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SynerVision
Leadership
.org
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R
ecently, I participated in a focus
group for the book
Change Your
Space, Change Your Culture
, which looks
at what affects performance in the
workplace. Driven by research showing
that nearly 70% of the workforce is
disengaged, we focused much of our
energy on issues of engagement and culture.
Every organization has a unique culture.
Space is one tool that can shift or change
that culture. Your space becomes the context
for the organization’s culture. It reinforces
the culture because you need consistency
between the way the space is designed and
how people interact in it, with the leadership
and the goals of the organization.
Today’s economy has changed. In Economics
101, we learned about Adam Smith: land,
labor, and capital were the basis of the
economy. Now, business is driven by ideas,
information, experiences, knowledge, and
human connections.
To avoid disruptive change, you must create
a workplace where the power of the idea can
be iterated and leveraged in sustaining the
organization. We are in a period of immense
change and the old workplace doesn’t support
this kind of ideation. Private offices for senior
managers and leadership inhibit the ability
for those ideas to get out, get discussed, and
grow into something that’s going to serve the
company.
There is, of course, still a need for private
areas and concentration space. These spaces
may be assigned or unassigned. Simple desks
do not have the capacity to deal with all
the activities and tasks that are necessary to
effectively drive a business forward today.
As a result, we’re seeing a greater variety of
different workspaces. It’s all about interaction
and collaboration and building upon ideas.
That’s the essence of what is necessary to
sustain a business moving forward and
maintaining it long into the future.
This increased focus on collaboration is one
of the most important innovations of the past
two decades, but that means the space has to
shift from the individual to the community.
Individual offices and individual work areas
have gotten smaller, and community spaces
have gotten much larger. As mentioned,
Workspace Impacts Work Culture
Bob Fox
we’re seeing a greater variety of
different types of workspaces. There
are probably 40 or 50 different types of
spaces that we could design to support
collaboration. It might be a big
conference room or a small conference
room. It might be a little seating alcove
or a café. It could be an audio-visual screen, or
even a media:scape-type station with built-in
video.The value is in matching your culture.
Your office space communicates your culture
and brand to every person who walks into
your office space. They immediately gain an
understanding of what the business is about.
The old command and control structure,
which we’ve grown up in with, is dying.
Traditionally, we’ve tried to standardize,
minimize, cut, reduce, and maximize
efficiency, and what has it done? Essentially
it’s inhibited how people work together. You
can’t have an effective environment where
everything has been completely standardized;
you have to have some flexibility.
Today’s office is a tool that enables an
organization to generate, sustain, iterate, and
build ideas, as opposed to just the “place” to
which people show up every day.
Bob Fox founded Washington, D.C.’s FOX Architects,
specializing in architecture, interiors and graphics for
the commercial office industry. He advises clients to
ensure strategic objectives and workplace performance
expectations are achieved. In 2010, Bob started
Work
Design Magazine
, the online publication providing
independent and unbiased information on the workplace
focusing on research, culture, and design that influence
the workplace and how people work, and providing a
forum for users, experts and design professionals to
share information, ideas, and inspiration.
If your organization is getting ready to build, purchase, lease, or adapt your
space, it is imperative that you have the following:
• An appropriate budget
• An understanding of your technological needs and how to integrate
technology into the work life of your people
• An appreciation of sustainability factors (primarily good air and natural light)
• A layout that balances a collaborative environment with quiet spaces for
deep functioning
The Designer Corner