Issue 64 Celebrating our past by What about ME? Q&A with Jim Hackett looking to the future Exploring workplace Balancing individual work in a sea Steelcase president and CEO research, insights 100 Dreams. 100 Minds. 100 Years. of collaboration atttributes the company’s success and trends to great ideas
360.steelcase.com
Future Focused A new lens for leading organizations about this issue
At significant milestones it’s important to look forward. As Steelcase celebrates its 100th anniversary we asked thought leaders both inside and outside the company to share their insights and perspectives on how organizations should be thinking about the future. These thoughts provide a new lens for leading organizations around the world.
360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 3 Contents
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Celebrating the Past by Looking Forward Most companies observe their anniversaries by looking back. With “100 Dreams. 100 Minds. 100 Years.” Steelcase invites the world to imagine the century ahead.
54 10 ARZU Studio Hope Future Focused The Masters Collection Members of the research & strategy team at Steelcase share their insights and perspectives on how organizations should be thinking about the future.
22 Q&A 88 Creating 94 What about ME? 116 Away from 124 Getting Real 138 Sustainability Sustainable Value the office Spotlight Steelcase President Innovation requires How one of the and CEO Jim A broad, systems- collaboration, but Sometimes any hottest tech As Clinics to Hackett attributes based approach that focused, individual place can be a companies managed Containers the company’s puts people first is work is still important workplace. New the transition from transforms shipping success to great what’s required in and needs the right research shows start-up office to a containers into ideas and the ability the 21st century. workplace support. employers and professional work clinics, it’s improving to look ahead. workers adapting environment. healthcare in some to mobility in of the most needy differing ways. parts of the world.
Departments 6 Perspectives 112 Insights Applied 136 Trends 360 148 A New Learning Curve 152 Design Apps 154 Atoms & Bits
Join the conversation 360 on the ipad Connect with Steelcase Steelcase 360 for iPad is on the via social media and iTunes App Store: itunes.apple.com Exploring workplace let us know what you’re Download Steelcase 360 and enjoy research, insights thinking. Or email us it on your iPad today. and trends at 360magazine@ 360.steelcase.com steelcase.com
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360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 5 perspectives pe r spe c t iv es pe r spe c t iv es Meet some of the people who contributed information and ideas to this issue.
John Hockenberry Stanley Tigerman and Margaret McCurry Journalists typically view the world through the lens of here and “It’s time to give back, time to focus on the ethical and moral obligations now, but four-time Emmy Award winner and three-time Peabody of architecture,” Stanley Tigerman was once quoted as saying. And that’s Award winner John Hockenberry had no misgivings about turning exactly what he and partner, and wife, Margaret McCurry have done over his gaze to the future when he enthusiastically accepted Steelcase’s and over again throughout their long and legendary careers. This time invitation to help architect and curate its future focused anniversary it’s in support of ARZU — which helps Afghan women and their families project, “100 Dreams. 100 Minds. 100 Years.” Read his account of break the cycle of poverty — with a collection of rugs (pg. 8) designed by the project beginning on pg. 29. some of the world’s most celebrated architects. Having reported from all over the world and in every medium during his years at NPR, ABC and NBC, Hockenberry is no stranger to conflicts, wars and discord. In “100 Dreams. 100 Minds. 100 Years.” he discovered – and he invites us to discover – the magic of hope and optimism that condenses from people’s ideas about what the future can be.
Allan Smith and James Ludwig Angela Nahikian Susan Cain Plural Design Group James Ludwig, Steelcase’s vice president of global design, and Allan Smith, vice president of marketing Director of Global Environmental “Solitude is a crucial ingredient As guest artists to this issue of 360 Magazine, Plural, a Chicago-based and advanced applications, share the view that good design is ultimately about creating good experiences Sustainability for nearly six years, to creativity,” says Susan Cain, creative studio, designed two feature stories: Future Focused and and outcomes, and that starts with research. “Our value is provided by observing patterns and crystallizing Nahikian is a leading thinker author of Quiet -The Power Creating Sustainable Value for the 21st Century, and the cover layout. them into insights — finding some unmet need and exploiting it to help the potential of an organization,” on the topic of sustainability of Introverts in a World That Founded in 2008 by Jeremiah Chiu and Renata Graw, Plural focuses Ludwig says. An architect and designer, Ludwig lived and worked in Berlin before joining Steelcase in 1999. across industries. “The future Can’t Stop Talking. The former on pursuing meaningful projects by exploring new approaches within Smith’s academic training is in both business and art history, and his nearly 20-year career with Steelcase will be about designing for a corporate lawyer spent seven the design process, and experimenting in a wide range of media. includes a recent three-year assignment in France. Gain their insights and perspectives on how individual holistic system in which business years researching and writing work happens best in an interconnected and collaborative world, beginning on pg. 88. embraces its role as a positive the book and it became an change agent, and realizes instant best seller. Her 2012 the full benefit of sustainable TED talk set a record with over business design,” she says. “The a million views its first week challenge will be in the scope online. As she carefully — and of the opportunity; it’s all- quietly — explains how to harness encompassing. The good news? the strengths of introverts, she It’s scalable.” reminds us that in our rush to build work environments that inspire collaboration, we must not forget the importance of spaces for focused, individual work.
6 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 7 ® “ ARZU is an innovative model of social entrepreneurship that helps women weavers in Afghanistan lift their families out of poverty by providing them steady income and access to education and healthcare. Employment opportunities support sustainable economic development, instill personal worth and build gender equality.”
– CONNIE K. DUCKWORTH, ARZU Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Athe MASrzTERS collectionu
FRANK GEHRY This winter, ARZU STUDIO HOPE, will launch its Masters Collection MICHAEL GRAVES of custom rugs. Designed and gifted by a group of the world’s most ZAHA HADID influential architects, each unique piece embodies the philosophy MARGARET McCURRY of product with a purpose. ROBERT A.M. STERN STANLEY TIGERMAN
Layered Puzzle by Frank Gehry size: 6'x12'
10 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 11 ABRAHAMIC TRIBAL PATTERNING I
Stanley Tigerman & Margaret McCurry
The Masters Collection was “At some point you need to spearheaded by iconic Chicago give back to society and for architect Stanley Tigerman and us ARZU was a natural fit,” his partner, and wife, Margaret explains Tigerman. McCurry who reached out to This limited-edition, numbered some of their very well-known collection, which includes original friends to create what would designs by Frank Gehry, Michael ultimately become an entire Graves, Zaha Hadid, Robert A.M. collection of rugs for ARZU Stern, Tigerman and McCurry, STUDIO HOPE. is now available for pre-order through ARZU STUDIO HOPE (312.321.8663).
ABRAHAMIC TRIBAL PATTERNING II
ABRAHAMIC TRIBAL PATTERNING I and II by STANLEY TIGERMAN ABRAHAMIC TRIBAL PATTERNING I size: 10'x14' ABRAHAMIC TRIBAL PATTERNING II size: 5'x7'
12 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 13 SIMEON I MG1
SIMEON II MG2
SIMEON I & II by MARGARET McCURRY MG1 and MG2 by Michael Graves SIMEON I size: 10'x14' MG1 size: 8'x6' SIMEON II size: 5'x7' MG2 size: 8'x6'
14 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 15 Shown in pink and black Shown in black and white
ZH by ZAHA HADID VOLUTE by ROBERT A.M. STERN size: 3'x14' Available sizes: 5'x7'6", 8'x10', 9'x12'
16 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 17 Ó Top: Stanley Tigermans’ design is Ô Bottom: ARZU rugs are made with 100% Ó On the loom. graphed in preparation for weaving. sheep’s wool. Dyed wool is wrung out, hung to dry outside and rolled into balls to be distributed to weavers at their homes.
18 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 19 Ó ARZU’s social contract requires that women weavers attend literacy classes and all children under the age of 15 attend school.
Õ Top: Children, the future for Afghanistan, attend ARZU’s preschool.
× Bottom: ARZU weavers work on Margaret McCurry’s Simeon I.
Ò Tigerman in his Chicago studio.
20 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 21 Q&A with Jim Hackett
Steelcase celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, and president and CEO Jim Hackett has been with the company for almost a third of that time, 31 years. In that span Steelcase has transformed itself from traditional manufacturer to industry innovator, known as much for the insights behind its furniture as for the products themselves. Hackett believes the company’s future success depends on continuing to develop insights about people at work, and then helping companies make the most of those insights, or as he puts it, “helping organizations achieve a higher level of performance by creating places that unlock the promise of their people.”
360 Magazine spoke with Hackett in his office at Steelcase’s global headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
“Companies don’t last, ideas do.” & Few companies reach the century mark today. For 100 years Steelcase has been bringing involvement with organizations like the make people happier. This is the one I’m most Why do you think Steelcase has been able to human insight to business by studying how d.school at Stanford, MIT Media Lab and the proud of because it’s actually the leverage survive when so many have come and gone? people work. Those insights have helped IIT Institute of Design in Chicago are such that’s propelled the company, and why we’re I think there’s more to it than just survival. organizations around the world achieve important and thought-provoking relationships. consistently outperforming other companies To be relevant for 10 decades, you have to a higher level of performance by creating We mine and synthesize all of it, blend it with in many areas. It took 10 years of my 18 years thrive and stay ahead of the market. So why places that unlock the promise of their people. our ideas, and then take parts we want to as CEO to get here. It’s fulfilling in part did so few thrive while so many faded away? I believe this is what has made Steelcase amplify in our strategy. because of how difficult it was to transform Q a great company and it will be the foundation the company, but now I don’t have to go I believe it’s because companies don’t last, What innovations are you most proud of during ideas do. Ideas that help make the world of success in the future. into meetings and point that out anymore. your tenure? a better place. There are people running with it and realizing How does an organization this size keep I never wanted to be known as a CEO, its potential. A century ago we registered our first patent, for that edge? but instead for an idea that I was related to. a fireproof wastebasket. A simple idea, right? In the midst of all that, I authored what I call By keeping a core sense of curiosity. I’m proud of embedding in the company the Back then offices were all wood and paper, the Critical Thinking Process. It’s the pursuit I’m probably as curious as you can get and idea of using design as a problem-solving they were crowded and everyone smoked. of a balance between thinking and doing. I’m one of thousands of people here like this. technique. Design is a visual engine, and Fire was always just one piece of paper away. Design thinking helps you balance the depth Lots of ideas come from inside the company some of our competitors have great-looking If our idea had been just about wastepaper, at which you think about a problem and the and I attach myself to many of them. There’s a products. We pursue design in a deeper we could have simply produced a quicker and execution of a solution. It has transformed our dedicated team right now working on the future way. Coming out of our IDEO affiliation, we cheaper product. But it was a key insight into company and so many others. We now have that I’m part of, and this team has done some use design as a technique to solve complex human behavior at work. Once that insight a process that embraces that and celebrates breakthrough work already. We just completed problems in pursuit of unlocking human was clear, it was a step into the future and it. I’m proud of its effect on how we get things a tour of the best minds on various topics that promise. We think we can find things that will a prototype for many more innovations. done around here. are stimulating our thinking. That’s why our 22 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com A 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 23 In that model, is the timeline important? was either machine or furniture, the two didn’t A lot of people worry that corporations take too merge. The fact that technology has become long to do anything. I don’t believe that’s a fair such a part of our products would surprise characterization. A lot of start-up companies them. But the arc of our history, the company’s are ostensibly fast, and then they fail. I believe reputation for integrity and doing things the the Critical Thinking Process shows that right way, being empathetic to its people — thinking is not wasting time. In a way, it’s where they would love that. In their day, labor and the measure of greatness can come from. management were in constant strife and they wanted a new kind of company, with At Steelcase, I’ve taught Critical Thinking a sense of unity, an egalitarian view of the to about 1,000 people. I always ask the way labor and management could work question, why do you think doing gets more together. The founders would love to see how preference than thinking? The answer is that employees feel a sense of ownership and doing is visible and thinking isn’t. So we said, investment in the values of the company. how do we make thinking visible? So that’s what project rooms are about, and vertical What will Steelcase look like in 20 years? walls filled with information. They display the I try to paint the picture in a continuum of now, essence of the issues and ideas. That’s also near and far. We need to pay homage to now what prototyping is about: it exemplifies your because it’s the product of a lot of advance thinking, not as the final product, but as a work. media:scape® is still ahead of the market non-precious statement of the thinking of that and it’s been out there awhile. “Near term” room. You can celebrate around that, you can is important because you’re trying to identify push that. So the linkage of design thinking holes and gaps, and you’re taking action to and critical thinking is a proud moment for me. do that. If there weren’t a near and there was only far, you’d be accused of being a dreamer. What do think the company founders would say about Steelcase today? People don’t see it as practical. I think they would be surprised at how broad The role of the CEO is to think about all and deep it has become. They probably three dimensions, and I schedule my time wouldn’t have imagined we would be doing so that all three get their attention. In the far business in countries like China and India. dimension, I’m certain that the opportunity They also would be surprised about the for Steelcase will be good as any time during technology in our products. In their day it our first 100 years. Technology is altering
24 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 25 The role of a CEO is to paint the picture of all three dimensions of now, near and far.
