In the middle of 2010, Keith Perske posted a compelling blog challenging the design field to think about work without our typical reliance on thinking about place.  I say, “AMEN”.

As an architect deeply concerned about the nature of work, I see places continually being created that are disconnected from the reality of what it now means to be “people” at work.  We have limited our thinking of “place” to the physical, and have not touched on the emotional, psychological, and inter-relationship that drive people to produce results in the context of their work.  Place is a subset of work, along with the parameters of technology, process, brand, economics, etc.  In combination, these parameters create demands of place that are simultaneously physical and virtual, but equal in social dynamics.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Behavior, Change, Experience
Posted in Agility, Architecture, Mobility, People, Workplace

Understanding People and Process Resulting in Design of Place

Over the next few blog entries, Brady will be discussing how individuals interact with others and their environment at work and how this affects the planning behind design of space.

How do we choose a place to work?  What drives us to join and stay with a company?  It is a complex answer that stems from functional, emotional, physical and social aspects of being a human being at work.  The balance needed to maintain a positive value proposition between an individual and an organization is in constant flux.  Likely the most complex issue that a company should be concerned about is the social dynamics of the work created. 

The science of social dynamics is the study of the ability of a group of people who are in relation with each other to react to inner and outer changes.  This mathematically inspired approach to people comprises an analysis of the group’s ability to deal with its regulation mechanisms.  Workplace design builds upon the systems, sociology and individual behaviors of the group in order to shape space to affect positive results in the dynamics of the group.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Behavior, Experience, Interior, Strategy
Posted in Architecture, Design, People, Workplace

Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study

Do you occasionally sit back and wonder why work is so complicated?  What happened to our worlds of work when we knew almost every day how to attack and beat back the infamous “to-do” list?  A good day ten years ago was when I finished all but a couple of the items on my list, and was charged up to refresh and hit it again the next day.  Those days are gone.  Work and life priorities are in constant change.  Reaction times require continuous immediacy.  Requirements simply present themselves as “complex”, sometimes bordering on the edge of chaotic.

If Uncertainty was the word for 2010, then Complexity is the word for 2011. Complexity is defined as: “the varied relationship of multiple elements that are relative and changing over time.”  The nature of the elements, the relationship of the connections, and the change nature of it all, compound over time resulting is a loss of predictability and order in the system.  The personal result is that today our daily lists of to-do’s are often blown up in hour one of the day, never to be returned to again.

In the spring of 2010, IBM released the fourth year of a study of what is on the minds of the world’s CEO’s.  The title of the 2010 report is Capitalizing on Complexity.  The introduction to the report states:

“In a world fraught with uncertainty, what are today’s CEOs doing to strengthen their situations against competitors?

Previously, CEOs have consistently identified change as their most pressing challenge. Today, CEOs are telling us that the complexity of operating in an increasingly volatile and uncertain world is their primary challenge. And, a surprising number of them told us that they feel ill-equipped to succeed in this drastically different world.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Change, Experience, Leadership, Learning, Strategy
Posted in Agility, Cool, People, Workplace

When I began working at my current company in 2005, I was completely unprepared for the cultural shift I was about to experience.  My ideals and pursuit for professional results were an apparent match for those of the company, but my preferred behaviors and approach to work were very out of sync with “the company”.  The resulting tension that was created was palpable.  I listened with great interest to the stories about the founding fathers of the company.  I learned about the days when, if you needed a refill on a lead holding pencil for drafting, you had to go in front of the owner, Cyrus Baxter, and ask for the new stick of lead.  I found great insight in the story our current CEO told about when he was 14 years old cutting the grass at the office, and Cy came down from his second story office and chewed him out for not keeping the wheel lines of the mower straight enough. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Advice, Collaboration, Experience, Learning
Posted in People, Workplace

At the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs are the biological and physiological needs.   Food is part of this bottom tier.  As you move up the pyramid of the hierarchy into psychological and self-actualization levels, words like “relationship”, “creativity”, and “achievement” appear.  Consider the impact that food has on qualities of life such as these.  Food is often an acknowledgement of achievement (an in a birthday cake).  Creativity can be sparked from a good meal.  Many of our best work relationships are built over the ritual of lunch.  Food is a key component of a fulfilling and value rich work experience.

