Notable Workplace Trends

   The high performing workplace, like the complicated world we live, work and play in is isn’t necessarily simple to achieve.  Such a workplace reflects the need to soundly integrate work processes, physical settings and furniture along with technology in service to the overall business needs of the organization and its larger mission.  It’s also hard work and demands constant organizational engagement over time.
     Rather than talk about the workplace of the future, a term routinely used over the last forty years, we believe it’s important to focus on creating and cultivating workplaces which promote collaboration, innovation and a sense of entrepreneurship aligning with an organization’s mission, brand and values.
     The following trends are vital to consider in the coming years in the design of the enduring high performing workplace.   They are adapted from a number of sources as well as our own experience.

1. Integrated workplace solutions:  Integration of architecture, interiors, operational processes, branding, information technology, furniture and office systems.  Bring a comprehensive and collaborative approach to the design challenge.
2. Sustainability Action: More direct integration of sustainability concerns in workplace design, ongoing operations reinforces employee engagement and brand strength.  Also supports lower operational costs through energy efficiency, resource conservation.
3. Branding & Storytelling: Tell the bigger story! Work to reflect organization wide core values, history and brand promise in physical design of your building, your work space, furniture, finish and color selection along with media and wall graphics.  Create a seamless experience from bricks and mortar to online.
4. Motivation, Opportunity, Inclusiveness: It’s not about carrots and sticks, but motivating employee’s sense of purpose, desire for advancement and organizational engagement, all helping in attracting and retaining quality staff. Workplace design echoes and amplifies the strengths of a diverse workforce in reinforcing employee engagement.

Workplace, Innovation and Technology; A Trio of New York Times Articles

Two different friends (Thanks Dave and Chris!) involved in creating and cultivating work communities and workplaces here in VT mentioned I would enjoy reading some articles from last Sunday's New York Times. 

Sunday's Business section had a big spread on workplace, innovation and grappling with a technology overloaded world.  I suggest you find 20 mins of quality away time to peruse them. It'll be well worth your while. You'll learn how Google, DreamWorks and General Electric innovate with their workplaces.  

Whether you're considering renovating, adding or building out your workplace, unifying your brand messaging while building a stronger work community or all three and more, this is a must read moment! 

Creating choices of workspace and amplifying engagement was a key takeaway for me among many. It'a about providing your work community a wide range of choices of work spaces, moving beyond the 8x8 cube into a range of formal meeting rooms of various sizes, smaller 1-3 person away spaces such as phone booths or just in time rooms, then on to more informal "backyard" areas with a collection of easy chairs or sofas, mobile white boards and places to put coffee cups and snacks the fuel seeding innovation and collaboration. 

As these articles so eloquently share and our experiences working with clients show, plan on a lot more informal meeting area, collaboration spaces, away spaces while allocating less square footage for dedicated or non dedicated workstations. Perhaps 50/50 or 60/40 ratios accordingly. 15 years ago it was more like 20/80 or 30/70, but not any more. The new normal is to provide more choices in the workspace, there by cultivating innovation, collaboration and creativity. 

Today's tactical everyday business needs shift with evolution of mobile technology, collaborative surfaces, tele-phresence and cloud computing. Adaptive, flexible workspace along with quiet high focus large and small spaces are essential to building effective high performing, engaged work communities. The NBBJ designed Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Campus in Seattle directly related to the specifics of the business needs of their team and supporting getting the work done as effectively as possible while also supporting vastly different work style and collaboration needs.

Design for flexibility and plan for change from the get go. It means considering using movable architectural wall products which like workstation furniture can adapt to fast changing business and organizational needs where sizes, numbers and types of spaces may rapidly shift over the course of 3-5 years. Investing in metal stud, drywall and glass side lites may be more affordable at move-in but severely diminishes future flexibility for rapid adaption to organizational change.

And that workstation may not need to be as big as it used to be. With digital technologies and paperless transactions more normal than ever workstation storage demands are much less than five or ten years ago. And the sizes of stations are shrinking to fit the reduced paper needs while providing desk space for 1 to 2 additional monitors to facilitate paperless work. 

Anyway, I digress away from the big picture the New York Times presents in their suite of Sunday Business articles. Focus on providing choice and flexibility to enhance work community engagement coupled with three dimensional branding which resonates with core company mission, values and messaging.

