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  Organizations will continue to return to outdated strategies without this linkage being made through story, balanced measurement, acceptance and integrated design.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. 

The first quote from Chapter 14, credited to Michael Vance, former dean of Disney University, outlines the value of space to people.

ENVIRONMENT produces your EXPERIENCES that stimulate your CONVICTIONS that reinforce your VALUES that are the IDEA YOU BELIEVE for which you take ACTION.

Environment  ->  Experiences  ->  Convictions  ->  Values  ->  Beliefs  ->  Action

The chapter begins with a story about a corporate real estate leader and her chain of events in developing a new project for her company.  The story outlines the sequence of events that she undertakes to deliver the project.  The sequence is an excellent example of a traditional strategy for the creation of space.

1. Reviews target numbers with broker
2. No announcement of plans
3. Short list three locations
4. Architects create test fit drawings
5. Select site based on efficiency of number of offices per square foot
6. Close the deal
7. Get build out allowance
8. Select architect
9. Select contractor
10. Design for teams within corporate standards

The problem with this strategy is that it does not provide opportunity to impact the behaviors of people.  The chapter points out that “60% of office space is now a dead zone”.  The result of the traditional strategy WILL produce an outcome that is parallel with the past and is destined to propagate the loss of value of the new space to human performance. 

To increase the value of a productive workplace design, the book suggests that the design need not cost more when the design strategy addresses the following key points:

1. “We create buildings to improve the work and life that goes on inside.”   Without engagement with people the
    results will fall short of their potential.

2. “the system of real estate transactions causes good people to make bad decisions.”  Change is hard for adults.  To
    approach a change in strategy the value of the cost of change must be weighed with potential results.

3. “The capital expenditure that we want to minimize is disconnected from the people it is meant to empower.”
    Engaging a broad spectrum of the organization to establish the approach to the strategy can tie the experience of
    the people directly to the expenditure on space and deliver purpose and results through design.

4. “disconnection to bid the project and select a  team of strangers to design and build it.”  Relationships are a key
    component to the quality of the results.  Relationship of the team “will determine the success of the project”.

5. “Buildings are classified as ‘sunk costs’, something to minimize.”  How a company measures the value of space is a
    direct indicator of how that space performs for their people today.  Altering how the value of space is measured is
    at the core of moving to a new strategic approach to the creation of space.

6. “Reducing cost and speed to market.”  Today, productive space is seen as open, well lite and ‘collaborative’.  The
    current paradigm of design, or the new standards, include such attributes as ‘inside out’, ‘community spaces’, and
    ‘innovation zones’.  These concepts, in the end, only update the old strategies and remain focused on reduced
    cost and early results.  What is lost is the needed alignment of design strategy to the experience of people and
    their relationships at work.

7. “The quality of the work environment is disconnected from factors that drive real estate decisions.”  With data
    that suggests that “higher scores on facility assessment correspond to stronger employee engagement”, the
    bottom line numbers associated with the value of space continue to rule design and strategy.  Organizations
    that are seeing the disconnection between quality and the impact on people are beginning to alter their strategy
    and increase the strategic value of space to their people.

8. “Location, location, location – and rent, image, and operating costs – drive decisions.”  The motivations for making
    design and real estate decisions are different for corporate executives than making other business decisions.�
    Tying the value of space to the values of people is a shift from the standard strategy toward the delivery of space.

The chapter continues with an outline of success stories that measured positive gains in performance.  The success measures are limited to hard cost returns and percentage output measures.  The section does not address the soft measures of relationship and the human experience at work.

The chapter concludes with a list of actions to change the strategy for design.

1. Health and well-being
2. Process improvement
3. Cognitive ergonomics
4. Work dynamics
5. Cultural effectiveness
6. Effective space
7. Human resource
8. Sustainability

Chapters in books such as this are a very positive reminder that we are making progress in our worlds of work and strategic workplace design.  But the missing elements of human experience and relationships are a reminder that there remains a long way to travel to reach our full potential.

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