Humana Cincinnati’s Café at Eden Park was designed to enhance the associate experience through the quality of food.  The following article defines the goals and attributes of the new experience of food for the 1,200 people working at the Cincinnati Headquarters.

Facility Design Project of the Month, Jan. 2010: The Humana Café at Eden Park, Cincinnati

Tags: Experience, Needs
Posted in Design, People, Workplace

Why would an organization invest time and money in a strategic design approach that creates change and potential turmoil?  What is wrong with the ways that many organizations today are delivering space to their people?

There is an excellent chapter in the new book The Commercial Real Estate Revolution which sums up the intent and value of workplace strategy.  The book is advertised to teach organizations that:

Building is a fragmented, adversarial process that commonly results in dissatisfied customers and frequently ends in disappointment, bitterness, and even litigation.   The Commercial Real Estate Revolution tells you exactly why the current model is broken! Learn the 9 key principles and trends that the most innovative firms are using to change everything we know about building.

Chapter 14 exposes and defines “Key 9: Workplace Productivity”.  The chapter is compelling in many ways, but it falls short of driving home the potential impact of design on the human experience at work.  There remains latent opportunity to explore and discover the ability of strategic design to deliver on the promise of aligning the value of space with the people who work within it.  Organizations will continue to return to outdated strategies without this linkage being made through story, balanced measurement, acceptance and integrated design.  But the chapter is well worth study. 

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Advice, Books, Experience, Strategy
Posted in Design, People, Tools, Trends, Workplace

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” Albert Einstein.

Like Tim Brown from IDEO, we have found that it is more effective to initiate the act of design by taking design out of the hands of the designer and putting it in the hands of those most impacted by the design.  On a recent project we were faced with a challenge that changed my method of initiating, envisioning and conceptualizing a project in collaboration with those it impacted the most. 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAinLaT42xY

The challenge was put to us by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center when they asked us to create a new experience for the child patient, their family, and their caregivers in the design of a new satellite hospital. The essential ingredient in the process of putting design into the hands of those most impacted it was to find a way for children to be active participants in the design process.   

To do this, we created a process tool we call “Imagine.” In this case,  where we utilized narratives to lead children through a series of visioning sessions to uncover the qualities of their favorite places, the places that make them happy, feel good and most importantly not scared.  We then worked with the kids to do sketches or “ideagrams” to diagram or “draw what they saw” while listening to the narrative.  The process, taking no longer than 30 to 40 minutes opened a new way of working together that fully engaged the creativity of the children.  We then worked with the children, core project team and parents alike to apply those favorite qualities to the design of new space and the experiences they would have when receiving or giving care.  In his terrific book Inner Game of Work, Timothy Gallway puts it this way.

“It is more effective for a golfer to “see” the trajectory of his golf ball rising into an arc against the sky, then falling onto the green and rolling into the hole, than it is to say to himself, “I want to hole this shot.”  Likewise, if your goal is better teamwork with your colleagues, it contributes to mobility to envision what that might look and sound like.  When you use pictures, sounds, and words to project a desired future state, more parts of the brain are involved in the goal setting.  This increases the likelihood that more of your brain will be used in the process of fulfilling the goal.*”        

When we used this process with parents as well as kids we found it worked equally well if not better than what we were using to engage adults in collaborative design thinking.  We use this method today with a wide variety of groups, including business and community leaders complete with crayons and construction paper.  Though occasionally we find, especially serious executives, skeptical of the idea that you can do effective work with a crayon in your hand, this has tool has made the sometimes ethereal process of visioning immencely practical, leveraging the power of the imagination.