work so dramatically that there’s a need for Finish this sentence: One day, Steelcase will... reinterpreting how we use it. That’s a huge One day Steelcase will be offering different opportunity. Work needs to be rethought, products and different solutions than we do modernized and changed. People could be today, and we’ll probably be in even more parts working in all kinds of places. This is right in of the world than we are today. As the culture our wheelhouse. We understand patterns of and processes of work continue to rapidly behavior in workplaces, we’re very good at shift, we’ll stay ahead by being focused on that, and we can translate that across different innovation, being part of and leading change industries, say from healthcare to education, based on the insights and ideas we gain from and across different parts of the world. In fact, studying people at work. So, in some ways, we may help carry that knowledge from one one day Steelcase will be a different company. location to another. In that knowledge, there But, at its heart, I believe it will always be the are products, applications, and services. In same company – a company that’s centered the past, we may have given up on some of on the idea of unlocking the promise of people opportunities by thinking that it wasn’t our at work. That’s our core, and that’s how business. We won’t make that mistake again. Steelcase will achieve another century There will be some things that we’ll be sure of success. to capture, things that our customers would ° want us to do.
1933
26 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 27
Our present economy’s strength lies “ in the narrative of the former while the future for all of us lies in the narrative of all those entrepreneurial dreams of what might be.”
John Hockenberry, Jounalist and Author
INTRODUCTION BY JOHN HOCKENBERRY I remember my mother’s sewing room piled high with her dress patterns. Each pattern fronted with an illustration of There is magic in places of work. Objects that connect what the finished garment might look like, a sketch that was 100 DREAMS. with hands and minds tell the timeless stories of work. also a dream. Each day’s heroic climb from “to do” to “done,” stepping swiftly past all of the urgent tasks, pausing for moments of I remember the feeling of opening my own father’s toolkit, whimsy and inspiration, to reach all of the things we dream the lid seemed to be a door onto everything my father had 100 MINDS. one day we might have the time and insight to finish. ever touched, fixed or built.
Our present economy’s strength lies in the narrative of the It was with these thoughts in my mind that a group of 100 YEARS. former while the future for all of us lies in the narrative of all designer/collaborators and I approached the project of the those entrepreneurial dreams of what might be. Throughout Steelcase centennial commemoration. We could easily see time, workshops have been devoted to this powerful magic the power of work objects to look back in time. There were and because, in our time, there are so many workplace plenty of such objects in the Steelcase archive. The offices hybrids of work and play, or work and home, the magic is from 100 years ago were little more than tiny add-ons to spreading. the enormous factory floors that often adjoined them, they were places for clerks to move paper and foremen to look Celebrating our past by looking forward. In my life one can see workshops from centuries ago down and see the real work getting done. Richer spaces preserved in the museums of our time. The revolutionary As we celebrate our 100 year anniversary, we’re focusing on the future for creative work or the projection of power were the inner changes in the tools of work in the 20th century I have lived sanctums of lawyers and architects, politicians and bankers. by collecting dreams and ideas from around the world. Our year-long in my own work life. In this young century the cameras They were direct descendants of quiet meditative spaces anniversary project, “100 Dreams. 100 Minds. 100 Years,” is a springboard and microphones and recorders of my own profession of found in churches or libraries. They were clearly not meant for to the century ahead. electronic journalism have miniaturized into a single object. everyone. They spoke to a past that was rapidly being swept My workshop today fits neatly into a pocket. away. Within those objects the future that would make most of them obsolete cannot be detected. So for us to think about I remember the excitement I felt the first time I went into the next century, to “only look forward,” as Steelcase CEO Jim a real machine shop or the garage workshop of my Hackett insisted, we would need to shed the literal Steelcase clockmaker grandfather with its deeply evocative smells history and focus instead on the spirit of anticipating the of oils and varnish and paint. nature of work years into the future that has kept the company around this long.
30 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 31 “ We have to think about the world before making new things,” said Siddesh from Mumbai who told us he wanted to make intelligent tsunami-proof buildings in the future.
“ One day it will be cool to work with people from all over the world.” said Jan from Germany. We thought that we would have no trouble finding leaders Our idea was to ask this simple set of questions to 10-year-old and successful creative characters to answer the question: children from around the world. Put their answers on video, and invite them to draw a picture of their dream with themselves in it. “What will it be like 100 years from now?” “How will we work?” Like Jack’s magic beans these young dreamers became “What tools will we use?” the seeds for a larger conversation with the 100 Minds. “What shall we make?” From the musings of 10-year olds we find ourselves face to face “What problems will we face and solve?” with giants in their various professions. We asked them to use their wisdom and experience to look forward through a century For us though, we were not interested in soliciting mere opinions they will not witness but for our invitation. I had the privilege from people who would not be around to see the future and have of getting some of the first looks at the grown-up dreams and to face what they got wrong or near wrong. Our challenge was offerings we got back. to find people who might naturally want to think 100 years into the future recognizing that most of them probably weren’t born It was surprising how optimistic people’s entries were. Even yet. Now, instead of the task of crafting a corporate message though there was interesting tension between what various we had found ourselves a lovely mystery to solve, could we find people thought were priorities, what changes people believed those citizens of the future and get them to imagine the century would be most important and what problems would loom the The world is a book we learn from “ stretching out before them? If we could get them to do that we largest over the next 100 years, there was agreement that things and I hope this book is endless, ” could use their dreams as seeds to motivate current leaders certainly could and would improve. said Lili from Shanghai. and thinkers to dream bigger and beyond their own lifetimes. Each of the 100 minds insists on a message of hope eerily Could we create a collective dream state bridging the powerful echoing the relentlessly upbeat notions of our kids. A fusion of wisdom of experience and hindsight with the fearless whimsy of whimsy and warning, a meeting of two generations about to part inexperience and foresight? company in the pursuit of the future. Both groups sketching out Being open to the value of people’s dreams, regardless of their a workshop of the future for addressing what is important in a background and education, people who have most of their lives mission to last 100 years. It was architect Patricia Urquiola who ahead of them, became the frame for the questions at the center brought me back to earth, who put me back in the workshop. of the entire Steelcase 100 initiative. “What place do you dream “I see a future where we are going to fight indifference.” of doing your life’s work. What tools do you imagine you will use? What do you dream of doing that will be important 100 years from now?”
“ Whether it is better or worse in the future, anything is possible. It’s all up to us.” The greatest From the whimsy of 100 children to the genius, Cassidy reminded us, comes from knowing what you brilliance of 100 great minds from enterprise, must do and that you can and these dreams are just the beginning. Let their must do it. words, their dreams, be your springboard...
32 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 33 I dream of a transformation in “ collective consciousness resulting in a peaceful, just, sustainable, healthy, and joyful world.”
Deepak Chopra Founder, Deepak Chopra LLC Carlsbad, United States
I dream of a world where a critical mass of 100 million people have personally transformed into a consciousness of love, kindness, joy, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, and equanimity. Their personal transformation could lead to a transformation in collective consciousness resulting in a peaceful, just, sustainable, healthy, and joyful world.
Karin Jironet Owner, In Transition Amsterdam, Netherlands
I dream of a future in which People who have it make David Kelley people no longer divide better choices, and they the world between us and take action to improve the Founder and Chairman, IDEO I believe that “being human” will Palo Alto, United States them, “creatives” and “non- situations they can. creatives.” It’s a myth, and it’s “ The future asks each of us transcend our current notions to one that holds us all back. Creative confidence — to find the courage to unlock include powers of creation that My life’s work through IDEO more creative confidence in “ remain unacknowledged today. the natural human ability to come and Stanford is to unlock the the people around us — and ” up with new approaches to solve creative potential in as many ourselves. When I dream of people as I can. Because, the future, I dream of this. a problem and the courage to try when adults regain the joy and them out — is one of our most creative confidence they felt as children, magic happens. precious resources.”
34 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 35 Detroit’s future is promising. We are “ blessed with a wealth of talented young people, committed residents and unlimited potential.”
Dave Bing Mayor, City of Detroit Detroit, United States
I envision a future in which we create city government, we are again a strong city and an outstanding attracting new jobs and investment opportunity to build a good life back to the City of Detroit and it is in Detroit. critical that Detroiters have the skills necessary to compete for those Making our city safe for residents, jobs. We will continue to work to businesses and visitors is our strengthen Detroit’s neighborhoods, first and most important priority. improve services and attract new Providing an education system that residents. We will be a great city prepares our kids to go to college once again thanks to the support is also essential for our future. and help of people who love Detroit Thanks to our efforts to clean up all across the world.
John Maeda President, Rhode Island School of Design Providence, United States
Imagine an Africa with My dream is to see African women “ emancipated from energy poverty. women leading it into No longer will women have to the future. They would walk along dusty paths with jugs In 2112, creativity will be the What will be at a premium not just be left to pick of water or stacks of firewood on most valued form of work in this new world? What will their heads, to cook with stoves because creativity is about enable us to retain our unique up the pieces after war. that harm their lungs, or to burn going against what everyone stamp of humanity? Our They would be integral kerosene lights that damage their (including yourself) believes unique ability to create ideas We think having Google eyes. No longer will she worry that in. By 2112, our minds will and concepts that go against “ her children will drink kerosene to averting conflict in be directly connected to the all-powerful norm of the at our disposal has the first place. believing it to be clean water or computers. We think having factual. The ways of thinking ” feel the anxiety that comes from Google at our disposal has and working that artists and changed how we think a candle tipping over setting her changed how we think about designers embody so naturally house alight. She will be at the knowledge retention, but will be in higher demand. They about knowledge retention, forefront of the use and adoption imagine when that knowledge are the ones who are used but imagine when that of renewable energies, not just as is literally integrated into your to flying in the face of reality, consumers, but also as owners being. We will all know all that of suspending disbelief to knowledge is literally and investors. we need to know, together, come up with what is next. by being interconnected with These skills will be universally integrated into your being. all the information of the world. recognized as how we advance ” The answers won’t be at our society’s future, rather than fingertips, they will be within a nice “add-on” as they are us. And so goes any room perceived of today. Creativity kristine pearson for debate. will be the new currency of Chief Executive, Lifeline Energy work, the world over. Cape Town, South Africa
36 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 37 In 100 years, design “ will be at the center of things, a benign and necessary force in all facets of human experience.”