Innovating Our Way Through Lunch at Tech Jam VT 2011

     Recently, just this past Saturday I ate my way through the most innovative lunch and learn session I've experienced in years.  I sat near the front of a very receptive crowd upstairs in the recently vacated Borders retail space now hosting for two days the fifth annual Tech Jam VT.
     While eating we waited for what was soon to become a very unusual and informative learning session to begin.  Even though technical difficulties delayed the start, those waiting didn't seem to mind. The added time gave us all extra moments to talk to one another and mingle a bit with nearby exhibitors.
     We were there to listen to representatives from Google and Dealer.Com to speak and share insight on "Fostering Innovation in the Workplace"and hopefully learn some things to apply to our businesses and workplaces.  Organizers designed the session to be highly interactive with panelists briefly highlighting key aspects of how innovation happens in their workplaces followed by ample time for audience Q&A.
     The panel was brought to us by the organizers of the 5th Annual Tech Jam VT.  It featured Craig Neville-Manning, engineering director for Google New York and Matt Dunne, head of community affairs for Google (a former Democratic Gubernatorial candidate from Vermont).  The panel also featured Luke Dion, senior director of product development and Mike DeCecco, director of business development both from Dealer.Com the major sponsor of TechJam.
     Craig couldn't physically be there because of family obligations and the Nor' Easter pounding at that moment the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut areas.  Craig joined us by live audio and video  feed.  It really didn't matter and actually added to the vibe in the room.
     Luke and Mike from Dealer kicked off the session by highlighting how key aspects of their fast growing company culture and workplace supported their work in a "Google Lite" manner.  Through a combination of open collaborative work areas, meeting spaces, common areas like cafes, wellness spaces and yes even a full-size indoor tennis court and an open door management style they set the stage for innovative interactions at the core of their innovative work culture.
     Through a seemingly extraordinary focus on people, place and process Dealer fosters a spirit of openness, creativity and trust.  Bright high intensity colors and a sparse modern feel of the spaces echo the dynamic pulse of the business and cheerfulness of their team based approach to work.
     As their space forms the physical backbone of the business their Life program supports the softer side by helping employees eat healthier, exercise more and take care of their minds and bodies in a more holistic people centered approach.  Similarly they said "Their work culture is set up so no one is more special than anyone else".  They practice an open door management style where management's job is to provide the best inspiration and resources to their teams and quickly "get out of the way and to let them do their jobs".

Dear Klout, Can You Help Me?

Dear Klout,

My Klout score algorithms must be out of wack! My badge score has gone from the thirties, forties & now in the teens in the space of days? Should I stay with you if your algorithms create daily changes all over the map? Each day it seems I'm in totally different categories with back histories & trending showing completely different patterns. If the Klout Badge is to be trustworthy this shouldn't happen. Right?

However, if you're a dynamic ever growing social media tool this might be happening.  My question is if its unstable like it has been recently will badge holders like me go elsewhere?  You might explain on your website more in detail how and why things change so much.

Here's some details.....

Values Driven Office Workplace Design...It's Not About The Furniture.

Recently, a client asked me how I recommend going about selecting workstation furniture and equipment for their office as part of a process to reorganize a couple of growing departments.  They had heard good things about a variety of the vendors and their service in our area and needed suggestions on how to start the process.  Until now, they had largely purchased equipment on an ad-hoc basis, going to office superstores and the occasional office furniture dealership for what they needed, piece by piece.

However, they weren't totally happy with the end result and the overall appearance and performance of their workplace.  Frankly it looked a little tired and there wasn't a cohesive plan in place going forward and set of standards to work with when changing or adding new staff.  In fact, pretty much all budgets for this had been on hold for the last two to three years just to weather out the recession and economic curve balls.

But now things were starting to look up with sales projected to rise, albeit modestly this year and a department needed to be reorganized in a part of the building with others to follow over the next few years etc.  What advice did I have?

First things first.  Let's celebrate the fact things were looking up for this company.  Maybe this is a harbinger of better times ahead.  And, it's also great the client is asking questions like this before starting this process.  Better sooner than later.  But let's not get the cart before the horse.

Here's why

Space matters.  Whether you know it or not, your workplace is a tangible business resource supporting and enhancing daily business operations while in the best of cases reinforcing your corporate brand and ethos for the positive, and the worst of cases, for the negative.    Your workplace is your company and what it's all about.  It supports your people and their work throughout the year.  It can be a special place creating a unique work community focused on a set of common goals and values.  And, it can rapidly grow out of date, reflecting in its design and equipment choices and layout ways of working relevant ten years ago but not today.  Like this blog's name, high performing organizations must cultivate organizational and physical design excellence to truly lead in their business space.

Improve Your Workplace in 2011 - Focus on People, Workplace and Technology

Peering into the crystal ball of 2011 and beyond what do you see?  Are you seeing more more business inquiries, more sales of your products and services after a dismal 2010 and even worse 2009 and 2008? With all of the positive economic data both Nationally of late and locally here in Vermont and the Northeast, I hope you are or will be doing better in the coming months!  While 2009 and 2010 were times of significant sacrifice and retraction I believe in cautious optimism for 2011 and beyond.

