Great collaboration doesn’t come from better tools. It comes from understanding. The Manual of Me is a practical first step toward achieving that – both internally and externally.

At 3kubik, there is an internal rule that we never formally agreed upon, but which has naturally become part of how we work over the years: We do not recommend ways of working or methods to our clients that we have not at least tested ourselves. It takes time, occasionally costs a few nerves, and sometimes reveals that a method sounds more convincing in theory than it proves to be in practice. But consulting that is not grounded in experience is simply well-researched theory – and that is not enough for us.

The Manual of Me was one of those experiments.

The idea did not emerge from a strategic initiative but from a simple observation: We noticed how quickly we misinterpret the behavior of our colleagues – even us, despite spending our professional lives helping others become more aware of exactly these dynamics.

A practical example: Imagine someone joins a call at five in the morning because they are working from a different time zone. They look tired, do not smile, and seem slightly irritated. It is easy to assume they are bringing a bad mood into the meeting or that they have an unspoken issue with someone in the group.

Most of the time, the reality is far more mundane: they simply hate 5:00 a.m. meetings (and who doesn’t?). Not the people. Not the topic. Just the time.

This is not a 3kubik-specific phenomenon. It is a well-documented concept in psychology known as the Fundamental Attribution Error. We tend to explain other people’s behavior through their personality rather than considering situational factors.

In practice, this means that teams often judge faster than they ask, and interpret faster than they clarify. Over time, this blind spot quietly erodes trust. Collaboration becomes more difficult, yet nobody can quite explain why.

The Manual of Me is an attempt to interrupt that pattern – without launching a major program and without bringing in external facilitators.

How Much Trust Is Too Much?

When we talk about modern working time models, one term almost always comes up: trust-based working hours. For many, it is considered the ultimate discipline because it combines freedom and responsibility. But what exactly does it mean, what are the opportunities and risks, and how do we live this model at 3kubik?

Unlike traditional models such as flextime or shift work, trust-based working hours mean:

It’s not about presence – it’s about results.

Employees organize their own workday, deciding when to start, take breaks, or finish work. Employers simply provide a framework, such as a weekly working hour target, and trust that tasks will be completed reliably.

Of course, this does not mean everyone answers emails in the middle of the night. Trust also means considering dependencies, meeting deadlines, and remaining available to colleagues and clients when needed. For this reason, some companies combine trust-based working hours with core working hours during which everyone must be available.

Trust-based working hours are not a one-size-fits-all solution, nor are they suitable for every industry. But where they fit, they unlock tremendous potential: greater motivation, stronger ownership, and a healthier work-life balance.

Perhaps they truly are the ultimate discipline of modern work—because they require the most valuable element of any professional relationship:

Mutual trust.

“Where is that again? On the drive! No, in the DMS… No, in Teams…”
Sound familiar? This is how conversations go in modern offices every day – and it’s no better in hybrid teams. Where yesterday an email would have been sent, today it’s “the info is in the channel.” But which channel? Teams? Slack? Project board?
The problem isn’t that there are too few digital tools – it’s that there are too many. And even more seriously:
👉 There is no common agreement on which tool is used for what.

Studies and recent analyses show that the flood of digital tools is slowing us down—often significantly.

📌 Switching costs and fragmentation:
According to an analysis by the Work Innovation Lab, employees lose an average of 57 minutes per day just switching between tools. In addition, they spend about 30 minutes deciding which tool to use. That adds up to over 1.5 hours per day that are not used productively – simply because systems are not clearly defined or are left to too many people. Asana

📌 Digital stress among employees:
Studies show that over 60% of employees feel exhausted by the multitude of digital tools – a phenomenon often referred to as digital tool fatigue. Forbes

📌 Tool overload is real:
More than 50% of organizations say they use too many tools, and teams with more than six tools are significantly more likely to report that their work has become complex and inefficient. Buddy Punch

The result: we waste time searching and switching between tools instead of investing it in real work. Information is scattered, our focus is fragmented – and productivity visibly suffers as a result.

The daily chaos surrounding tools costs us time, energy, and focus. Studies show that having too many tools does not make employees more productive, but rather overwhelms them. However, with clear tool guidance, this overhead can be reduced in the long term—and real productivity can be unleashed.

👉 Fewer tools + clear rules = greater efficiency.

And that’s not just nice to have—it’s a real foundation for good collaboration in the digital and hybrid age.

Practical tip: Display your values visibly in the virtual office. Slack channel, Teams pin, or Notion dashboard. That way, everyone will stumble across your culture without you having to mention it specifically.

Extra: Create little challenges around your values. For example, whoever collects the most examples of the values in action during the week gets a little surprise. This way, culture is actively experienced and not just read about.

Note: Culture does not happen automatically. But it can also rock from the home office—if you bring in a little fun, cultivate rituals, and use tools cleverly.

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.”