themselves. All ideas are valued, not just the loudest voices in the room.
4. Reduction of mental blocks The playful approach promotes open, creative thinking. While traditional meetings are often linear and restrictive, LSP enables a freer, more intuitive, and exploratory approach to problems.
5. Systemic thinking In addition to individual models, group models are also created in the workshops, bringing together different perspectives. This helps to understand complex challenges and develop strategies.

1. Loop components: Small, dynamic content (lists, tables, notes, etc.) that can be inserted and synchronized in Teams, Outlook, OneNote, or Word (Web).

2. Loop pages: Extensive workspaces – a kind of digital whiteboard – where you can collaborate on content.

3. Loop workspaces: Collections of Loop pages that can be structured by project, topic, or team.

We have been using Loop ourselves since last year to make our internal processes leaner and more interactive. On our team Fridays, we use Loop pages to collect and discuss everything that has been left undone during the week. In doing so, we have gained initial experience of how Loop works across components and where there are still issues in everyday use.

The EU AI Act is no longer a vision for the future, but applicable law. The AI Act came into force in June 2024, and the obligations apply in stages: Prohibited systems apply from the beginning of 2025, obligations for general-purpose AI (GPAI) from mid-2025, and regulations for high-risk systems and conformity assessments from 2026. It doesn’t matter whether you work in marketing, HR, customer service, or product development, because AI tools are now used almost everywhere. ChatGPT, Copilot, Firefly (Adobe), and other helpers have long been an integral part of our everyday work.
But the days of simply using them without a second thought are over. Now there are rules. And they apply not only to large tech companies, but also to start-ups, medium-sized businesses, project teams, and individuals who use AI professionally.

Essentially, it is about machines performing tasks that we normally associate with human intelligence—for example, writing texts, preparing decisions, generating images, or processing language. What exactly this entails depends on the tool in question and the risk associated with its use. This is precisely where the EU AI Act comes in.

– What tools do you use?
Make a complete overview. What is actively in use, officially and unofficially?

– Which risk group do your tools fall into?
Classify all AI systems used; this is the basis for all further measures. You can easily check this for each individual tool on the EU website.

– How do you label content?
Define clear, consistent labels for text, images, audio, and video. And make sure everyone uses them.

– Where do you document AI usage?
Determine who created what with which tool and where it is stored.

– Who is allowed to use which tools?
Define roles, approvals, and limits. Not everyone needs access to everything.

– Are your tools compliant with data protection regulations?
Clarify what data is entered, how it is processed, and whether it complies with the GDPR.

– Are your employees trained?
Training, awareness formats, and clear guidelines are mandatory.

– Who is the contact person for questions?
Appoint a responsible person or a small team internally for AI questions.

– Do you use high-risk AI?
Then further obligations apply: technical documentation, risk management, registration.

– Do you regularly check what is changing?
Tools evolve. Your rules must also be reviewed regularly.