For leaders responsible for how people work.

Know what’s getting in the way of work. Decide what to change first.

Burnout. Disengagement. Empty desks. Meeting overload. The Functional Workplace helps you look beyond the symptoms, understand what is causing them, and test changes before committing to another policy or redesign.

Pre-order on Amazon Kindle Get Launch Updates

Kindle edition November 17, 2026. Print edition to follow in December.

The Functional Workplace by John Kline book cover — **How Great Leaders Make Work Actually Work**By John Kline

The problem

You’ve made changes. The same problems keep returning.

You’ve changed policies, adjusted the space, or added new benefits. Yet people are still struggling to do their best work. It can be difficult to know whether the next change will help or simply create more work.

Each unsuccessful change consumes budget, management time, and employee trust.

You cannot fix a systemic problem with a surface solution.

What the book helps you do

A clearer way to decide what needs to change.

Understand what your people need

Recognize what supports energy, autonomy, belonging, purpose, and clarity.

Five human needs

Find where work gets harder

Examine how intent, choice, movement, connection, focus, environment, and adaptability shape daily work.

Seven workplace elements

Test before you scale

Choose a change, assess what happens, and learn before making a larger commitment.

One operating rhythm

John Kline, author of The Functional Workplace — John Kline · Author

Meet your guide

Practical guidance for the decisions you face.

When you’re responsible for improving work, the pressure to act can arrive before the problem is clear.

John Kline leads Strategic Solutions at CBI Workplace Solutions, helping organizations align space, behavior, and business goals. He wrote The Functional Workplace to help leaders understand what gets in the way of work and decide what to change first.

The plan

Start with one problem. Follow three steps.

Align

Agree on the work your team needs to support.

Analyze

Find where space, expectations, and daily behavior conflict.

Activate

Test one change and assess what improves.

Learn from what happens. Then repeat.

Launch list.

Be first to know when it launches.

Get launch-day news, early excerpts, and new thinking from The Functional Workplace. Prefer print? Join the list and you'll hear the day it's available.

Make your next workplace decision with a clearer understanding of the problem.

Identify friction. Choose what to address first. Test a change before expanding it.

Pre-order on Amazon Kindle

Kindle edition November 17, 2026. Print edition to follow in December.