I'd like to share a hope with you which may help you find greater business and organizational success this year and beyond.  Why not before things get too overheated business wise plan strategically for change and improvement, specifically looking at your physical office resources, your people, the technology and equipment you use together.   Why not assess your operations and business interactions within and outside the company and see what can be improved, adjusted or rethought. Often the strategic levels of companies in boardrooms aren't necessarily talking with operationally minded team mates getting the work done to find out how to be better together.  Often, it's an us and them equation, not a we situation.  Do you really want to apply the same strategies you were using in 2006 and 2007?  It's time to dust of your mission statements again folks and return to strategic planning again.

I see designing the high performing workplace really as an opportunity to create and foster a higher performing work community championing the priorities, mission and values of the organization.  When you look around in your workplace what do you see?  Do your work areas, offices, common spaces like meeting rooms, cafeterias embody your core company values?  What would be different if they did?  How would your work teams function differently together in work groups and collaboratively across the organization?  Do you have antiquated 5' tall cube farms with perimeter offices for management that's never around?  If you looked across your space can you tell which work teams and departments are where and get a sense of energy and enthusiasm when doing so?

From a sustainability side, are your facilities costing you an arm and a leg to run?  Do you have sustainability goals which aren't built into your workplaces yet?  There's lots of opportunities now with improved energy management technologies, greener office equipment and workstations, building materials, finishes, lighting and the like to advance your business.  While you may have "green teams" doing great work are these efforts really comprehensive enough and connect your mission to your facilities, how they're built and operated? Fuel costs are beginning to escalate again over 16% for fuel oil, 13.8% for all types of gasoline over the last 12 months from just released data from the US Bureau for Labor and Statistics in a press release today for the Consumer Price Index for December 2010.

Maybe some of you have moved from the cube farms into lower more open work areas and a higher sense of collaboration?  Have you asked and surveyed your employees about their workplace satisfaction or considered this?  I bet most companies haven't done this in the last two years.  Listen, I bet the people who are working there are just plain grateful to have jobs so they're less likely to speak up about what they think could be improved or be better in their work environment.  It would send a great HR message to your teams if you did survey them.  You can do confidential online surveys easily these days and gather information fairly quickly and inexpensively.  So think about asking your work community how to be better in 2011!

On a really straightforward do it your-self manner, you can use Survey Monkey which has free tools or pay for expanded services with them.  You and your company leaderships and team leaders could construct a survey personalized to your needs to assess your situation and take it from there.  Or on a more elaborate level, you could also engage a workplace consultancy such as Steelcase's Applied Research and Consulting or others and do a deep dive engagement.    The simpler approach would be more appropriate in a work environment where there's 3,000 to 20,000 square feet of space and resources to looked at.  You also might consider hiring an architect or interior designer to work with you in this process, for with the right background and training, they likely can lead this process handily as well.

If you have 20,000 sf to multiple hundreds of thousands of space, in a campus like setting or with multiple locations hiring professionals who do this all the time is a very good idea.  This way you can leverage the scale of your company and find the right level of service along with working with building owners, real estate teams, architects, interior designers and space planners in a collaborative manner.  You may end up as a goal with a strategic masterplan for operations and facilities and change management perhaps.

Another very community minded activity is to hold an all company conversation about space, workplace and  improving operational systems together.  Holding all company conversations like this can be very intimidating both for management and staff .  However, I've seen and participated in numerous such activities and when run correctly with extensive upfront planning, a clear agenda, goals and a truly open process they can be amazing experiences if not trans formative.  Everyone must be willing to hang out the dirty laundry for all to see and be open, communicative and not retaliatory.  For some company cultures this might seem really ordinary stuff for others extremely unorthodox.

Wherever you are on the company leadership spectrum consider asking your employees, customers and work teams about how they can work better together.  I'll bet you'll be surprised by the answers you get and the conversation generated.  Consider also seriously looking at the energy costs and usage and physical performance of your building and or office space.  Together, improving your operational behaviors and physical setting can set you up for success in 2011!

Idea Paint - Leads to Creativity and Collaboration

What if you could paint your office walls with dryerase paint to enhance your visualizing and brainstorming at work, school at home?  I just recently learned about an innovative formaldehyde free water based paint product which does just this.  My brother Jim, an Osram Sylvania Market Manager in Lighting Controls sent me this link.  Thanks Jim!

It's called IdeaPaint.   It's a single application rolled on paint product which costs $30 for a home kit which covers 6 square feet or $60 for one which covers 20 square feet.  You can go to the website to learn more about installation, costs and where to buy.

