What does it take to move a business?

Moving a company is just like moving from one home to another — except it can be a lot more complicated.

The many details include moving a company's physical resources and technology, designing the new space and getting employees' buy-in as well as not disrupting the actual business.

A fundamental principle of business — among other concerns — is that the business must be open to operate.

'We can't be closed when the market is open,' said Scott Zach, managing partner at Northwestern Mutual.

After moving from downtown Cedar Rapids to Hiawatha in the early 2000s, Northwestern Mutual decided to make the move back downtown at 401 First St. SE in June 2015 to be a part of what the insurance company's officials perceived as an improving environment there.

In the case of financial services company Berthel Fisher, executives started planning its January move from Marion to 4201 42nd St. NE in Cedar Rapids nine months ahead of time. The team identified departments' needs versus wants for the new space, toured other workspaces in the area, interviewed moving companies and vendors, made countless color-coded and symboled spreadsheets of the needed tasks.

'A move can't be done haphazardly,' Northwestern Mutual's Zach said. 'You've got to plan it and you've got to have the right people on your team driving the process.'

Kelly Pestka, Northwestern Mutual's director of operations, spearheaded the move for the company and pulled in people from various departments as needed. The Cedar Rapids branch was able to get help from its corporate office that completes numerous moves each year, Zach noted.

An integral part of the planning process was feedback from employees.

'You're moving a business, but you're also moving 25 to 30 individuals,' Zach said. 'If you're going to move and you don't communicate effectively, it's a mistake.'

Zach informed employees about the move before a space was even completed. And he kept employees involved all the way through helping to choose the color scheme or furniture in the new space.

At Berthel Fisher, Julie Driscoll, executive vice president, said, 'We really tried to keep them informed about everything.'

She added that the group communicated with employees through staff meetings and email correspondence.

'We wanted them to feel like they were a part of it and it wasn't just four of us doing everything,' she said.

Dave Wright, president and owner of Dave Wright Nissan Subaru, said that it was important for his company's small work group to involve everyone who needed to be for its move from Cedar Rapids to 999 Boyson Rd. in Hiawatha in December. Staff members brought small details to light, such as where extra service equipment would be stored that may have been otherwise overlooked, he said.

Due to Berthel Fisher's long-range planning, Joanna Schaul, senior vice president operating officer, said when employees arrived on the Sunday afternoon to unpack their work stations, everything was right where it was supposed to be.

'We had identified a lost-and-found room where movers could put items they didn't know where to put or we didn't know where it went — there was nothing in there,' Schaul said.

Creating a vision for the space

When moving, decision-makers also should consider what the new space says about their company.

'The building should represent vision and should speak to their culture and values,' said David Sorg, principal at OPN Architects Inc., which designed the new space for Northwestern Mutual. 'They want something that has strong branding and is a dynamic workplace.'

OPN works on dozens of corporate projects each year, Sorg said. Everything from colors to lighting to the type of furniture to set up of spaces can make a difference to employees, he added.

'We have a fundamental belief that design matters,' Sorg said. 'Great design can make someone want to come into work. People can work when, where and how they want — that's a huge part of morale.'

For Northwestern Mutual, OPN worked to incorporate the reputation of the company, the old-warehouse atmosphere and the location on the Cedar River into the design of the building located at 401 First St. SE in Cedar Rapids.

Part of OPN's planning process involves speaking with the stakeholders about what space can communicate to the people who work and visit there. Of top priority for Northwestern Mutual was having a space that allowed for serving clients in the best way possible and attracted young employees the company is recruiting.

For Zach, it boiled down to, 'I want it to be cool and fun, but I want to also send the message that you can trust us with your money.'

The Berthel Fisher team conducted an employee survey before it even started the building process.

'Overwhelmingly, one of the things we heard was natural light …

. When you're walking through here one of the most prominent things in this building is natural light — we really did listen to their input,' Schaul said.

In addition, the new space has a cafe area, an outdoor patio and workout room.

'It's really improved morale of the staff,' Driscoll said. 'Everybody loves the new space.'

Trends toward spaces that create spontaneous interaction throughout the day, such as cafes or lounges, are becoming popular because studies show these are often are where collaborative ideas are started. These trends are important to note when moving a business, Sorg said.

Wright incorporated new waiting areas for customers that prefer to sit quietly and read while waiting, a central location for where the cars can be serviced between the two main office spaces, dog watering stations for customers who bring their dogs along and an indoor delivery center.

The moving process

One could argue the workplace has changed more in the past decade than in the past 50 years due to technology, OPN's Sorg said.

'We're no longer tethered to our desk like we used to be,' he said.

For all three of the businesses — Berthel Fisher, Dave Wright Nissan Subaru and Northwestern Mutual — technology proved to be a challenge.

'The hardest part was the IT and phones,' Wright said. 'We couldn't have the phone working in both locations.'

It took a great deal of planning to ensure computers, printers, fax machines and phones were all in the right location and working properly, Wright said.

'Come Monday morning, we had to be open for business,' Schaul said. 'Even if a box didn't make it here, we had to have phones and computers be up and running.'

Wright said that choosing the appropriate vendors who have an understanding of what your businesses move will take is important, he said.

'The cars were the easiest,' Wright said, adding that staff members and volunteers from Swisher American Legion and Create Pilot Club helped to move the vehicles to the new location. 'We moved 400 cars in a couple hours.'

Among the challenging parts of the physical move for the dealership was moving the 40,000 parts for its service sector. The staff and moving company helped organize the parts, from large parts to bolts, to help make the process more efficient.

Having a January move date, the Berthel Fisher moving work group had to create a plan for emergency snow removal for the weekend move to be efficient. They also had emergency numbers for the elevator in the new building in case it were to stop working.

To ensure the confidential information of its clients was protected, Berthel Fisher had someone follow the moving truck with the server located on it just in case of an accident, Driscoll said.

For Northwestern Mutual, the bulk of the moving was technology and employee's personal items.

'We basically didn't bring anything from the old office — we refurnished this one,' Zach said. 'The physical move was not bad. It was more of just the planning and logistics of laying the space out, getting it to look like how you want it to look.'

And while the spaces are new, more efficient and more attractive than before, leaders should still plan time for adjustment.

'No matter how good change is, it's still change,' Zach said.