One of design’s most fundamental tasks is and has been to help people deal with change. The technological, political, scientific, cultural, moral, universal acceleration of the past century does not show any signs of slowing down. Change might just become a constant, a paradox that will make design even more necessary.
Paola Antonelli Senior Curator, Architecture and Design, The MoMA New York City, United States
Jamy Yang Design Director, Yang Design Shanghai, China
The future should “ be what you think is what you get — by means of advanced technology and innovative material, we can directly Education is the key to transform translate our abstract “society and make it progress. We can´t ideas into products.” build a better world made up of the dreams of millions of human beings who have no access to education.”
Miguel Carmelo President, Universidad Europea de Madrid Villaviciosa de Odon, Spain
38 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 39 …I dream that we don’t erode or lose the “ rich cultural diversity that exists around the globe – that it continues to inspire creativity and innovation.”
Peter McCamley Executive Director Global Business Growth, Geyer Sydney, Australia
Gender, race, sexuality, “ ideology, and faith are just going to be unimportant characteristics that will not define ourselves.”
In 100 years, machines may “ manage the economy, not economists or politicians. ”
Patricia Tim Brown Urquiola President and CEO, IDEO Palo Alto, United States Architect, Patricia Urquiola Studio Milan, Italy
40 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 41 We don’t just eat the apple. “ We grow a tree that will feed generations to come.”
Tod Machover Professor and Composer, MIT Media Lab Cambridge, United States
We all admire the great geniuses ages, skills and experience levels around us – from Da Vinci to can work together on ambitious Einstein, Beethoven to The and significant projects, each William McDonough Beatles – but we have a tendency bringing his or her life experience to put them on an unhealthy and special perspective while Founder and Partner, William McDonough + Partners Charlottesville, United States pedestal, in a category so benefitting from everyone else’s In 100 years we will create our time and relationships, different from the rest of us comments and contributions. marvelously creative places manipulating the currency of that they seem almost a distinct The arts – and music in general where we can celebrate the day to day flows into capital species. (simultaneously so universal but positive intentions. We can formation. We don’t just eat the also potentially ghetto-izing) – are Paradoxically, technology has celebrate the abundance of apple. We grow a tree that will a perfect laboratory for such a tended to enlarge rather than resources. We can find ways feed generations to come. new ecology of creativity. At the to shrink this divide. On the one to promulgate continuous use MIT Media Lab, we are trying We need to do the work of hand, artists use social media to cycles, rather than closed experiments in bringing children 100 years and celebrate the create a seeming closeness to loops. We can all celebrate from far-away lands together to abundance of the planet. And fans that tends to elevate celebrity our resourceful world as one compose symphonies and rock then take a look back 900 and promote marketing rather not of limits but of generosity songs and in inviting the entire years to the wisdom of the poet than to invite true communication. and abundance. And we’ll city of Toronto to collaborate and philosopher Hildegard of And crowd-sourcing invites Creative collaboration have the same thing with with us to compose a new Bingen: “Glance at the sun. everyone to participate in large “ our intelligence. We get symphony. In such cases, the between experts and See the moon and the stars. projects, but one’s individual to be resourceful people, general public works closely Gaze at the beauty of earth’s contribution is too often lost – everyone else is the key appreciating solar income and with music students, computer greenings. Now, think.” literally – in the crowd. materials and people optimizing programmers, and celebrated to cultural vitality in So we must work urgently to musicians, composers and the future. eliminate this divide, and to create designers to make something ” contexts and experiences where splendid and valuable that none people from all backgrounds, could have done alone.
360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 43 Gunter Henn CEO, Henn Architekten Munich, Germany
We need to ensure that “ the seed of education is planted deep into the thinking of mankind and its diverse societies.”
I believe that the key to the to every child, to nourish future is education. their brain and soul. How well we are educated This is our responsibility determines how well we as educated individuals understand the context in and globally operating which we live and operate. companies. A context in which we, Children need education as individuals, make to ensure that they have decisions that have global a secure future. And to consequences. enable them to make educated decisions. We need to ensure that the seed of education Education is a flower that will is planted deep into the make humankind blossom. thinking of mankind and Each of us can and its diverse societies. should contribute to At the forefront should be make this happen. the provision of education
Dale Chihuly Chairman and Artist, Chihuly Studio Seattle, United States
Out on a limb…that’s where an artist works. When it came to Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem, I set out to work on a project and I didn’t know what it would end up being when I finished… The idea of taking these huge blocks of The workplace of tomorrow will crystal from Alaska halfway around the “ regenerate each one of us, our families world to Israel was a dream, an idea, and I went for it. It is up to all of us to and our communities, sharing access to In the future, I hope people embrace the crazy ideas we have and precious resources and to the sustaining make the future bright. In the future, “ I hope people will enjoy and work with the qualities of nature.” will enjoy and work with the light and color the world has to offer; go light and color the world has to out on a limb and turn dreams and ideas into reality…that is how you succeed in offer; go out on a limb and turn creating something beautiful. Vivian dreams and ideas into reality. Loftness ” University Professor, Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, United States
360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 45 Why does it matter where you fall on the introvert-extrovert Susan Cain spectrum? Because introversion and extroversion are at the heart of human nature — one scientist refers to them as Author Hudson River Valley, United States “the north and south of temperament.” And when you make life choices that are congruent with your temperament, you unleash vast stores of energy. Conversely, when you spend too much time battling your We have to rethink how own nature, the opposite happens — you deplete yourself. “ I’ve met too many people living lives that didn’t suit them — we utilize workers in our introverts with frenetic social schedules, extroverts with jobs advanced economy.” that required them to sit in front of their computers for hours at a stretch. The personality psychologist Brian Little points out that we all must act out of character for the sake of work or people we love – occasionally. We all have to do things that don’t come Roger naturally — some of the time. But it shouldn’t be all the time. It shouldn’t even be most of the time. As Little also says, Martin acting out of character for too long can make us stressed, unhappy, and even physically ill. Dean, Rotman School of Management Toronto, Canada This is particularly important for introverts, who have often spent so much of their lives conforming to extroverted norms that by the time they choose a career, or a calling, it feels perfectly normal to ignore their own preferences. You may be uncomfortable in law school or in the marketing department, but no more so than you were back in middle school or summer camp.
SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, United States
In the future, there “ will be virtual spaces Imagine what would for the most energetic “happen if you started and imaginative people to come respecting your own together and change wishes of how to the world.” spend your time.”
360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 47 In 2012, isn’t the whole world up in arms “ because they want to be Meaningful Participants? Why wait 100 years?”
Chris Bangle Managing Director, Chris Bangle Associates Clavesana, Italy
We are in the infancy of “civilization…In a hundred years, we will watch mankind mature into adulthood.”
Forget fanciful, futuristic forecasts. Give “ more people the freedom to dream – and the future will take care of itself.”
In the future, we will be okay resources than I am entitled having less stuff. We will to? What is my occupation give pause, not when we and what good does it bring ponder the waste of throwing to the world? Daniel Pink something out, but rather at We see that we are part of Author the more important moment something larger… Washington, D.C., United States of purchase in the first place. Our strong sense of All objects will be made to responsibility will not be either decompose or last 100 As much as I’d love to zoom Over the next hundred years, limited to our own family years, not 100 days. around in a flying car or teleport our challenge is to expand anymore, but extend to to Barcelona for lunch, my that freedom to the billions of Choosing one’s impactful our community and all of dream for the next 100 years is people around the world for actions will carry with it a the world’s citizens as our simpler. I just want more people whom the future means simply weight much greater than interconnectedness becomes have the freedom to dream. surviving another day rather today: ever more interwoven. After all, that’s always been the than building a new tomorrow. Where do I live? How much key to progress… If we unshackle even a modest do I eat? How many children fraction of those souls, we can will I have? Am I using more liberate the talent to confront the challenges that remain. Luke Geissbuhler Cinematographer, Geissbuhler Associates New York City, United States
360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 49 Share Your Dream
We will the future by dreaming it. For 100 years Steelcase has mined for human insights, and to celebrate our birthday we’re gathering dreams of what the next century may look and feel like. We started with 100 children from around the world, and 100 brilliant minds from enterprise. Now it’s your turn — we invite you to be part of our worldwide centennial celebration — will you share your dream with us? Richard Saul 100.steelcase.com Wurman
Founder, The WWW Conference Newport, United States
Dreams unlock not just a better version “ of something, dreams unlock the possibility of addition, subtraction, opposites and void. Dreams unlock a space in which ideas are formed.”
50 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 51 1947 Future Focused A new lens for leading organizations
In a challenging, complex and competitive 360 Magazine asked this team to share their environment, business leaders everywhere are perspective about the various patterns united by a common desire: to anticipate the they see forming around work, space and future and act on it now. information — the patterns and behaviors At Steelcase a team of 43 WorkSpace Futures that leading organizations should be thinking researchers, strategists and advanced about to better prepare their companies for applications experts spend a lot of time think- tomorrow. They identified four macro themes ing about the future. Specifically, how to shaping how we work: think about the future through a set of themes and by co-creating applications with leading Creative Collaboration organizations. It’s a rigorous approach Living on Video of studying evolving issues and weak signals — what they call “embedded pockets in the Culture Matters future horizon that are likely to become more Economics of Wellbeing persistent over the next 10+ years.”
54 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 55 Trust is the currency of collaboration
Insight in Brief: Creative Collaboration In a highly competitive environment creative collaboration is becoming critical. Organizations prize it as a means to innovation and, ultimately, growth. Creative collaboration requires a wide range of professionals: scientists, engineers, architects, designers, educators, artists and entertainers whose economic function is to create new ideas, new technology or creative content.
If you want to leverage the creativity that exists Flynn’s team has researched collaboration and within the company, you have to bring people identified three key dynamics that must be together. Director of research Terry West managed for successful collaboration: building points to research conducted by the University community, inspiring flow and trust. of Michigan that demonstrates how groups “A highly effective distributed team must have outperform individuals at problem solving. “The a strong sense of community. That’s done lone expert will solve the problem the quickest by building social intimacy through personal and come up with an adequate solution. The interactions, having a shared mind over group of average people will take longer team goals, and having space that works for and the process will be messier, but they’ll the group,” says Flynn. We tend to think of outperform the expert every time. Their diverse “flow” in terms of individual work, she notes, ways of thinking, their different experiences but “collaboration is about building things and perspectives bring additional dimensions together, so you need to get the group thinking to the problem.” creatively, building together and achieving a If collaboration is messy when teams are sense of group flow.” together, the work gets even harder when Collaboration elevates the importance of trust teams are mobile and distributed. Donna relationships. Without trust there’s no real Flynn should know. As director of WorkSpace teamwork, no co-generation of ideas and Futures, she manages a team of behavioral content. Groups can excel at collaboration and social researchers located on three when they learn to harness their diversity, build different continents. Her team researches trust, and develop shared purpose and intent. and lives this highly topical issue. “Distributed collaboration is a big trend in business, thanks to technology, mobility and the globalization of business, but those factors also make it a huge challenge,” she says.
56 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 57 The need to be social at times and private at others is a core human need.