Whether you paint your office walls, your menu board overhead of checkout, worktable surface or your creative studio here's an interesting way to leverage individual and team creativity.  There are galleries on the website which show uses in offices, schools and the home with plenty of ideas on how and where to use it.  

I can see applications for this for businesses which promote an innovative work culture and community valuing visual thinking, brainstorming and organizational transparency.  What a great way to cultivate a creative minded and acting work community.  And for kids, watch out! I can see elementary schools eating this paint product up applying on kids desk and tables, walls instead of blackboards etc. What fun!

Cre-8 is their product which costs $175 per kit and covers 50 square feet.  It comes in 8 standard colors.  It's not just white, but light green, an orange, beige, offwhite among others.  So it can be coordinated with interior color palettes a bit more flexibly.  

It's also environmentally friendly having achieved Greenguard certification.   It's PTPA tested as well.  It received a best of NEOCON award as well!

I haven't personally tested this yet but I will ask Santa for a test kit to try out.  I have a perfect place in mind in my home office!  Or better yet, my son's new desk we made.  I bet he may like to draw on his desk and illustrate it with his crazy pokemon characters.  Watch out Picasso!

  

Generations Together in The Workplace

This is a work in progress diagram I created with Google Docs Drawing tools.  It's purpose is to provide a three-dimensional view of the generational forces at work in today's workplace.  

Together, they cultivate a powerful and fertile ground for innovation and inspiration.  By using the big picture experience of the Vets and ever changing Boomers in combination with the action oriented, meaning seeking techy Gen Xr's and Millenials, creative ideas and innovative services can be rolled out.  By leveraging the strengths of these generations together better business can happen.

The same goes for workplace design and working together.  Recognize the various age groups in your workplace have different needs based on their business and cultural background which may or may not impact their expectations about their work setting.  For older more experienced workers you'll likely find they're used to working in closed offices or higher paneled workstations.  They've grown up in a world where the status of having those offices matter as well as their quiet spaces for focused work.  But they look out of their offices in wonder at the 20 somethings working with three displays, smartphones.

The in between workers see things a little more fluidly, haven grown more used to working out in the open and sharing meeting rooms and other common areas.  They like the idea of private offices but I think they might wonder if they would miss collaboration opportunities in the open work areas with their other team mates.  Millenials don't understand or want private offices, just give them sound cancelling headphone, instant messaging and comfortable open work stations or work areas where they have close connection with others.  They also understand social and professional media in ways the Gen Xer's and Boomers don't.  To be effective business people they need each other.  Boomers can mentor Millenials about career and work execution while the Millenials can mentor Boomers on uses of Social Media to bring ideas to market.  Gen Xer's are in between the others directing project work and keeping everybody and everything going.   Of course its important to not generalize too much as one aspect of the human condition is our ability to adapt and change to new technologies and work strategies.  Evolving is what we do!

By accommodating the various work styles of these generations with different workspace choices I think better work can happen.  By providing a variety of workspaces such as some private offices, small to large conference rooms, hotelling spaces, camp circle areas, focused team/ individual rooms and open work areas communities,  common cafe's, libraries, workout and wellness spaces healthy organizations can be cultivated and sustained, strengths can be leveraged, collaboration can happen.  Next time a conflict arises between different team members from different generations, dig deep together, resist being too stubborn and seek out the root cause of dissatisfaction.   Within it likely is the kernel of a new business and organizational process which could lead to innovation and higher performance.  Just be willing to listen and learn from each other!

Workspring and the benefits of Third Places

Last summer while attending NEOCON 2010 in Chicago I visited Workspring just a few blocks away from the Merchandise Mart.  Prior to visiting I had been talking on and off with Mark Greiner Workspring's General Manager and the Chief Experience Officer (CXO),Steelcase Inc. and a Senior VP. 

 Entry looking into reception area 

He told me how the business developed out of an idea he and a group of  others at Steelcase's Workplace Futures consulting group had, how they found support within Steelcase and Venture Capital funding to build a functioning prototype of research work to test ideas on the value of collaborative work experiences in and  off-site from traditional workplaces.  As Mark and others I've met at Workplace Futures have said, this projects comes out the Steelcase business ethos of Understand, Observe, Synthesize, Realize, Prototype and Measure.   The purpose of the space, equipment and people providing services there are to assist businesses in having memorable and valuable collaboration experiences bettering their organization.  The space has been online for over two years now and the positive reviews are coming in as seen from customer testimonials on the website.

I'd missed seeing it the year before and wanted very much to see Workspring, "a high-performance for fee work experience".  Or saying it another way, a "Third place" to hold collaborative off-site meetings whether for an intimate group of 2 or 3, a large geographically dispersed project team working on rolling out a new product or service, or renting the whole space for a large multi-faceted multi-day work experiences.