DefineYourWorkplace

Business leaders and Organizational Consultants have contemplated impending CHANGE for years.   Change, based on unprecedented advances in Technology and Social Communication were visualized and brought to fruition through the perception of “…a new way of doing business”.   “Change”, to this point, had been at the forefront of most organizational thinking procedures …largely being dealt with on the basis of how it affected an otherwise normal work routine. 

The consequences of a Worldwide Health Epidemic have forced change in unprecedented ways …bringing about the immediate and total disruption of traditional and, in many cases, what were thought to be forward thinking organizational procedures.
By necessity and with extreme measures, employers, utilizing a hurried integration of IT support, have had to permit and expect full accountability of their employees to work outside the traditional work environment. (Many business organizations were embracing these procedures previous to the outbreak while others found it problematical at best).
Since the enactment of these, most necessary, practices and in most cases, employees have accepted full responsibility for their individual contributions to the organization with outstanding and positive consequences!   Individuals who never contemplated work away from their assigned workplace, are finding a new “Middle Ground” between Work & Life.   They have come to the realization that accountability to their individual responsibilities is no longer a factor from 8 to 5 but exist 24/7.   Personal Life and its obligations can, and do, blend with Work obligations on a daily basis.
As a result, the element of expected trust if individuals, working on their own to the common good, is coming to fruition.   Organizational leaders are rapidly discovering that individual productivity, based on timely input of responsible and accurate information to the organization, is much stronger authority than any mandate by management.  And, that the natural “animacy” of these new business processes may tend to occur in a more accurate and timely manner than past expectations.

As this, most disruptive health occurrence winds down, it will be vital that business leaders NOT return to business-as-usual without first observing how this unparalleled experience has affected their perception of how they do business and the intimacy of their own business organization.   They must thoughtfully and thoroughly understand that every aspect of business, their own, their clients and their competitors, has forever changed …bringing with it new challenges and vast opportunities in a positive and forward looking future.      

Today’s socially complex organization relies on a Tacit Knowledge Base that must be nurtured to its full extent and sustained with a Planned Methodology that will lead to unmitigated success in meeting business goals.   The implicit physical setting in which this, all-important, activity takes place is critical to the very essence of business acumen.
The Planning and Execution of an appropriate Work Arena cannot be left to chance for it is a KEY element to a High Performance Business Strategy!

Employee Engagement is the fundamental engine that drives creative thinking and problem solving.    Any dynamic organizational culture will demand a physical environment that provides the necessary tools (including Space, Technology and appropriate Furniture Settings) to accomplish goals in an effective and timely manner.

A thorough and candid understanding of the organization and its culture must be the center-point of planning the appropriate employee experience.

Do your people and their interactive counterparts, from outside the organization, have the appropriate tools to do their jobs?
Does their work environment support collaborative activities as well as other aspects of employees’ jobs? …can they concentrate as necessary? …can they easily share ideas?
What number and combination of spaces will best support the variety and proportion of the work-modes identified?
Is the message your environment sends consistent with the rest of the organization’s needs?
Does the Space Allocation and Management Strategy position the organization for inevitable change?

Every organization is unique.   Thus, individual cultural criteria cannot be based on assumptions or solutions of other, like, business entities.   Business Leaders, working with a qualified Planning Team, must take the crucial time to create an intimate Foundation of Knowledge regarding their specific organization.

Promoting the strengths of your workforce culture through a complimentary physical work environment will be a critical factor to the realization of business factors.

It’s just Smart Business..! 

Was your new workspace designed for an organizational culture that has since, clashed with your true work culture?

Mismatched solutions are highly disruptive to employees as well as disappointing to leadership who want to believe that they are initiating dramatic and positive change.    Due to the rapid transformation of work processes and ever-changing  technology, this divergence from the original criteria is to be expected.   Truly Innovative Planning & Design must be specific to the requirements of each individual business culture and its impending potential for change.   A Purposely Planned work environment, relative to the needs of its occupants, must be based on intimately developed criteria specific to that organization and NOT merely assumptions of need based on like organizations.   Critical consideration of early criteria must respect the understanding that inevitable change is persistent.   Most importantly, the overall solution must include a program that will continue to Visualize and address future requirements.   The constant oversight and inclusion of a diverse work assemblage of Space, Work Tools & People, is critical to the on-going success of any organization.   This fundamental responsibility often falls on Facilities Managers and/or Human Resources Professionals who must be prepared as “Change Agents”, to advocate for new processes and procedures and continually educate their constituency to these factors of change.
As an On-Going Process, the Leadership Team must continue to openly share their business objectives with these, all important, Change Agents.   They, in turn, will make their associates aware as to WHY the change has occurred and HOW changes in their work environment are to be utilized to the highest benefit.   Idealistically, these solutions must remain malleable in their ability to transform space and processes to the immediate needs of the occupants.   Whether there are six or six hundred occupants in a given work area, finding the “perfect” work atmosphere for each inhabitant is unlikely.   However, the highest degree of satisfaction by the majority of the employees will come from a work environment that continues to be carefully programmed and planned to the specific requirements of the entire organization and offers an element of CHOICE regarding various work settings most appropriate for immediate needs by all.
Constant and Candid Communication, throughout the organization, is critical to the on-going success of reaching business goals in an effective and timely manner.
…It’s just Smart Business!   

