The hurdle that the next colleague no longer has to overcome

When we talk about impact, we tend to think straight away of measurable results: different policies, lower emissions, reduced costs. But change often begins earlier than that. Not with the result itself, but with a shift in what people consider normal, acceptable and self-evident.

In an opinion piece in De Volkskrant on topics including meat consumption, fast fashion and Black Lives Matter, Melodi Tamarzians refers to this as ‘support impact’ (Tamarzians, 2026). An individual may not change the system straight away, but they can help to make certain behaviour less unusual, make a topic easier to discuss, or make a new choice feel more natural. This lowers the threshold slightly for those who follow.

When I read that, I immediately recognised something from my own field. When introducing Activity-Based Working (ABW), too, impact is often sought in the big, visible changes: the new office concept, the number of workstations, the occupancy rate or agreements on hybrid working. But perhaps a significant part of the change takes place much earlier and on a much smaller scale: with the first colleague who starts behaving differently — and thereby shows that it is, apparently, possible.

What ‘acceptance impact’ is

Acceptance impact is not the change itself, but a prerequisite for it. It is not: ‘we now have fewer desks’, but: ‘it has become the norm not to claim a fixed workspace’. It is not about policy or square metres, but about what people within their team come to regard as normal, desirable and accepted behaviour.

This is consistent with what we know from research into social norms within organisations. A distinction is made between what people actually see others doing — the descriptive norm — and what they believe to be appropriate or accepted behaviour within the group — the injunctive norm (Dannals & Miller, 2017). It is precisely within organisations that such norms can be particularly powerful, because colleagues’ behaviour constantly provides information about ‘how we apparently do things here’.

Sociologist Mark Granovetter demonstrated, through his threshold model, that people can also differ greatly in the threshold at which they are prepared to exhibit certain behaviour. That threshold is partly determined by the number or proportion of others who are already exhibiting that behaviour. For some, a few pioneers are enough; others only take action once a much larger proportion of the group has already done so (Granovetter, 1978).

Subsequent experiments by Damon Centola and his colleagues demonstrate just how powerful such a shift can be. In their experimental setting, a committed minority of around a quarter of the group proved sufficient to overturn an existing social convention (Centola et al., 2018). This most certainly does not mean that 25 per cent is always required within organisations. The critical mass required depends on the social context. Above all, the experiment shows that individual behavioural changes can accumulate until a tipping point is reached, at which point what was initially deviant can become the new norm.

What was once considered unusual may eventually become the new norm.

What this looks like in ABW schemes

Take the first employee who, in the morning, does not automatically claim the same desk, but actually chooses a workspace that suits the task at hand. This does not, in itself, change the organisation. Nothing changes in terms of the building, the property policy or the occupancy figures.

But socially speaking, something does happen.

Colleagues notice it. They realise that it is apparently possible. Perhaps they ask about it or try it themselves the next day. This creates precisely the mechanism described by social norm theory: the visible behaviour of others provides information about what is normal within the group and what is apparently accepted (Dannals & Miller, 2017).

Behaviour that initially feels unusual thus becomes slightly less so. And that is precisely the impact on acceptance: not the ultimate change itself, but the lowering of the threshold for participating in it.

That is also why ambassadors and frontrunners in an ABW programme can do more than simply inform or try to convince their colleagues. They make new behaviour visible. In doing so, they demonstrate that a different way of working is not only possible, but can also be accepted within the group.

Every colleague who then follows suit can in turn lower that threshold for the next colleague. In this way, behaviour that initially deviates from the existing norm can, step by step, develop into behaviour that becomes second nature within a team.

Why this matters

Buy-in is therefore not a side issue that simply follows once a building has been completed. It is part of the change process itself. And it has its own dynamics that you can recognise, organise and reinforce — regardless of what happens to the property.

This also changes how you might view the role of ambassadors and trailblazers. Their significance lies not only in how many colleagues they manage to convince. Perhaps their most important contribution is much simpler: being the first to visibly do what still feels unfamiliar to others.

The first employee doesn’t have to change the whole organisation. They just need to make it a little easier for the next colleague to take the plunge.

Many changes begin right there.

References:

• Centola, D., Becker, J., Brackbill, D., & Baronchelli, A. (2018). Experimental evidence for tipping points in social convention. Science, 360(6393), 1116–1119. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aas8827

• Dannals, J. E., & Miller, D. T. (2017). Social norms in organizations. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. Oxford University Press.

• Granovetter, M. (1978). Threshold models of collective behavior. American Journal of Sociology, 83(6), 1420–1443. https://doi.org/10.1086/226707

• Tamarzians, M. (2026, 29 augustus). Waarom jouw keuze wél iets betekent voor verandering. de Volkskrant.

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