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Gone are the days of private offices, exclusive heads-down work, and stuffy meeting rooms with stiff chairs, metal scraping the floor in protest.
Today’s workplace is a tool rather than an expense.
But designing one takes time, research and a little tenacity.
More than 40 members of the Central Ohio Chapter of IFMA turned out Jan. 10, at the Fawcett Center, to hear more about designing a high-performance workplace. Patrick Donnelly, AIA, MCR.h., Client Leader, BHDP Architecture, and Vicki Simons, Sr. Business Development Manager, BHDP Architecture, presented the latest in the Central Ohio Chapter’s Educational Series.
The two had done a similar presentation at World Workplace 2006 in San Diego.
BHDP’s innovations in the workplace were the result of a company-funded research grant through MIT to investigate the linkages between organizational culture and workplace design.
BHDP Architecture used its own offices as the focus for the research.
“Teamwork, Communication, and Innovation: Designing a High-Performance Workplace. Wow, it’s a mouthful,” said Donnelly. “But we chose those words very carefully.”
All three are essential in the workplace. And by diagnosing and understanding the essence of an organization and its culture, space can be used as a strategic tool to achieve business results.
“This is a more strategic topic,” Donnelly pointed out. “It’s about our space in Columbus and Cincinnati.
“But I don’t want it to sound like a commercial.”
Donnelly went on to lay the groundwork for the changes that were made to BHDP’s office space in both Cincinnati and Columbus, along with the research behind their thinking.
BHDP Architecture is a 120-person architectural design firm with offices in Cincinnati and Columbus, practicing in four major markets around the world, to include workplace, retail, technology, and education.
At the time of the grant, BHDP was going through a cultural change, said Donnelly, that MIT was interested in. So the firm turned the microscope on themselves, and became the focus of their own research.
When BHDP asked both their customers and their clients what they thought of the company, most of the responses were positive. But one common thread stood out – everyone wanted to see more innovation.
Change was essential.
Part of the firm’s focus was on work culture – which Donnelly pointed out is more popular today than ever. With at least four different generations in the workplace, there are plenty of variables to consider – and work with. And in order to be able to recruit the best and the brightest, change was vital.
Through firm-wide brainstorming sessions called charettes, internal client and design teams were established. The teams focused on teamwork, communication and collaboration – along with culture – in order to design the firm’s new workplace.
The first major change was to move out of the suburbs in Cincinnati, and into a downtown location. The space was open, offered river-views, maximized natural light, and utilized low walls with lots of space to foster communication and trust. And it incorporated meeting spaces and project rooms to encourage brainstorming, communication, and collaboration.
The project appeared to be a success. But the firm knew it couldn’t sit on its laurels. Did the new workspace actually encourage the responses in their employees that they wanted? Did it meet their cultural needs?
Again, they looked within for the answers, but with the help of some outside experts.
One of the problems, said Simons, was that some of the workplaces were not being used as intended. And they wanted to find out why.
This is where MIT stepped in to help BHDP explore corporate goals and culture, analyze the design process, observe employees working, and note how the workspace influenced productivity and employee satisfaction.
One of MIT’s recommendations was that the firm more fully implement the concept of experimentation.
For example, some of the firm’s team rooms were not being used. Although they had free-standing walls and lots of open space, they weren’t being used by the firm’s employees.
But the employees wanted to be around their technology when collaborating, so opted to remain in the work areas to team.
So the rooms were changed to into Places of Exchange, or war rooms with ample space for visual displays of a project’s evolution.
Redefining the rooms, with some physical changes, helped encourage different uses of them – a success.
BHDP went on to make some other changes as well.
But like the world, the workplace is ever-changing. And both Donnelly and Simons agree that their work is never done. As cultures continue to evolve, the work environment must be capable of changing also, adapting always.
But first on the order of business, said Donnelly and Simons, is to analyze the workplace culture. It is vial to any change – whether big or small.
Also at the Jan. 10 session, Linda Pomeroy of the Builder’s Exchange invited IFMA Central Ohio Chapter Members to this year’s Ohio Construction Conference, set for Feb. 12 and 13 at the Hyatt Regency on N. High Street Downtown.
The conference has changed dramatically this year to better fit its customers’ needs, said Pomeroy. For more information about the conference, go to www.bx.org.
Pat McClure with HLH Systems was the winner of a $25 Kroger gift certificate during the group’s monthly drawing Jan. 10.
J.D. Flaherty, membership co-chair, also invited everyone to this month’s social, to be held Jan. 24, at Gibby’s Bar and Grill in the Arena District.