There are three key dynamics that must Alone. Together. As the focus on collaboration grows, Steelcase The need to be social at times and private at that allow for working side-by-side. Another be managed for successful collaboration: researchers underscore the need to balance others is a core human need. Collaboration important concept is to allow teams to make building community, inspiring flow and trust. that with time and places for individual fuels productivity and innovation, but it’s a space “theirs” even if it’s a shared space work. “There is a lot of research about the hard work and people need to recharge. It by giving them the freedom to reconfigure, importance of collaborative work, focusing on becomes critical to help people move across redefine and customize the space to fit their teams, building open spaces, etc., which is these two key modes of work by managing needs for the time they’re using it. By creating great,” says Flynn, “But that’s also raised the the transitions. social areas near workspaces to promote informal interactions and development of ante for the importance of private time and Julie Barnhart-Hoffman, interior design social bonds, you can use space to help build the psychological needs that people have for principal and researcher, believes space intimacy. When the transition from work space focused work.” that clearly conveys its purpose to users can to social space is seamless, work breaks are How companies help people balance their help. “We’re putting cues into workplaces to not only less distracting, they can even help private and social time can vary dramatically help people manage their private and social propel the work forward. around the world, both organizationally and needs. For example, when I walk into a space Flynn’s distributed team established key Supporting creative collaboration in the culturally. In places where space comes at a that is zoned as a ‘library’ the space should The bottom line remains trust. “What’s your practices to build these shared understandings workplace requires understanding human premium, as in Asia Pacific, office layouts are communicate that it’s a place for quiet and bank of trust like? If it’s a really rich account and started with in-person meetings. “At some interaction, and knowing how to create very dense and people learn to work in close reflection. I should feel calmed and focused that’s full of trust, you can make a lot of points in a project, people simply need to be spaces that provide the right level of human quarters. “Different cultures have different by the space. Then when I walk into a progress. But if your balance is low, you’re together to do the best work,” she notes. When engagement across both digital and physical requirements and expectations for how much collaboration space, it prompts me about how going to face a lot of challenges,” Flynn notes. they’re not together, the team uses web-based mediums. Democratic sharing of information, focus time people should have or who controls open and collaborative the space is going to “Once trust is built, you can get away with a tools to make content visible. Audio and eye-to-eye interactions and the ability to that time,” notes Catherine Gall, director of be. I should feel like the team is building and lot when you’re apart from each other — you video calls are part of daily life. One of the key co-create content equally are key. Providing WorkSpace Futures. “There are a lot of great innovating together and sense the energy in can have assumptions and you can wring that principles to make this work is a collaborative choice and control over the spaces where reasons to move to more collaborative work the space. We can use space to make work a relationship out in a lot of different ways. But mindset. “That’s an important thing. We ask people go to collaborate – with one other models, but you have to be thoughtful about richer, deeper experience.” you need to come back together again and rebuild that trust.” everyone to be flexible with their lives and person or with groups of people – is essential the tax that could place on individuals.” The right balance of space can help build schedules and share the burden of being a in creating workplaces that people choose community and inspire group flow. One distributed team.” to work in because they can collaborate key principle is to help teams reach successfully. common ground by creating spaces with standing-height worksurfaces that encourage democratic participation, or designing spaces
58 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 59 Mixing our virtual and physical presence
Insight in Brief: Living On Video Our increasing desire to be connected in more than one place simultaneously means we need destinations that deliver the best set of choices and experiences. People will choose the places that are more dynamic and foster a greater sense of engagement, both virtually and physically.
Ever wish you could be in two places at once? Steelcase researchers see it happen every day in a condition called “mixed presence.” People and the content they create can be present in a meeting physically and virtually via video conference or an online chat. Technology has dramatically expanded our virtual footprint, giving us multiple new ways of being present through our images, voices and content in more than one place at the same time. Our presence can be felt via email, Twitter, Facebook, text messages, phone calls, low resolution video chats, high-definition videoconferences, digital file shares in the cloud and more.
60 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 61 The Sociology of Technology
The more work becomes global and teams Mixed presence requires us to rethink how become distributed, the more important we interact with technology. “Technology is Technology is a powerful configuring force collaboration becomes to an organization. a powerful configuring force in the ways we The people who are co-located have a kind work because we use it to create information in the ways we work, but its control stops at of presence privilege over those who are and knowledge,” notes Terry West, director of remote. If you’ve ever been the person on research. “But its control stops at the end of the end of the power cord. Understanding a phone conference, struggling to hear the the power cord, or the battery life. Technology how to situate technology is actually based conversations among your teammates who companies have very little control in the world are all in the same room, you’ve experienced of the user. They do not own the ‘situated-ness’ upon the sociology of work. “presence disparity.” Participation is limited, of devices or of software, meaning they as you are unable to read people’s body cannot socially or physically situate them. language, see content on whiteboards, hear That’s the missing link. Understanding how to side conversations or see other behaviors that situate technology is actually based upon the add context and meaning to a conversation. sociology of work.” Addressing this successfully requires Video is everywhere, becoming a ubiquitous understanding the sociology of work, the nature of human interaction, and the emerging medium that’s economically accessible need to interconnect our physical and virtual work experiences. and increasingly available for us to choose.
Emerging Behaviors Workers are at the epicenter of a major shift We’re living on video at work because it helps in work styles as they toggle between their us be more effective. “There’s an immediate physical and increasingly virtual presence. connection and a wealth of content that People and the content they create One sign of this shift: the growth of both video provides versus other media,” notes individual and group videoconferencing. Every Epstein. “Hold your phone, aim it toward an are present at work in multiple day, everywhere, people are meeting and event, a business presentation, or a crisis in interacting on video, and research shows that the streets and record and send it anywhere in ways, both physically and virtually. video traffic is dramatically up. the world. Get feedback on the prototype you More and more we see distributed teams created for the project. Interview a customer meeting on video for weekly sessions, while on the spot and share it. The uses are endless individual team members meet daily on video and the impact is huge.” for a quick touch-base. As a result, the way Video helps leverage an increasingly mobile we connect to live, work and learn is giving work force. Epstein’s own team of 10 people way to an emerging new behavior: living on is located around the globe while he works video. Research shows that this behavior is in the San Francisco Bay Area. “I’m often following a natural course of market adoption: on video three or four times a day. There for some individuals and industries it’s a bold are countless people in leadership positions new way to meet from afar, and for others it’s around the world managing distributed teams, the new normal. who not only need to communicate using What’s driving this trend? Lew Epstein, video as a medium, but also need far more general manager of the advanced marketing insightfully-designed environments to host + applications group, says the growth is those conversations.” propelled by globalization and enabled by Business isn’t the only arena living on video. lower bandwidth requirements, higher quality Digital tools are dramatically changing resolution, and a broader range of scalable education. Online courses, integration of technologies and price points. Video used technology with physical learning spaces, the to mean big equipment and high cost, often move from instructor-led teaching to team- with real estate dedicated to its exclusive based learning models are just some of the use. “Now video is mobile, one-button simple, many different ways in which universities and inexpensive or free. And because video comes K-12 environments are changing rapidly today. to us on small devices that fit in our pocket or This is also happening in healthcare where purse, its utility and frequent use increases too. patients and providers are connecting on video Video is everywhere, becoming a ubiquitous to reach medical specialists and subject matter medium that’s economically accessible and experts from remote areas around the world. increasingly available for us to choose.”
62 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 63 The Intersection of Place and Presence
Balancing our physical and virtual selves teams depend on each other constantly. begins to create what Frank Graziano, Our own finance department uses wormholes As people shift to using video more as a part of principal researcher, calls “a lovely tension” (always-on high definition video connections between the processes involved in mixed situated within a workspace) to keep teams in their everyday lives, that behavioral change will presence and the places we use. “What are constant communication. It’s an elevated level lead to a dramatically different work environment the intersections where place and presence of presence and it allows global teams to have come together? How can place augment these just-in-time contact, which is important for from what most of us have today. processes? How can it, explicitly or quietly, collaboration and building trust.” infer process? These are the issues that matter, Graziano says mixed presence highlights so augmenting how presence, place and the dual nature of space as both physical Creating a Destination processes come together really matters.” and virtual. Just as a document may exist As videoconferencing grows at a rapid have a brief side conversation? How can I Places where these tensions are best as a digital file or printed page, similarly a rate today, Steelcase researchers see it see and interact not only with people, but resolved become what Graziano calls physical space can have a digital back story: becoming a primary medium for most also the information we need? Can the space “gravitational hotspots”: destinations that help a user guide, material specifications, forms of collaboration, communication help decrease distractions and increase organizations and individuals perform better by comments from users, etc. “Physical and and connection. As people shift to using engagement through lighting or acoustics? communicating more easily and collaborating digital are tightly bound to each other,” he video more as a part of their everyday Can it offer a better scaled screen and camera more effectively. “How do the fingerprints of a notes “and the better we can get them to lives, that behavioral change will lead to a position that works for one or two people project team, those mixed-presence artifacts, complement each other, the more we can dramatically different work environment from comfortably? In our personal lives it might endure? A great project space has physical help others make the most of mixed presence what most of us have today. But even as video be fun to have the family all squeeze in front detritus of where the team has been, the as a tool for creative collaboration. Space use has accelerated, the solutions designed of the camera when we Skype with Grandma, ideas and issues they’ve worked through. today needs both a physical and virtual to improve the user experience have not kept but in our work lives that can make it difficult Just like your workshop at home or your character to it, not one or the other. pace. As a result, there is an opportunity to to interact comfortably – especially when the kitchen accrues objects and materials. These The things that are physical seem to want to transform today’s complicated, static and camera angle on most mobile devices point up things are hugely important in terms of become virtual. And things that are virtual technology-centered videoconferencing our nose!” cognitive function, how we think about the seem to want to express themselves physically.” solutions into complete applications that are “Today, it’s just you and your device. We need work and how we share it with others, and more intuitive, dynamic and user-centered. it gets more complicated the more forms of to design destinations that augment your presence are involved.” For example, when you observe how technology so it dramatically improves your people receive a phone or video call, you see experience.” Julie Barnhart-Hoffman, design principal a pattern – they begin to move about looking Designing for these experiences will look more and user-centered design researcher, says for a quiet place to take the call. Social media like an ecology of work behaviors that live in living on video requires the workplace to is driving us to live more out loud, but there a close relationship to situating physical and offer a “palette of presence” — a range of are times when we need to talk in private virtual circumstances. Solving for these needs spaces that support people switching back or discuss confidential information. “Most will demand a well-rounded response to a set and forth between a physical and virtual likely we want a space where we will not of increasingly available choices – allowing presence. “So many businesses are spread be disturbed or will not disturb others, a people to self select where they want to work, out geographically, and living on video can semi-enclosed setting, and yet the choices how they want to work or who they want to help compensate for the distance. Distributed are extremely limited,” observes Epstein. work with. That’s because the places and “Today you’ll likely end up in a conference spaces that offer users choice and control are room designed for four, or six, or eight people the ones that will be chosen. which is a mismatched, poor use of real estate Living on video requires the workplace to for one person. Instead, what you need is a “We can see how globally intertwined business destination that’s nearby, optimized for one has become, and yet we can’t be everywhere,” offer a “palette of presence” — a range of spaces and can accommodate two people, and is notes Epstein. “Working shoulder to shoulder ready to amplify the user’s performance and is better sometimes – especially when co- that support people switching back and experience in a simple and convenient way.” creating – but the reality is that we can’t always work together in person and the demands Simply providing video tools isn’t enough. forth between a physical and virtual presence. on our time are not diminishing. Given these “We need to think about the intersection realities and the growing prominence of video of social, spatial and informational needs of in our everyday work lives, we’re developing people,” notes Epstein. “How can we bring new ways to shape video experiences to make workspace design, video communication, them immensely better.” and informational tools together in a more scalable and user-adaptable space? Socially, for example, we look at the dynamics of how people are interacting on video when connecting one-on-one with another person, or conferencing with a group. What if I need to break out of a larger videoconference and
64 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 65 Space shapes behavior — behavior over time is culture
Insight IN BRIEF: Culture Matters. More Than Ever. Space shapes behavior. Behavior over time equals culture. Real estate is often called the second largest business expense after salaries, yet its cost pales in comparison to that of a culture that inhibits an organization. If space shapes behavior and ultimately culture, then space is a strategic lever whose time has come.
