Does Environment Matter?
Recently an associate of ours in Europe was doing some evaluating/re-evaluating of the work we do by asking several different practitioners about their practice. In one interview the question came up about the environment and how important it really is to have the right physical environment for collaboration.
As in many business processes there are always trade-offs and in today's highly competitive world many firms will trade investments in their physical space for investments in technology, or people, or more likely, sales (the ever prevalent edict to grow revenues over everything else). The work environment becomes a third class citizen and is often seen as disconnected from productivity and competitive advantage.
Several years ago Bryan was asked by the business school at Notre Dame to do a presentation on physical environments and their impact on learning. His presentation explored the links between creating, collaborating, containing, and catalyzing. In business the corollary might be: creativity/innovation, complex problem solving, strategy formation and high performance.
In a world of rapid change and high levels of competition the faster a business learns the better it's competitive position will be. The concept of becoming a learning organization isn't a new one however many business leaders still have not bought into the idea their organization must learn to learn - and learn faster than their competition in order to survive and thrive.
Does environment matter?
The design of most work environments are based on a model of business akin to factory work. Factory work does not lend itself to learning - and, if it does, learning was seen as static (once learned - done). Today's business climate has shifted most work to be knowledge work. Knowledge work requires a completely different way of thinking about business - both structures and processes. The influence of the environment on the behavior and productivity of the people - and their ability to learn - is the responsibility of management - not the facilities or maintenance departments.
More and more, today's climate in business requires collaboration between people, between departments, between companies, and between industries. Even repetitive tasks require people to work together, not in isolation, to deliver consistently high levels of quality.
What kind of physical spaces lend themselves to this kind of collaboration? Here are a couple of examples:
- Supports Various Work Group Size: Individual, Team, and Large Group
- Provides: Temporary private offices, Multiple team spaces, Theater space for 50
- Technology: Untethered/Invisible, Collective and individual
- Flexible set-up: Combination folding panels, marker boards on suspended tracks and marker boards on wheels
- Rapid adjustment of space to fit needs
What are the advantages of an environment like this?
Business Advantage: The business advantage is an environment that supports groups of associates, customers, and partners, to discover great ideas and convert these ideas into great businesses or projects with great speed. This process of rapid insight provides a company with a renewable competitive advantage.
Collaborative Culture: An environment like this will influence the companys culture by providing a place set aside for the emergence of collaborative community and by instilling habits of shared creation.
Branded Thought Leadership: An environment like this will further serve to brand the company as a leader in innovative thought and collaborative design.
Applied Learning: An environment like this will provide an innovative option for face-to-face training and education that is linked to business ideation and problem solving.
Does environment matter?