A cohesive working atmosphere cannot be left to chance!

The innovative physical “Work Arena” is rapidly becoming commonplace as a positive resource for today’s business operation.   Today’s business entities are made up of individuals representing a diverse generational employee pool of empowered, self-managed workers who expect more personal autonomy and a leadership that respects their obligation to an overlap of work, social and personal time.   Likewise, as intellectual contributors to their organization, these employees require a program/process of continuous learning that is fluid and compatible with their multifaceted work style.   Also, a percentage of these workers may even be in a tacit position with the organization but may, as contributors, expect some of these same benefits as the openly, full-time associates.   As a result, many business establishments are moving into imaginative physical workspaces that have been carefully planned and designed for the specific needs of their occupiers.   By their very design, they are metamorphic in nature and must be continually managed as such.
The Interactive Social Element is a significant feature of the new organization and must be recognized and orchestrated with sustained diligence.   With such vast diversity among today’s associates, the processes and procedures necessary to support them are extensive and require an on-going commitment.   A relatively new accountability of nurturing this Social (Cultural) Change is at the center of these innovational practices and the task often falls directly on Facilities Managers and/or HR Professionals.    Acting as advocates for all associates, these individuals have become the conduit between employee initiatives and leadership goals and they own the responsibility to create the desired culture of Cross-Disciplinary awareness and the Social Circumstances that lead to a Unified Workforce.
It is critical to the success of the mission that these individuals, and/or teams, have the necessary training and tools to accomplish this, most important, task.   The responsibility of maintaining a socially cohesive working atmosphere is crucial to the success of the business entity and cannot be left to chance!
The continued facilitation of the social elements that have been put in place by these individuals, must be strongly and openly supported by leadership.
…It’s just Smart Business!

Or, will collective Social Culture survive despite its physical surroundings?

Today’s business acumen is largely dependent on a highly interactive culture that can respond to change when or even before it occurs!    Thus, we all know the importance of Employee Engagement within today’s organizational environment.
I used to ask clients the question, “How many ‘hall-meetings’ do you have?”   A vast majority of them answered positively that a great number of their meetings were indeed, in the hallway and occurred as spur-of-the-moment interactions.
Perhaps the biggest incidence of social interaction within the organization was when individuals realized that their most credible and timely information was indeed, gained in the hallway!    Here, they quite literally picked up the pulse of the organization and ran with it (Talk about Engagement!).   It was no longer suitable to sit in your cubicle, in relative obscurity, relying on memos and input from your manager for guidance.    Even before open space was purposely planned, individuals would often seek out communicative areas in order to obtain that all important peripheral knowledge relative to their specific goals.   Therefore, business leaders began to embrace the significance of those hall encounters and, working with designers and space planners, they created areas within the physical workspace that would intuitively bring various disciplines together in order to broaden thought and promote a more holistic communication process throughout the organization.
Any dynamic organizational culture demands a physical environment that provides the necessary tools (including Space, Technology & Furnishings) to accomplish goals in an effective and timely manner.   Likewise, all occupants must have the autonomy to freely move from one work setting to another in order to efficiently accommodate their immediate needs.

Thus, the two entities must go hand-in-hand.   An effective Organizational Culture must be sustained by a well planned Physical Workplace and likewise, that Physical Work Environment will be ineffective if it is not tempered with a Culture of vibrant individuals who are consistently supported and edified to the value of their contributions towards organizational objectives.            …It’s just Smart Business!

Innovative thoughts are pervasive and can come and go in an instant.   When that idea occurs, are you and your organization prepared?

Innovation is NOT a tangible product that comes out of the end of an assembly line.   According to the dictionary, Innovation is “An Act or Process of inventing or introducing something NEW and, usually starts with an idea”.   That  thought, along with the appropriate action steps to bring it to fruition, will often lead to products and services that exceed organizational goals!
The process of innovation is not new.   Business leaders have historically relied on innovative and creative thought to stay ahead of emerging trends.   At that time, innovation was perceived as a specialty to marketing and business analytics.   Organizational leaders would often sit aside a few hours or a weekend to purposely strategize the future and try to come up with ways to modify and energize existing organizational goals.   This process, that was done once or twice a year, has now become a Continual Procedure to be carried on throughout the organization and expected to influence every business action in a timely and productive manner.
The acknowledgement and movement to continuous innovation should be patterned by ALL employees as engaged participants, and is critical to the continued success of any business venture.
Louis Pasteur, the noted French chemist once said, “Chance only favors the prepared mind”.   In today’s environment,  perhaps we should paraphrase Pasteur’s  comment to be plural…  prepared minds!
Organizations can no longer make decisions regarding their future based on historical data.   They too, like scientist, working as individuals and in groups, must continually look at the current available data to determine their path to organizational goals.   Innovational thought favors a work environment that allows continual progression from creative thought to tangible action and outcomes!

Today’s planned environment should be conducive to the uninterrupted interactive and collaborative movements of its occupants.   As a result, the path from Innovation to Fruition will be greatly enhanced  …furthering the timely accomplishment of business objectives.