There are two reasons why a company has an preeminence of the social nature of work and office: 1) to support the work that generates the social interaction of work. They understand revenue and 2) to support the culture of the the power of place, and configure their spaces in organization. Much time is spent considering a way that reflects the social nature of work and how an office supports work processes, but the respect for each other. Google and countless not enough time on what kind of culture the other technology firms, large and small, company needs to succeed. encourage, or even require that employees come to the workplace, recognizing that their As Terry West, director of research, states, collective knowledge is a more powerful engine “The place where the people are is where for creativity and problem-solving. an organization’s knowledge is. You cannot leverage the scale of the knowledge that “Leading organizations are the ones that exists within an organization when everybody recognize the opportunity to create spaces is sitting individually and disaggregated. The that stitch together the three key drivers behind collective whole is greater than its sum of the their purpose: strategy, culture and brand,” individuals. And certainly greater than a lot says Paul Siebert, director of corporate strategy of disaggregated, individual components just and development. trying to link into a server someplace.” “We’re engaging with many future-focused Organizations want their people to come to organizations and are learning a great deal about work to harness collective knowledge, to how these dimensions intersect — how to fuse embed it in the organization and to achieve the them together, and understand what spatial and benefit of scale. Ironically, it’s the technology user-level strategies should be considered.” organizations, whose products have given us Ultimately human interaction is how value the freedom to work anywhere, who seem is created. “When the social, spatial and to deeply comprehend the synergy between informational elements are thoughtfully technology and space. Companies such as designed, you are augmenting human Intuit understand the value of leveraging the interaction,” says Siebert. creative power of their people; they realize the
66 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 67 “People do this all the time at home. How come “Trust is built by allowing a team to determine “In our research of 11 different cultures, we all of a sudden get dumb when we walk how they work on a project or how they we explore what type of collaboration or into a business,” asks Lathrop? communicate. And it’s also trusting your staff exchange of information is preferred. Is it a top to help determine the place where they work down or bottom up kind of communication? Consider the home kitchen. It’s planned and and how to use it,” he notes. “You can’t say Is it a culture that allows multiple people equipped per the cook’s requirements. Certain ‘you can work anywhere you want, just as long to offer multiple points of view and then the tools and cookbooks are kept handy. Some as you sit right here where I can see you.’ You boss makes the decision? Or is it more of work processes and ingredients are used have to allow people to speculate about what a consulting culture where you actually give regularly, others avoided. A kitchen may invite their work could be, where the organization your idea and influence the ultimate decision- collaborative cooking or it could be the domain is going, how the culture functions best, and making process?” of a chef in charge. Knowledge workers need they’ll create the most extraordinary places.” the same: a place where they feel comfortable, All of these factors come together in the places that has the necessary tools handy. A place In an increasingly global workplace, trust where we work and are critical elements that can be reformed and adjusted based on is also built through the understanding of of creating spaces that augment human what needs to be done. local and regional culture. People tend to interaction, the critical ingredient in amplifying judge culture against their own set of values the performance of an organization. “Culture is behavior over time, and behavior and beliefs, but as you go further away The culture of the organization over time comes from trust. That’s how you get Create great communities of practice — the from your home culture, you have to work something useful out of that behavior. If people microcosms that braid together to build a to change the way you think and be willing don’t trust each other, you have avoidance,” living ecosystem for the company — and in is vital to success, yet it’s not to embrace new ways of working. Catherine says Graziano. turn create a living culture. “Why else create a Gall, director of WorkSpace Futures, workplace?” asks Graziano. “Companies have believes that understanding communication something leadership can own. a space to support people doing work and the patterns and how the creative process culture they’re trying to nurture. Nothing else works across cultures is critical, and that matters. If the workplace doesn’t do those two it’s important to recognize points of things well, then you might as well just move Culture As Democracy Winston Churchill famously said “we shape our convergence and divergence. buildings, thereafter they shape us,” and the to Starbucks.” “The culture of the organization is vital to thought applies equally to homes, institutions success, yet it’s not something leadership and businesses. A company’s goals and can own,” explains Dave Lathrop, director of aspirations are manifested in space. “Every research and strategy. “Executives can help culture builds place. It’s always been that way. steer the culture but it has to be co-created If the culture of your organization could build by the population of the company. How can its own workplace, what would that look like? people best work together? How much What tools and furniture and space would be in collaboration and idea sharing and innovation the work environment,” Lathrop says. Leading organizations are the ones that do you want? Will it be a leader-led company or a more consensus style? The culture “The holy grail here is giving the reins, the recognize the opportunity to create spaces manifests itself through these choices and broader set of permissions, to the users,” the manner in which workers are supported says Frank Graziano, principal researcher that stitch together the three key drivers by their environment. Do people have control with WorkSpace Futures. “Companies behind their purpose: strategy, culture over how and where they work? Do you provide places for working but not always talk collaboration but not provide the places the places for place-making. By that I mean and brand. where people can effectively work as a group? they don’t allow users to create places that, Management sends a powerful message like Christopher Alexander (author of “A through the places where people invest their Pattern Language”) has advocated, spring heart and soul to further the organization.” from the users’ cultural and social points of view. That’s what makes our applied research and consulting workshops so powerful.” In Steelcase workshops, a cross-section of employees from various departments and levels in the organization collaboratively generate ideas for what the work environment should be. They build models from simple materials that represent these environments.
68 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 69 Wellbeing as a competitive advantage
Insight IN BRIEF: The Economics of Wellbeing The return is high for those who invest in the physical, cognitive and social wellbeing of their people. The risk is even higher for those who ignore it.
“The issue of wellbeing at work is not about massage chairs and being able to take a nap,” says Catherine Gall. “That may certainly be part of it, but it actually starts with just about every aspect of your culture, and includes making sure people understand what their job is about, that they have a sense of purpose and contribution, and that they have the right space, tools and resources to be successful.”
70 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 71 Thinking Holistically
Designing for wellbeing means providing Socially it’s important to create spaces that aware of the need to balance privacy and workers choice and control over how and give people a sense of belonging to the larger social modes. Put people in control of how where they work. That requires understanding organization. they work and where they work, and you the flow of a person’s day, and the many “We need to ask what kinds of affordances and make them more productive and less stressed. transitions they make between the modes of environments we can build to support focused That’s healthier for both the individual and work they perform. Focusing, collaborating, work,” says Donna Flynn. “How can we help the organization.” socializing and learning are the things they do. people move between collaborative work and Giving workers access to the spaces that How they do them is where the opportunity private focused work? How can we support support their physical and cognitive needs, for enhanced wellbeing lies. At a physical level, workers’ physical and psychological needs and match their tasks, and support their work workers need a palette of posture – a range of thus support healthier, greater wellbeing?” style preferences is key for the future. And the solutions to sit, stand or walk with the ability to future is now. shift postures often. Cognitively, people need “We believe in giving people a palette of place spaces that allow them to focus and process without increasing the floor plate by more information with limited distractions, whether thoughtfully planning the space and being they’re working individually or collaboratively. Organizations can compete more successfully if their employees feel a real sense of wellbeing – physically, cognitively and socially.
Wellbeing is Good Business Addressing workplace wellbeing means the technologies we use. More and more understanding the many facets of wellbeing: people are suffering from too much work, and Designing for wellbeing means physical and mental health, our connection not enough time for their personal or private to others, our sense of purpose, the ability to activities. Cognitive overload and too much providing workers choice care for the ones we love and our connection stress during the working week can result to the world around us. Forward-thinking in potential risk for absenteeism or loss of organizations are going above ergonomic retention. People will just leave. and control over how and where issues, to think about wellbeing holistically “That is what we see happening in Asia right and view it as part of their business strategy. they work. now,” comments Gall. “One of the ways you Organizations can compete more successfully keep good people is by making their day as if their employees feel a real sense of wellbeing positive, enjoyable and fulfilling as they expect. – physically, cognitively and socially. Otherwise they will leave you and go to a The costs of not addressing the issue are competitor.” huge and gradually becoming a major pain Despite a large pool of resources in emerging point for organizations and countries alike. economies such as India, China and Korea, Workplace stress is now considered a global leading organizations understand that epidemic and organizations are struggling with knowledge work is actually based on training the ramifications: lower engagement levels, and making sure employees understand the absenteeism, increased risk of heart disease, brand and culture of the organization. This escalating costs. takes time and requires work environments Everywhere in the world, people suffer during that are designed for the wellbeing of workers. their work day. The physical issues that we had in the Industrial Age have given way to a new set of physical issues resulting from
72 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 73 Contributors It is not the answer
Sara Armbruster vice president, WorkSpace that illuminates, but Futures and Corporate Strategy; manages Steelcase’s research and applications development activities and strategic the question. planning process Understanding human behavior in the workplace is a core tenet Lew Epstein general manager of the of the 43 researchers, strategists and consultants at Steelcase. advanced marketing + applications group, a team of 10 developers based in four countries; ® co-developer of media:scape “The group’s focus is human-centered, future-oriented design research, Donna Flynn recently joined the Steelcase which is all about identifying and exploring possibilities as an input to the research & strategy team after eight years innovation process,” says Sara Armbruster, vice president of WorkSpace with Microsoft; Ph.D. in anthropology, Futures and Corporate Strategy. “We set up hypotheses of what the future Fulbright scholar, advocate for insight-driven might bring based on the full body of research we do, and then work design strategy with a variety of academic and corporate partners to form a potential scenario that’s worth tapping into. Our goal is to understand the impact Catherine Gall Paris-based research director on behavior and culture, because work is an inherently social and human- with 20 years of experience in bridging cultural centered activity.” workplace issues, working with companies on social and organizational studies and work- Armbruster’s group is intentionally diverse, with people of varying place design research; co-author of the 2009 background and profession, many of whom have decades of experience. book Office Code “I think part of Steelcase’s success is because we put a premium on the depth and richness of critical thinking. In a lot of corporate environments Frank Graziano principal researcher for 18 there’s so much pressure on immediate results, that they don’t always see years at Steelcase; one of the contributors to the value of developing a really deep and rich understanding of an issue. the new book Making Space: How to Set the We have an immediacy too, but we also create the environment to ask Stage for Creative Collaboration; an original those really deep questions – not just about what’s happening right now researcher on media:scape; service/brand or what might happen tomorrow, but also five and 10 years from now.” architect for Workspring project “We challenge our questions about how work and life are evolving. Our Julie Barnhart-Hoffman design principal, business is workspace, but if work and life are blending and recombining extensive experience in workplace design in different ways at different scales, and things are shifting more and more research; co-developed a patent for in that direction, what are the implications on how people work? Where LearnLab™; group defining, designing they work? What they expect when they are working in a workspace? and prototyping future business concepts This is how we start to explore possibilities and create really interesting Dave Lathrop director of research and insights that provide new fuel and context for understanding how space strategy, with a background in psychology, can augment human interaction, and ultimately amplify the performance communication and organizational change; of people and the organizations they work for.” leads Perspective group, responsible for The team, based in North and South America, Europe, and Asia, uses many helping form the company point of view research techniques based in the social sciences. In addition to doing field- on future of work and organizations based research, including observation techniques and video ethnography, Paul Siebert director of research and strategy, they regularly engage with a network of people and organizations who are develops foresight on the future of work; also engaged in asking highly interesting questions. human-centered design leader in innovation ° and brand building Terry West nearly four decades of experience in work environments including product development, corporate strategy, and current position as director of research
74 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 75 It started wIth a fIre. as we celebrate our 100th year, Our history of innovation and social responsibility we are proud to introduce the VICTOR2 recycling began with VICTOR, a metal wastebasket, designed center, another insightful and aesthetically to reduce fires caused by ashes from cigars and pleasing solution to a human problem. cigarettes in wicker wastebaskets. It was a first: the VICTOR2. Designed by: first time steel was shaped to create an insightful and Steelcase Design Studio in collaboration 1912 aesthetically pleasing solution to a human problem. 2012 with HOK Product Design.
