Hello everyone. I'm really liking this discussion about more of the design/architecture of coworking spaces, or at least open plans. There'll be at least 1-2 sessions on this @GCUC in Kansas City, so I hope many of you attend both GCUC and these sessions.
As for the below responses, I fully agree.
Throwing $ into the physical elements of the space doesn't solely
improve worker experience...neither does solely injecting cultural changes.
Both need to work together, and neither have more importance.
And yes, I totally agree that open-plan and collaborative workspace are
not synonymous, but commonly and effectively complement each other.
And finally, seating density can succeed...and fail - it's all a matter
of what's appropriate given all things. Caroline makes a great point that our
members PAY for our relatively high seating density, but HBR doesn't
distinguish these situations between private offices, and office biz models.
Personally, I've been experimenting with - honestly - insanely high seating
density, compared to industry standards, both real estate and coworking. That
said, I'm being very selective where and how. It also helps that I have
private clients who hire me as an architect to design their spaces and so I get
to use those projects as well to keep experimenting and iterating.
JEROME CHANG
Mid-Wilshire
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) | Los Angeles CA 90036
ph: (323) 330-9505
Downtown
529 S. Broadway, Suite 4000 (@Pershing Square) | Los Angeles CA 90013
ph: (213) 550-2235
On Nov 24, 2013, at 4:27 AM, Caroline McLaren
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Thanks for sharing this. I found the HBR version of this article
> particularly insightful thanks to its regression analysis into main
> frustration factors and impact of these factors on overall worker
> satisfaction (see spider diagram)
>
> There's a big difference between creating an open-plan office (where there is
> only open work stations and some meeting rooms), and designing a
> collaborative workspace (whether that using coworking or activity-based
> working principles) that truly caters to the working and personal needs of
> users (often incorporating a variety of work settings). "Lack of sound
> privacy" and "lack of space" are not direct outcomes of an open-plan office
> but a poorly designed open-plan office. I've seen and heard plenty of
> first-hand examples from poor implementation and execution of an "open-plan
> office" (giving the name a bad rap and resulting in statistics like this
> survey).
>
> The HBR article notes that the amount of space was both the most frustrating
> and greatest determinant to overall worker satisfaction, yet this contradicts
> our experience in the coworking industry. We have some of the highest
> density of worker populations (higher than any activity-based corporate
> workplaces) and yet our members like our workspace so much and feel it
> contributes to their productivity that they actually pay to work in our
> spaces. It makes me question whether it is really the amount of space (e.g.
> in square meters/feet per person) or the access to the right type of space
> that is the biggest challenge / opportunity.
>
> In the research presented, a variable representing access to a variety of
> workspace types was not included. In our experience, people don't mind being
> in a high-density space, so long as they have the access to facilities to
> support what they need to do (private phone booths for phone calls, cafe
> style environment for informal meetings, sufficient formal meeting spaces,
> solo work booths for focused solo work etc). At Hub Australia, we have
> incorporated a variety of different spaces (including things like Buzzihoods
> and small rooms for solo focused work) to ensure people have the "sufficient
> space" to make phone calls and do uninterrupted work. To me, this shows
> that the "access to space" identified in the research may not be specifically
> access to a certain quantity of space, but the availability and variety of
> spaces.
>
> The most successful work style transitionsalso ensure a sufficient level of
> culture change readiness and management is undertaken. If time is taken to
> consult with the users to understand their current and future use and need
> states, and invite them to participate actively in the changes it's likely to
> be much more engaging and successful. I recommend taking 6-9 months to fully
> understand user needs and begin to prototype physical workplace designs.
On Nov 21, 2013, at 4:35 AM, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote:
> 1) if you're good for everyone, you're great for no-one.
>
> 2) earlier this year, noise levels came up as an opportunity for improving
> Indy Hall during one of our own internal research projects.
>
> Curious for more details, I followed up with a subsequent line of questions:
> where so you believe the noise is coming from? Is it people on their phones,
> people talking to each other at their desks, people talking to each other in
> nearby common areas, or something else entirely?
>
> The results of that question were evenly spread across the options (ha!) but
> the real answer emerged: WAY more people than had mentioned noise issues
> spoke up and said "Please don't make Indy Hall more quiet. I come here for
> the noise. I love that buzz. I can't get it anywhere else. If I wanted
> silence, I'd stay at home or go to the library."
>
> 3) I've worked on several projects now re: open floor plan implementations in
> corporate settings. Every time it looks like this:
>
> * company spends a boatload of money on design, architects, and furniture
> * everybody hates it, rebellion, etc (not unlike the article)
> * Alex's phone rings, "why isn't this working?"
>
> My first question is, "well what did you change?" The answer is ALWAYS
> environment. It's NEVER anything related to culture, management or
> communication.
>
> That's the problem. The environment needs to match the culture, the
> management, and the communication.
>
> Two concrete examples:
>
> A) manager cites that she likes the flexibility of choosing different areas
> to work, but...there's a new problem. "I never know where my team is. I spend
> half of my day hunting them down."
>
> The communication and leadership techniques were never given to the team on
> how to effectively check in and report to each other. It's not so much about
> "flatness" but a "network" style of communication rather than a hub and spoke
> style.
>
> B) employees hate the open floor plan. Cite all sorts of things like in the
> article. So I start to dig into the specifics.
>
> A common pattern emerges: trust. People don't like having people able to walk
> by and see what they're doing. They feel like their manager is hovering more
> (which she may or may not be - the point is the feeling). "Someone's always
> looking for a way to get a leg up, or take credit."
>
> Again, a culture issue. Zero work is being done by management or staff to
> build or reinforce trust in the workplace, or worse, they actively do things
> to chip away at trust (this is a huge systemic issue that repeats across
> basically every project I've worked on).
>
> Without trust, "open" isn't possible. And that goes far beyond floor plans.
>
> That's just a sampling of my own research. I, too, have had my personal
> biases challenged a lot during this work, but continue to discover that the
> root problems are consistent - and have VERY LITTLE to do with space design
> (a few exceptions, I could talk about those another time). The issues are
> nearly 100% caused by pre-existing cultural problems that the space
> exacerbated, and/or a very poor approach to cultural "change management" to
> get it in line with the new space long before the millions are spent on
> furniture.
>
>
>
> -Alex
>
>
> --
> /ah
> indyhall.org
> betterwork.co
>
> On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 4:56 AM, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace
> <[email protected]="mailto:[email protected]";>> wrote:
> http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/nov/18/open-plan-offices-bad-harvard-business-review
>
> Putting this out there because I suspect what gets posted is generally
> filtered toward the "coworking positive".
>
> While cubicles are the worst, this article is about shortcomings of open-plan
> offices more generally.
>
> Putting aside the obvious fact that even if open-plan offices aren't for
> everyone, they're certainly preferred by many of us, my existing bias has
> been that most independent workers would do better (in terms of psychological
> health as well as productivity and work quality) over the long run in a
> social work environment than in a private/enclosed office. But articles like
> this make me wonder if that really is just my own bias.
>
> Most of the findings suggested are contrary to what I would expect for
> independent workers, and I wonder how much the results here may be contingent
> on working in an organization (where being in an open plan office also
> corresponds to being lower in the work hierarchy and where many of the people
> you're working alongside are implicit competitors).
>
> Thoughts? Where does this article go wrong (other than suggesting one size
> fits all)? Does it suggest that ideal coworking space design would work
> include ample opportunities for more private work and more isolated
> collaboration?
>
> Will
>
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