AWA Home > Cognitive workplace strategy
What we do
We bring cognitive science to the workplace — to unlock better thinking, healthier teams, and smarter organisations.
Our Cognitive Workplace Strategy is built on over a decade of research into what makes knowledge workers thrive. We work with your organisation to understand how people actually experience work — not just through surveys, but by measuring cognitive load, environmental stressors and team-level blockers to performance.
Then we go further:
We translate these insights into tangible design, leadership and cultural interventions that improve how work feels and how work gets done.
In a nutshell we…
- Understand what supports or hinders cognitive performance in your organisation
- Reduce noise, friction, and cognitive overload
- Design workplaces—physical, digital and cultural—that support sustained performance
- Equip leaders with science-backed tools to boost focus, energy and clarity
- Embed measurable improvements in well-being, engagement and productivity
Trusted by pioneering organisations to unlock performance at scale
Why do you need a cognitive workplace strategy?
The world of work is noisy. Cognitive clarity is your edge.
In a time of constant change, complexity, and digital overload, organisations don’t just need better tools — they need clearer thinking. Cognitive performance has become a business-critical asset.
At AWA, we help organisations build environments where people can think well, work well, and feel well. Drawing on neuroscience, behavioural science and 30 years of workplace consulting, we identify what supports — and what hinders — human performance at work.
Whether you’re planning a workplace transformation, facing low engagement, or looking to reduce burnout, our approach helps senior leaders understand — and design for — the real drivers of cognitive performance.
HOW WE DELIVER OUR COGNITIVE WORKPLACE STRATEGY
Helping organisations perform at their cognitive best
In today’s demanding work environment, performance is no longer just about skills — it’s about cognitive capacity. And that capacity is shaped by lifestyle, culture and the workplace itself.
Since 1992, AWA has helped organisations evolve how work happens — from pioneering activity-based working to leading hybrid strategy, change management and neuroscience-based transformation. Our Cognitive Workplace Strategy brings these threads together with a singular focus: to enable brains, teams and communities to work at their best.
We draw on deep research into cognitive science and knowledge worker productivity to help leaders design working environments that reduce friction, restore energy, and unlock smarter, healthier ways of working.
This isn’t just about wellbeing. It’s about measurable performance:
Clearer thinking. Stronger focus. Better decisions. More resilient teams.
By combining science, strategy and change expertise, we give organisations the insight — and the tools — to embed cognitive performance into the very fabric of work.
HOW WE DO IT
We work with organisations to reduce cognitive friction, boost performance capacity, and embed environments that support healthy, high-performing work.
Every organisation depends on the brainpower of its people—but today’s work environments often drain more energy than they give back.
Our strategy blends neuroscience, data, and workplace design to help leaders see where performance is being held back—and what to do about it. Together, we co-create practical interventions across lifestyle, culture, and space that enable people to think more clearly, recover more effectively, and perform more sustainably.
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Discover how cognitive performance really works in your organisation
We start by helping leaders understand how cognitive energy is spent — and often wasted — in your unique environment. We bring data and lived experience together to reveal hidden performance blockers across workplace, culture and ways of working.
- Run a Cognitive Workplace Effectiveness Audit
- Identify friction, fatigue and overload hotspots
- Surface enablers and inhibitors of performance
02
Focus energy where it creates the most impact
Not all interventions deliver equal returns. We help you prioritise where cognitive effort is best invested—whether it’s improving team rhythms, redesigning workspaces, or rethinking leadership behaviours.
- Map effort vs value across teams and settings
- Target specific use cases for change (e.g. meetings, hybrid collaboration, recovery)
- Align changes to business priorities and performance goals
03
Build capability and momentum for change
We equip your people with the understanding, habits and tools they need to work more intentionally and sustainably. Leaders learn how to support clarity, reduce overload and lead with energy in mind.
- Deliver targeted training and leadership labs
- Build change champions and culture carriers
- Introduce micro-habits that reduce cognitive load
04
Embed and sustain a more human-centred way of working
Cognitive performance isn’t a one-off fix — it’s a shift in how work is designed, led and experienced. We help you sustain improvements through embedded routines, measurement and cultural reinforcement.
- Codify new ways of working through playbooks and toolkits
- Track impact through body budget and performance metrics
- Support leaders to maintain psychological safety and clarity
Find out how your workplace can reduce fatigue and boost brainpower — by design.
WHY WORK WITH US?
At AWA we’ve been helping organisations navigate a path to agile models of working for more than 30 years.
Our research
Our scientific research and understanding of neuroscience underpin all of our work
Our tailored approach
We understand the challenges your business faces, but don’t arrive with pre-conceived solutions
We’re global, yet local
We have a community of expert consultants across the world who can be relied upon to deliver industry-leading advice that incorporates local sensitivities
We’re fiercely independent
Our solutions and advice are objective and evidence-backed. We're on your side and uninfluenced by commercial drivers
Our experience
Since 1992 we've been at the forefront in supporting some of the world’s leading organisations to implement new models of work
FAQ’s about Cognitive Workplace Strategy
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Cognitive Workplace Strategy is AWA’s science-led approach to designing work environments that enhance brain performance.
It goes beyond traditional workplace strategy by focusing on how thinking, decision-making, energy and attention are affected by your workplace culture, routines and settings. Using neuroscience and behavioural science, we identify what supports or drains cognitive capacity — and help you design spaces, rituals and leadership habits that enable people to think clearly, collaborate effectively and feel well.
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Cognitive Workplace Strategy helps your people work better — by helping their brains work better.
The benefits include:
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Reduced cognitive overload and fatigue
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Greater clarity, focus and decision quality
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Higher engagement and psychological safety
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Improved team collaboration and trust
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More sustainable, healthy performance across the organisation
It also allows leaders to make smarter choices about workspace design, hybrid working, wellbeing support and change initiatives — all grounded in evidence about how the brain actually works.
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Because today’s ways of working often overload the brain and limit performance.
Without realising it, many organisations create environments that deplete energy and reduce clarity — through constant distractions, unstructured collaboration, or poorly designed workspaces.
A Cognitive Workplace Strategy gives you the insight and structure to reverse that.
It helps you build a culture and environment where people can think deeply, recover well, and bring their best to work — sustainably.