steelcase.com/victor2 1956 frameone® with media:scape® Benching Solution by Steelcase Dash® mini Task Lighting by Details what’s new
NEOCON 2012 | In our 100th year, we look to the future by celebrating insights, ideas and solutions that help unlock human promise. steelcase.com/NeoCon2012
tagwizard™ Scheduling System by Steelcase
media:scape® mobile Collaboration Settings by Steelcase
80 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 81 Node™ With tablet stand and five-star base by Steelcase Education Solutions
empath™ Recliner Seating by Nurture
Lox by Pearson Lloyd Coalesse
diviso™ Side Screen by Steelcase
bivi® Desking Solution by Turnstone SW_1™ table by Scott Wilson Coalesse
buoy™ Seating by Turnstone media:scape® mini Collaboration Settings by Steelcase
82 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 83 Stand in Surface Material by Steelcase
Hosu media:scape® Digital Puck by Patricia Urquiola Collaboration Technology Coalesse by Steelcase
Qivi™ Collaboration Seating FlexFrame™ with media:scape® by Steelcase Workwall by Steelcase
Victor2™ Recycling Center by Steelcase
Verb™ Classroom Collection by Steelcase Education Solutions
Exponents™ chain mail Free Stand Mobile Display Surface Material by Stephan Copeland Coalesse by Steelcase Coalesse
84 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 85 Inspired by the twilight haze over the Arizona mountains, Steelcase introduces “Sunshine Styling” in tones called Desert Sage, Autumn Haze and Blond Tan. These new colors make it easier for color to be introduced throughout the office. “We have to think about “Over the next 100 years, we have an opportunity the world before to shape a new story, a positive vision of Creating making new things.” what it means to live sustainably in our world.” Sustainable Siddesh, a 10-year-old in Mumbai, India Joel Makower / Chairman and Executive Editor, GreenBiz Group Creating sustainable value in the 21st “Basic principles of life, guidelines century means simultaneously advancing the for actions in any sector, should be human condition and the economic health of imbedded in the very essence of our business. There are two fundamental ways a Value company can create this kind of value: first, by global society and industries.” designing products and solutions that benefit For the 21st century Erin Schrode, Co-Founder, Turning Green people, and second by operating in socially responsible ways — which includes mitigating by Angela Nahikian Many voices in Steelcase’s “100 Minds. environmental harm, of course, but also Director, Global Environmental Sustainability, 100 Dreams. 100 Years.” anniversary project goes beyond to encompass such things as Steelcase Inc. point to an important truth: Sustainability is employee wellbeing, supplier development and not about process efficiency — it’s a way of enhancing communities. viewing the world and our role in strengthening More than ever stakeholders expect this kind the social, economic and environmental of full-spectrum thinking. Creating sustainable system that sustains us. value in multiple spheres is incredibly We have to think about not only how we challenging — messy even — but it isn’t an do things, but why we do them. We have either/or proposition. While it all can’t be to embrace the interconnectedness that taken on at once, companies that aim to be makes sustainability possible — the choices influential champions of sustainability need to organizations and individual people make ‘take it all on’. and how these choices combine to make our Many occasions can create opportunities to businesses, cities and lives better. We have to reflect, recharge and refocus. At Steelcase explore the consequences of our decisions — we’re taking advantage of our 100th birthday the unintended as well as the intended. to do just that — to dream big about the To ensure we don’t leave value-creation future. We’re setting our sights high as we opportunities on the table, we have to think about what it means to create holistic humanize sustainability. value as a globally integrated company operating in a globally connected world.
88 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 89 Materials chemistry Global impact and and biomimicry: transparency: harnessing what Working together nature’s perfected for positive change
Though there’s still work to be done across It’s sometimes said that a paradox of industries, big strides have been made in globalization is that it increases the need for identifying toxic materials, understanding how local connection, and Steelcase’s experience chemicals interact and eliminating materials of bears that out as true. There are always going concern. In addition to existing materials that to be differences in government regulations promote/support environmental and human and in how certain sustainability attributes are health, there are many exciting new materials weighted in different cultures and markets. As Steelcase looks forward to the future Rethinking real Biophilia: The time is now of sustainability, many areas of promise in development. However, within the differences, there’s a common, human thread that transcends emerge, including: estate: for human connecting with Material choices today range from completely geography. When it comes to sustainability, How we operate, and what we create and performance nature natural and renewable materials like wool, we all want the same thing — positive change. deliver, ties back to the history of our company to “clean” synthetics. Especially noteworthy — understanding what people need and Commercial buildings are due for a makeover. Science has shown that we respond more developments lie in materials that mimic or Because of this, the quest for sustainability designing to improve the human experience. By most estimates, they account for at least positively to certain environments over others. harness the power of nature. Examples include often drives unlikely partnerships, including We’ll never be finished, but by harnessing the 40 percent of electricity use worldwide and, Often these attractions are based on packaging material grown from agricultural collaborations with competitors, to drive expertise and ideas of partners, teams and as patterns of work have changed, many deep affiliations rooted in human biology bi-products bonded with mushroom roots beneficial change. For example: BIFMA’s individuals in every location around the world, have become case studies of inefficiency. and evolution. called mycelium. It’s produced with very low level™ certification, launched in North America Helping customers optimize their real estate we’re finding ways to improve every day. We know from the research that people energy, is totally renewable and compostable. in 2009, is a third-party evaluation of the investments presents enormous opportunities naturally seek spaces that offer a sense of There are also promising new surface environmental and social impacts of furniture By collaborating with customers, suppliers for energy savings, innovation and large-scale shelter and protection, such as pillars, walls materials that resist bacteria by mimicking products for commercial environments. It holds and within and across industries, businesses impact. and overhangs, and that we gravitate toward defenses found in nature that have been the potential to help reduce complexity and are best positioned to holistically address the At the same time, it’s more important than natural light. Designers know that color and perfected over thousands of years. provide a common language in our industry. world’s complex social and environmental issues. As innovators and agents of social ever that employees are supported physically, texture evoke deep human reactions. All of Materials science holds tremendous promise to This is one small example in the host of change, we can make our companies mentally and emotionally, and this raises the this connects back to our cave and campfire deliver superior performance without the high things we and other companies are doing and communities stronger, secure a bar for what a workplace needs to provide. days, and has many implications for workplace environmental and social costs of the past. to advance sustainability. The most fruitful, design, underscoring the importance of more prosperous economy and drive the Fully supporting the human experience holistic change can happen across industries creating familiarity in the built environment. humanization of business. within a smaller resource footprint is one Closing the loop: and geographies. These cross-industry, of the great opportunities for businesses Workplaces need to be designed for people, wide-reaching partnerships can support To see how leading thinkers and children throughout the world. It’s where Steelcase can not just for work. We need to maintain our taking a page from public policy (that’s good for business and from around the world envision a sustainable have significant impact for good by offering humanity, our mind and body connections. biology the environment), rally around elimination of future, visit Steelcase’s anniversary website, solutions that help unlock the human promise This is becoming more important, in part, as a materials of concern, create new process 100.steelcase.com. In conjunction with its of workers and help employers get more value counterbalance to the growing technological Closed-loop systems are ones in which all efficiencies, or provide support to people/ anniversary, Steelcase will also be conducting out of their real estate. saturation of work and life. materials can be reclaimed and reused. They businesses/countries in need. All of these sustainability envisioning forums during are the ultimate test of sustainable design. things, complex and collaborative, can have 2012 and will issue an in-depth corporate Moore’s law tells us that technology ripple effects and cause true, lasting change. sustainability report this fall. will continue to advance exponentially. As with materials innovation, there are many Today’s challenge is to make sure people’s new reclamation technologies that can be lives and human experiences improve at a anticipated and incorporated into product comparable pace. design. Considering the entire life of the product at the design stage gets to the heart of closing the loop. In pursuit of cradle-to-cradle design, it is vital to focus efforts on finding more innovative and responsible ways to move products from their original use to their next life. The goal is to keep products in use, out of landfills and, ultimately, to have them feed new streams of production. In doing so, we can anticipate, innovate, and respond to emerging customer needs and expectations.
90 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 91 In 2006 Steelcase set what at the time The company is well on its way to not simply Commitment seemed to be an aggressive goal: to reduce meet but exceed those goals by the end of the the its environmental footprint worldwide by anniversary year. 2012 25 percent by 2012, the company’s 100th anniversary year. The tally-to-date shows
“Reducing negative impacts, which 54% we accomplished with our 2012 goal, is just a fraction of what’s reduction water possible for the future.” consumption
“Focusing on reductions, though 53% important, is limiting. Focusing on creating sustainable value is reduction in voc limitless.” emissions Angela Nahikian, Director, Global Environmental Sustainability, Steelcase Inc. 37% reduction greenhouse gas emissions Wellbeing is an economic issue. The health of business depends on the wellbeing of people. 23% reduction in waste + materials At details, we design for the physical, cognitive, and social wellbeing of the person. recycled
92 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com In a world of we what about mE?
Finding balance for individual work in a sea of collaboration
by James Ludwig and Allan Smith, Steelcase Inc.
At each stage in our society’s advancement — from agrarian economies to the creative economy — technology has played a major role. But never before has technology impacted behavior in the office more than in the last five years, causing a tectonic shift in our notions of how, when and where we work. Collaboration has become a primary mode of work for organizations in pursuit of innovation, and yet in our rush to co-create better ideas, faster it is the needs of individuals that risk being overlooked.
For many of us, work started out as a destination, a place we went to, as in “Honey, I’m going to work now.” We went to the office because that was the only place where we had access to the technology and people we needed to do our jobs. And because our bosses expected it. If you were not at work, you weren’t really working. But technology changed that. Laptops became the dominant computing device, outselling desktop computers in 2008. Access to WiFi became almost ubiquitous, and mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets permeated the workplace.
94 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 95 People need a range of settings to accommodate focused, collaborative and social work in both open and enclosed environments – in other words, a palette of place.