[nggallery id=5]“

Tags: Books, Experience, Imagination, Pictures
Posted in Cool, Design, Generations, People, Tools, Workplace

I have been involved in many projects with different types of retailers, where I always inquire about the number of employees in the store and their responsibilities. In the past twenty years, the number of people manning the floor and servicing the guest has reduced considerably. The responsibility of those left has increased, an employee used to be there to service the guest and refold merchandise has in most cases now include boarder activities including: stocking, changing signage, visual merchandising, moving fixtures and even changing light bulbs in some instances.     

With the recession, I have noticed that those behind the counter or on the sales floor have been getting older, and not just by a few years. I encounter a returning retired work force. A survey by AARP recently found 20 percent of workers age 55 to 64 plan to delay retirement because of current economic conditions. Couple that with the added job responsibilities and what does all this mean to the aging sales force?     

Mother’s Day was coming and the kids decided they wanted to get their mother an iPod Touch. So we investigated the best and closest place to get a metal clad 8 GB model and Walmart came up the winner. The Friday night before, we headed up to my Super Walmart in Lebanon, Ohio to purchase one. There has always been elderly gentleman at the door, no matter the time of day, greeting us at the door: “Welcome to Walmart” and then randomly checking register receipts against what was in your basket on the way out, but always a “Thank you for Shopping Walmart”; not a tremendous amount of responsibility.  I have noticed that the staffing at Walmart has also been getting older. The cashiers, floor stockers and even the deli team members have been changing over to much older employees.     

Since it was late at night, there was no electronics department manager on duty or manning the electronics department cash register. My son found a man stocking the office supply aisles who radioed the night manager to assist us. Mary, a friendly, senior women came to our assistance to open the Apple showcase to retrieve our iPod. To my surprise, as she reached down with the set of keys to open the sliding door lock, she suddenly let out a loud grunt as she sat down hard on the floor. Apparently she could not physically bend down to 4 inches off the floor to unlock the case. In a lot of discomfort, I quickly offered to help her; she refused and remarked how she is “used to it”. As Mary reached into the case I quickly captured the moment on my camera.      

We insisted to help her back up, but again she refused and noted “Why, in the life of me, wouldn’t they have put the lock high up on the case?”. I looked her in the eye and sincerely replied, ” Unfortunately,  I am a store designer.  I am one the people in the world whose responsibility is to think about these things. I even know the head of design for electronics at Walmart and he would never want you to end up sitting on the floor.  So on his behalf and my profession, I apologize.” I meant what I said, but I quickly realized how strange and unimportant it was to say it to someone who probably has to sit on the floor several times a night. Mary then hobbled over to register to ring us up.     

I did some research on Saturday after wrapping the gift. According to one government estimate, 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force from 2006 to 2016 will be among workers ages 55 and older. The incident has had me thinking more about our responsibilities to truly consider the need of the employee and recognizing everyday tasks that are difficult, if not dangerous for a senior retail workforce. Retailers and designers need to plan more user friendly environment; one that consider the ergonomics, the physical limits, the eyesight and the too broad responsibilities for this every increasing demographic.     

So far the biggest problems I have observed include; the handling weight of product, ladders, under stocking, over stocking,  button sizes on registers, font sizes on safety signage, low light levels, register floor matting, walk-off mat edges, and the distance required to traveled in the larger stores. I believe we all have a duty as  designers and storeplanners to at the very least understand the needs and limitation of a senior work force.

Tags: Change, Experience, Generations, Store
Posted in Big Box, Design, Environmental Graphic Design, Generations, People, Retail, Store Design, Trends

Lately, This iPhone issue with the antenna has me thinking more about technology and its impact on customer service. I have been evaluating my shopping and dining experiences where new technology has been introduced to enhance the transaction customers experience. Most times the technology is a blessing and I welcome it if it speeds up and adds to my impression of the brand. Unfortunately, not all technology upgrades represent the best interest of the customer or the desired loyalty building final transition experience. Here are three examples within the last year where the portable hand held credit card swipes that derailed expectations and shopping experience.            

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Apple, Experience, Trust
Posted in Cool, Design, People, Retail