There is a school of thought that says the best leaders hire great people, but this is easier said than done.
Bringing the best people on board and getting them to do their best means that companies need to allow employees to be flexible, to innovate and create a collaborative workplace culture where vision and resources are designed to keep everyone aligned with common business goals, says Lauren Paul, marketing manager Paragon Interiors.
Technology in our personal lives has changed the way we operate at work. Business leaders who do not recognise this reality are at risk of alienating their best and brightest employees. In an era where we can communicate from anywhere, any time, it seems like some businesses want staff to leave their creativity at the door when coming to the office, as companies cling to outdated technologies.
We are seeing how choices relating to technology are some the most important decisions in creating an environment for innovation and productivity. This is especially true in light of the high competencies and expectations that today’s employees have around technology.
Workers have become used to having more and more information available at their fingertips. As a result, they are more productive on their own, and less patient with ineffective, unproductive IT solutions. In this environment, employees are able to get what they need without waiting for lengthy IT department implementations.
With devices now more powerful and portable, we can access our work from almost everywhere, seemingly only dependant on a WiFi connection.
What about the impact of technology on office culture?
It seems that because we have access to information instantaneously we also seek this from people. There have probably been times when we can all admit to wondering why someone hasn’t responded to our email immediately. Whilst it’s useful to stay connected, working hours and our own time often become blurred.
This blurring of boundaries can also work the opposite way, home to work. In a recent list published on Glassdoor, the top three companies (Google, Bain & Co. and Nestle Purina) were all supported by employee comments citing things like “beautiful campus” and “excellent culture”, with employees at Nestle Purina even able to bring pets into the workplace. Employees clearly place high value on being able to bring elements of their home and social life into the workplace.
So what does this mean for our clients and our workplace designs?
How can we maximise the benefits of merging work and home life and what does this mean for the future of offices? This could enable employees to interact and work in a less formal manner, and as long as deadlines are met and the work is done, why should we not embrace a flexible workday and have some comforts at work? Although it has both benefits and limitations, technology can only be what we make of it.
The answer involves establishing a management culture that empowers people to identify problems and holds them accountable to find solutions. The key is to establish company-wide buy-in for the company’s technology and to take an outcomes, impact-based approach to problem solving. These are central priorities when deciding how much freedom and flexibility to allow staff.
As managers, we are in a unique position to integrate our technology with company culture. The key is to understand the “speed of your people” and to build on that energy by selecting tools, technologies and internal controls that allow employees to focus on solving problems.
What exactly does it mean to run your business at the “speed of your people”? It means we cannot put silos or potential roadblocks in their way. We must create an environment that mirrors the agility they’re used to having outside of work with the technology they use. We have to reinforce a business culture where staff have access to the tools and capabilities they need, wherever they need them to be able to solve problems quickly and efficiently. The end result is a workforce that feels empowered and inspired.
A host of tools, apps and resources have been developed to empower what is being called “the distributed workforce” where less and less staff are required to come into the office but still require contact with each other and the organisation. These technological advancements, programmes and tools need to be taken into account in the design and layout of your new office.
Background
Applications – Tools to help bring workers together in or out the office:
Google Hangouts: video chat service, which is free, enables quick, daily, face-to-face, (albeit virtually so) meeting’s for staffers to touch base keeping all employees accountable for their work.
Asana Task Management Software: free for teams with up to 29 members or Basecamp which helps to gather project information (who needs to do what, when is it due and so on).
WebEx: for sharing the same screen during virtual meetings.
Campfire: creates a platform for social cohesion around a virtual water cooler. It is a simple web-based real-time group chat tool for business. It makes communication with 2-60 people as simple as visiting a web page.
Yammer: With Yammer, you’re always connected to co-workers, information and conversations. Tap into your network to find exactly what you need and discover things you didn’t know to quickly make decisions, get work done and keep moving.
Lync: is Microsoft’s new meeting room app. It allows for video and web conferencing.
Tools to enable desk sharing/facility sharing:
Your phone system needs to allow workers to work at any desk each day. All incoming calls are automatically routed based on your customised settings in your account control panel. Calls can be routed to your phones based on the day, time or even the Caller ID of the incoming call. http://www.phone.com/how-it-works/
Make it easy for people outside of the office to book meeting rooms and other facilities by using a software package designed with “hoteling” (sometimes called “hot desking”) functionality. EMS Workplace, is a shared workspace management system that provides tools for the coordinating of shared workspaces but also meeting rooms, common areas, etc. as well as the equipment and resources needed for meetings and events.
http://www.dea.com/Solutions/Software-Solutions/office-hoteling-software.aspx
Tools for improved working conditions in office:
* Digital phones with ringtones that can be adjusted according to volume and amount of rings.
* Switchboards that allow a 3 ring system once put through to staff, returning unanswered calls to the switch board.
* iPhone apps that allow workers to mix their own white noise with other sounds to block out office noise – Chatter Blocker.
* Safe for work ringtones (specially designed to blend into office noise).
* Sound cancelling headphones.
Technology for improving worker health:
* Height adjustable desks.
* Pomodoro app for concentration. It involves working in focused bursts of 25 minutes with five minute breaks. This not only gets you up and moving but aids in focus and productivity.
* Fitbit helps you recognise inactivity and helps get you moving more throughout the day.
Wearable tech: Due to the exponential growth in new and innovative wearable technology, 2014 was christened ‘The Year of the Wearable’. These lifestyle enhancing devices cover everything from tracking sleep cycles to how alert you are and even when you need to take a break. This is set to continue this year. With their ability to provide detailed data on when we are at our best, their most significant application could be in enhancing performance and productivity in the workplace. For example the Apple Watch has a great app called the haptic sensor.
The Apple Watch tracks, amongst others, three behaviours: moving, exercising and standing. And it’s designed to offer rewards as users complete each ring each day. Apple Watch will go further than a computer prompt. Its cutting-edge haptic sensor taps you on the wrist, according to Apple marketing material to remind you to stand up every hour, along with a digital reminder along the lines of “You’ve been sitting for a while…take a minute to stand up.” We can overlook our monitors and disregard calendar reminders. But a gentle, persistent wrist-tap? It’s a personal touch that will be hard to ignore.