Collaboration is critical to Technology Drives Behavior Adding to the complexity of work is the increasing trend CEOs say that creativity is the most valued attribute of an organization’s success, As technology enabled mobility, our behaviors and towards global integration. The “Globally Integrated leadership, ranking even higher than integrity and global expectations changed, too. Suddenly we had the Enterprise,” a term coined by IBM, is a diverse and thinking (http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/ceo/ but it cannot exist without freedom to work anywhere, anytime. We voted with our dispersed organization with different work groups ceostudy2010/index.html). typically united in project work. Workers struggle to individual work. feet, taking our technology devises into meetings and Whether creativity and invention happen in groups or bridge cultures and time zones, finding themselves ‘third places’ such as coffee shops or libraries, and individually is a subject of much debate. Author Susan living on video — ranging from informal Skype calls to leaving our workstations empty for hours. Choice, not Cain argues in her best-selling book Quiet: The Power large telepresence meetings — as they manage virtual mail codes, became the driver of where to go. of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, people connections with team mates distributed around the Today, most knowledge workers in developed countries are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom world. It’s not uncommon for teams to be on telepresence are mobile workers – they do not have to be at their desk from interruption. Cain struck a nerve within the in Asia, Europe and the Americas all at the same time, to do their jobs – and, by this definition, a full 35 percent corporate world by drawing attention to the needs of which is physically impossible without someone starting of the global workforce will be mobile by 2013. Many introverts and challenging the notion that creativity and work really early or staying really late. Our workday might of today’s workers have varying degrees of mobility. innovation come exclusively from boisterous socialization, not be a full 24/7, but it’s easily become 15/6. Some have an assigned space, but move throughout replete with exuberant team mates high-fiving each the building or campus. Others are more nomadic, As technology advanced and the world became flatter another. She notes that even extroverts need time for choosing where to work based on the tasks they need and faster, competition stiffened and organizations felt contemplation and focused, individual work. Our research to accomplish. the demand for more innovation — not as a choice — but at Steelcase corroborates this point – we all need time to a means to survival. Collaboration became a primary ourselves. To read. To think. To reflect. The technological advances driving mobility — and driven work style for many organizations. A Steelcase joint by mobility — are both an advantage and a curse. We As a result of the changes in technology and behavior, research study with Corenet Global found that two-thirds can carry our work with us from place to place, but the knowledge workers are facing greater demands and of organizations collaborate between 60 percent to as spaces we work in haven’t been redesigned to support experiencing higher stress. Our day used to consist of much as 80 percent of the time. There’s good reason the new ways we work, and the kind of work we now do. a series of individual tasks, punctuated by a meeting or for it — collaboration works. Research has shown that The cognitive overload many of us are experiencing is a two. Today, we move between meetings, projects and while individual work might sometimes result in a faster direct result from the exponential growth in the amount individual work, shifting between different workspaces answer, collaboration consistently delivers deeper and of information we have to absorb. Case in point: all of the throughout the day. richer ideas because of the broad perspectives and information we had available up to 2007 has doubled in cross-pollination of ideas that teams can offer. But the past five years. We are bombarded by e-mails, posts, whether alone or in a group, the drive for innovation blogs, tweets, and, in general, information overload is a requires greater creativity. A recent IBM study of global daily affliction.
96 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 97 Our Research
At Steelcase, we’ve studied how to enhance and augment the collaboration process for years. As a byproduct of that research, we observed individuals struggling in their environments, working around obstacles, unable to work effectively. We decided it was time to study what We followed mobile workers throughout it means to do individual work in this their day to observe how they work, where changed landscape; to see how we they work, how they interact with others might create spaces designed for and how they focus on their individual work. a better experience for all the modes of work – alone or together. Our teams began following mobile workers throughout their day to observe how Balancing ‘I’ and ‘We’ need a range of settings to accommodate focused, they work, where they work, how they The shift toward collaborative work has dramatically collaborative and social work in both open and enclosed interact with others and how they changed the topography at many workplaces. More than environments – in other words, a palette of place. It’s important to think of the entire company campus focus on their individual work. half of the companies in the CoreNet/Steelcase study say they’re reconfiguring individual workspaces to make as an ecosystem of spaces, where individuals have choice and control over how to work in a range of spaces One of the first things we found was more room for team spaces. Because innovation requires collective ‘we’ work, it’s critical to design spaces that across the company, not just within a floor. the difference between people’s not only support collaboration, but augment it. Teams We also found that people come to the workplace with perception of what they do and the need places designed around their social, spatial and an activity in mind and filter it through a number of other reality. We tend to visualize our day informational needs, where they can bring their individual variables: the tools they need for their work, the degree of like a pie chart, divided into meetings, work to the group to evaluate it, make decisions or connection they need with others, the amount of sensory blocks of time for solo work, email, co-create new solutions. The result: many organizations stimulation they want, and even their mood. Some days are investing in collaboration spaces that bring people projects. Yet for most knowledge when we have individual work to complete, we prefer and technology together in a way that promotes to do it in locations where we can feel a buzz of activity workers it’s not that simple. What eye-to-eye contact, provides everyone with equal access and see other people around us. At other times, we need actually happens is we move around to information, and allow people to move around and spaces that are quiet with less stimuli. so much that we have to squeeze participate freely. People need places that let them concentrate on more things into smaller slices of time. All of this is good. In fact, it’s great. But in our enthusiasm a problem. Let their minds make subtle, insightful We sit in a meeting and when the for spaces to support team work, some organizations connections between obstacles and inspiration. topic doesn’t relate to us we check have taken the ‘either/or’ approach and focused on They need spaces that thoughtfully consider both email, answer a text. We take a phone collaboration. Individual work is neglected. We believe a collaborative and individual work. Our research suggests better approach is one we call ‘and/both’. It’s all about call or squeeze in a quick chat with five things to consider when designing spaces that balance. Rather than a shift from I to we work, we see a consider the needs of the individual in today’s highly someone we see. When the group continuum of I and we work. Our research shows people collaborative environment. adjourns we stay in the room to work on our own — until the next group comes along and we get kicked out. Our days have become a blur of transitions.
98 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 99 1. BE A GOOD HOST 2. ANTICIPATE NEEDS is further away, usage falls off dramatically. in constant use for phone calls and focused Organizations need to think like good hosts All spaces should offer what people need to be The workplace should include small huddle task work. These spaces are located in a quiet and make people feel welcome the minute they immediately effective, and to lessen the burden rooms, quiet niches outside of conference corner that functions like a cul-de-sac; there walk in the door. of carrying everything with them. rooms, and acoustically-controlled booths or is no access to other parts of the building, so enclaves for home or video calls. At Vodofone’s traffic and interruptions are minimal. The space Design spaces that help people feel connected Nomadic workers need spaces that anticipate new Netherland headquarters in Amsterdam, includes a range of technology to support 5 things to consider: to the organization, and allow them to quickly what they need when they arrive: easy access the staff has access to a range of open and the diverse types of work happening: WiFi, see what’s going on within the company. At to power for recharging devices, a choice of enclosed spaces with options in between. plenty of power outlets, videoconferencing our new WorkCafé, one of the first things spaces with varying degrees of privacy they 1. BE A GOOD HOST None of them are assigned to any individual, equipment, and several media:scape units to employees encounter when they enter the can control, and a range of I and we spaces 2. ANTICIPATE NEEDS including the president. With few exceptions, support small group discussions. Nearly half of space is a coffee bar and a concierge to help near each other so it’s easy to transition people can use workspaces in any manner that our WorkCafé users say they choose to work 3. INSTANT FIT them locate the right spaces or tools for their between individual and collaborative work. suits them. there because of the tools available to them. 4. PEOPLE. PLACE. THINGS. work. A media wall highlights news and events People generally need group space within 60 at various company locations around the feet of their primary work area. If it’s close, In our WorkCafé a number of small workspaces 5. AMP UP. AMP DOWN. world, so people can get up to speed quickly it’s more likely to be used. If the group space adjacent to the open eat/meet/work areas are about what’s happening in the company.
Ó WorkCafé, Steelcase Global Headquarters, Grand Rapids, USA
100 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 101 Ó Vodafone, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3. INSTANT FIT 4. People. Places. Things. Accenture made extensive use of RoomWizard Shared spaces should be designed to quickly Spaces should be designed for visibility - in their Houston space to not only make it fit individual needs, while helping minimize the making it intuitive for workers to recognize easier for employees to find meetings, but to transition time from one task to the next and the kind of spaces that support the work also quickly reserve a space for their individual from one space to the next. they’re doing (boisterous collaboration vs. work, and release the space for others when quiet contemplation), and provide the tools they were done. Vodafone’s Amsterdam Observing people trying to work in cafes they need, while making it easy to identify space incorporated wayfinding into both the while sitting – and squirming – in hard, wooden available spaces. architecture and furnishings. The glass walls chairs that were not designed for comfort combined with RoomWizard make it easy to or easy adjustment — caused us to think Designing for a ‘palette of place’ makes it see where people are, and what’s going on. about something we call a ‘palette of posture’: evident to users that they have choice over a range of space options that allow people where and how to work, depending on the to work comfortably in the various postures type of work they are engaged in. Technology- they assume while moving through the various enabled devices should be utilized to make tasks they do. Adjustable-height worksurfaces, it to find the right space is available, both in moveable monitor arms, keyboard supports advance or on demand. and lighting tools should be provided in A device like RoomWizard® allows a simple order to be positioned precisely by the glance down a hallway to see a green light individual to make it easier for them to get that indicates the space is available. The comfortable quickly. information display confirms the topic of the meeting; who’s in it and how long it will last, so you don’t have to disturb people mid-meeting.
102 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 103 more sensory stimulation
available: Most open busy invisible Ó WorkCafé, Steelcase Global Headquarters, Grand Rapids, USA Offline: Most Private
5. AMP UP. AMP DOWN. physical connection with others, even when The workplace should be zoned to provide working alone. The post occupancy study we workers choice and control over the degree of conducted on our WorkCafé shows 80 percent less sensory sensory stimulation desired, and their level of of people choosing it for individual work. stimulation availability. They know they might be interrupted but they prefer to do focused work near others. Employees need to feel like they’re connected Vodafone created a space called Club 11 that – to other people and to the organization. offers food and an outdoor terrace, and after They also need quiet times when they can 5:00 p.m. they play upbeat music. It’s fun, focus, reflect or recharge. When they are in the chic and serves a number of needs, but you workplace they sometimes want the energy wouldn’t mistake it for a library or choose it for and buzz of working near people; other times the times you need quiet focus. The space for they need a space for heads-down work. We that is actually called the library, on another call this “amping up or amping down,” and floor in another zone, and one of the few places ONLINE. OFFLINE. every workspace should signal the kind of with rules about how people can work in the work it supports to help people determine the Zoning allows mobile workers to situate themselves in spaces that provide the right tools and space. Talking and phone calls are not allowed. best place to work. Providing sensory control sensory stimulation, while signaling to others their degree of availability - similar to status indicators It’s a perfect place for amping down and doing is a key element of wellbeing in the holistic in virtual space. quiet, reflective work. view, which includes the psychological and sociological aspects of work as well as the At Skype’s Palo Alto, California, offices, physical. It’s important to integrate spaces collaboration is nurtured, and workers sit that encourage people to retreat from the at benches that allow for easy exchange of structure of the day, to renew and rest or gain ideas. Headphones are the respected way of fresh perspective. Employees should be able signaling “leave me alone, I’m thinking,” but to control lighting, sound and temperature, the company also makes sure to offer a variety work in relaxed lounge or resting postures, and of small, private places for individual work be free of interruptions. It’s equally important throughout the workplace. to provide spaces that allow workers to feel a
104 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 105 Ó turnstone, Grand Rapids, USA
THE BOTTOM LINE: IT’S A BALANCING ACT Collaboration as a business strategy is critical to innovation. And so is individual concentration and contemplation. As Susan Cain notes, we tend to believe all creativity and all productivity comes from the group, when, in fact, there is real benefit to solitude and being able to go off and focus and put your head down. The workplace needs to support that. It needs to help both mobile and resident workers achieve a balance of collaborative and individual work, in places where they can amp up or amp down, with the tools they need, alone or together. The best workplaces are the ones that give people the opportunity to choose what they need, when they need it. °
James Ludwig, Vice President, Global Design Allan Smith, Vice President, Marketing and Applications
Ó Skype’s Palo Alto, CA offices
106 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 107 She compares many open offices today to the open coffee “In an open office you have very limited means to say no, I’m shop where she wrote much of her book. “One café in sorry I’m focusing on something else right now. Sometimes you particular I loved because many of the other people who can, but often you can’t. I think offices need to work extra hard frequented this café were also writers or working on one to instill the feelings and indicators of freedom that a café has.” creative project or another. So the café was pretty quiet with Her solution for the ideal creative work environment? “Walking people really focused on their work. Yet you’re free to come that fine line between inter-connectedness and personal and go at any time, sit anywhere you want, to talk or to not freedom. Getting that balance right, that’s the nirvana.” talk if you wish. You can be on the margins of café society or you can plop yourself right in the center and be engaged with people. That freedom is crucial.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
SUSAN CAIN is the author of the New York Times bestseller QUIET: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking. Her writing on introversion and shyness has Quiz appeared in the The New York Times; The Dallas Morning News; O, The Oprah Magazine; ARE YOU AN INTROVERT OR EXTROVERT (AND WHY DOES IT MATTER)? Time.com; and on PsychologyToday.com, and she recently spoke at TED2012, Microsoft, Google, and the U.S Treasury. She has appeared on CBS “This Morning,” as well as Do you ever wonder where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum? Here is the place to assess yourself. NPR. A former Wall Street lawyer, she has (This quiz is adapted from my book, QUIET: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Crown, 2012). taught negotiation and communication skills at law firms, universities, and corporations, Please answer each question True or False, choosing the answer that applies to you more often than not: including Merrill Lynch, Shearman & Sterling, and the University of Chicago. She is an honors graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. Susan lives in the Hudson River 1. I prefer one-on-one conversations to group activities. Valley with her husband and two sons. 2. I often prefer to express myself in writing. 3. I enjoy solitude. 4. I seem to care about wealth, fame, and status less than my peers. 5. I dislike small talk, but I enjoy talking in-depth about topics that matter to me. 6. People tell me that I’m a good listener. A Quiet Place 7. I’m not a big risk-taker. 8. I enjoy work that allows me to “dive in” with few interruptions. 9. I like to celebrate birthdays on a small scale, with only one or two close friends or family members. to Work 10. People describe me as “soft-spoken” or “mellow.” 11. I prefer not to show or discuss my work with others until it’s finished. 12. I dislike conflict. Susan Cain, author of the bestselling book Quiet: The Power of There are several reasons for this. As social creatures, Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, says there’s too we’re influenced by what other people think. “We don’t even 13. I do my best work on my own. much emphasis on group work in business today and that’s a realize we’re being influenced, we just pick up other people’s 14. I tend to think before I speak. problem for introverts, which make up between one-third and opinions.” There’s also peer pressure “If you’re off working by one-half of the population. yourself there’s no cost to having the opinions that you have, 15. I feel drained after being out and about, even if I’ve enjoyed myself. you come to them without any barriers.” “Introversion is really about having a preference for lower 16. I often let calls go through to voice-mail. stimulation environments. It’s a preference for quiet, for less Given how we respond to others and their opinions, “people 17. If I had to choose, I’d prefer a weekend with absolutely nothing to do to one with too many things scheduled. noise, less action. Whereas extroverts really crave more really need solo time to go off by themselves first, and then in 18. I don’t enjoy multi-tasking. stimulation in order to feel at their best. Today’s workplaces some kind of carefully managed process come together with more and more are set up as open plan offices for maximum the group to share what they come up with.” 19. I can concentrate easily. group interaction. There are no walls and very little privacy.” Too many offices lack support for these different workstyles. 20. In classroom situations, I prefer lectures to seminars. Cain says it’s important to support creativity in ways beyond “What some companies are saying is okay, we’re all going to group brainstorming. “There are a lot of people who are very be in this big open space, but you can sign up for a private creative, but you throw them into a brainstorming session and room whenever you want one. That’s too many hoops to jump The more often you answered True, the more introverted you probably are. Lots of Falses suggests you’re an extrovert. every creative shot just goes over their head because they through psychologically and in terms of a physical step to sign If you had a roughly equal number of Trues and Falses, then you may be an “ambivert” – yes, there really is such a word. can only think when they’re freed from other people looking at up for a space and then walk across the hall and get there. It them. Individuals come up with more ideas and better ideas cuts into a lot of the psychological needs that we all have.’ when they’re left to their own devices.”
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G R D D N
E ETTE N human interaction. human D H RI designed to augment augment designed to virtual) in destinations AL ET P experiences (physical and and (physical experiences T B A range mixed-presence of GY A GY G NEE O E HA TO E NOL ES T
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D D E N G ONT E A R NEE ATE ST D C D E E R FFE N F POSTU OF O A PEOPL DE CR E CHALLEN UN PEOPL IC ETTE A range solutions of AL to sit, standto and move technologies they use. they technologies that encourage people people encourage that P and support the multiple multiple supportand the O CH in an interconnected world. interconnected an in over how and where people work Leverage the complexities of competing competing of complexities the Leverage
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d e li teams and organizations. It offers choice and control over spaces that support the and people, of wellbeing cognitive and social physical, provides a range spaces of designed for the many modes workof they engage in. people, performanceof the amplifies that workplace a is It
ts App This framework provides a methodology for creating and assessing recognizes It world. interconnected an for designed workplace a that people need do to both individual work ‘I’ and group work. ‘We’ It alsobreaks the paradigm that all individual spaces should be assigned or ‘owned’ or that all group spaces should be shared. The support to need workplace interconnected an in spaces of range learning. and socializing collaboration, work, focused igh
the social, spatial and informational interactions interactions informational and spatial social, the people. between anticipating their needs tomorrow is one that Steelcase refers as Workplace. an to Interconnected an by opportunities offered the leverages It augment designed to is and world, interconnected A workplace that supports how people work today while while today work people supports how that workplace A Creating a workplace that is future focused. Ins | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com
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d e li App ts igh Ins 1964 For many workers in the United Kingdom, the For all these reasons and more, as the summer ahead has the earmarks of trouble just Olympics draw closer, more companies in the waiting to happen. UK are looking into facilitating work alternatives — or they should be, says Rob Jenkins of Despite years of careful planning to keep Steelcase Solutions, which has a decade-plus London traffic flowing during the 2012 Olympic of experience helping companies implement Games that begin in late July, many experts such programs. Recently, in partnership are making gloomy forecasts about congestion with technology networking giant BT and the and backups in and around the city. Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Steelcase Solutions shared insights and experiences at a seminar on flexible working hosted at Employers who understand and quickly the Steelcase WorkLife center in London. In adapt to changing work patterns stand to addition to the many personal benefits for gain the most. employees and the environmental impacts, the seminar explored the business drivers for flexible work: more productivity, fewer absences, office real estate cost savings, ©iStockphoto.com/ScottHortop Traffic will increase by a third, average speed and an enhanced ability to attract and retain on main routes could slow to just 12 miles per workers. hour, and public transportation will carry the As mobile technologies and globalization are burden of several million more travelers every fast creating a 24/7 work culture, knowledge When Work Happens day. With warnings like these, it’s no wonder workers in many parts of the world are no that many Londoners plan to work at home as longer dependent on the office as the only much as possible during the games instead of place for work. Increasingly, they value the commuting to the office. Anywhere freedom to choose where to work, depending Wasting less time on commuting is just one of on what needs to get done. many reasons workers prefer to occasionally Employers who understand and quickly adapt work at alternative places such as their homes, to these changing work patterns stand to gain a third place such as the local café or in other the most. “Allowing employees to work away places nearer to home. Spending less on fuel from the office can be a powerful business and reducing their environmental impact are As 9 to 5 becomes 24/7, tool,” says Jenkins. there are new challenges — other commute-related factors that make these and many opportunities. alternatives attractive. Equally compelling The U.S. leads in the percentage of mobile is the reality that, especially given today’s workers, often defined as those who spend 24/7 highly collaborative workplaces, working 10 hours or more each week away from the away from the office provides opportunity for office. The tradition of flexible work, however, uninterrupted concentration when you need to is well established and has a longer history do focused work. Moreover, having flexibility throughout much of the European Union. The for where to work means people can carve out Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Sweden better balance between the demands of their are among the champions of flexible work, jobs and their personal lives. followed by Germany and the UK.
116 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 117 “Fundamentally, wellbeing isn’t just about how we feel, it’s also about how we act,” says Adamson. “Your wellbeing always impacts your next decision.” Arjun Adamson, Steelcase Workspace Futures researcher
The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are among the champions of flexible work, followed by Germany and the U.K.
In France, workers remain more cautious about toward focus, flow, and physical comfort. They “I stay connected to disconnect,” said one “Fundamentally, wellbeing isn’t just about A home that works, a workplace a leg up on creating spaces that are relevant keeping work and home separated. Even here, also value mental and emotional wellbeing. In seasoned mobile worker from the European how we feel, it’s also about how we act,” says like home to today’s mobile workers.” however, phone calls with colleagues in other fact, many of the people we spoke with in their study. “If I know I’m available and there’s Adamson. “Your wellbeing always impacts your Happily, for most people, not having explicit This trend toward personal comfort has time zones are common, and keeping up with home workspaces correlated comfort with nothing coming in, then it’s fine.” next decision.” boundaries between work and home is a good distinct implications for the materials, email is fast becoming expected by employers productivity.” thing, once they figure out how to make it Emerging from the research were insights into The Coalesse researchers discovered four key finishes, accessories and lighting specified and accepted by employees as a way of taking work. “When you have a level of control over Interestingly, the research confirmed that as the spectrum of ways people are handling the skills for successfully navigating a blended for professional office environments, and work home. your situation, it’s invigorating, liberating really. boundaries between work and the rest of life stresses of integrating their work and personal workday: setting technology boundaries, it’s a driving factor for the types of furniture People in our research talked about reclaiming blur, work tends to find its way into the rest of lives. For example, some people set explicit orchestrating/integrating demands on time, and interior architecture that are supplanting Life inside the blender their lives,” says Adamson. life more easily than life finds its way into work. boundaries; they turn off their technology finding wellbeing, and self-reliance/space cubicles in progressive 21st century Throughout the world, work is no longer And that has the potential to put significant completely to set aside blocks of time for resolution. As more work moves out of the office, workplaces. As one observer puts it, distinctly separate from the rest of life, and stress on workers, which can negatively affect personal activities, intentionally “putting work people are looking for ways to make their “Who wants to work in an egg carton?” definitions of “workplace” are expanding. People with all these skills know when to both the quality of their work and their in its box.” Others are more adaptive; they home environments work better for work. Today, workplaces can be homes, cafés, shut their technology down and how to “The drive we are seeing is that people personal lives. integrate work and personal activities, and Interestingly, although many mobile workers hotels, airports, trains and more. No matter manage their interactions. They know how to want to be emotionally invested even in their are capable of functioning in less-than-ideal have home offices, Steelcase’s research where they’re working, people have basic “Business values responsiveness, and we orchestrate their time and when to leverage workplaces,” says Ulrich. “Maybe it’s family environments and juggling tradeoffs — doing showed they’re frequently mostly a place needs: They want to feel inspired, supported expect it of ourselves, so it’s easy to let technology to augment their capabilities. They pictures or rugs or blankets. Maybe it’s being paperwork in the car in a parking lot while for the printer and supplies. When people and comfortable. Just how those imperatives work intervene and compromise intended know what they need to do their best work able to work with their feet up. They want waiting to pick up children, for example, or are working at home, they don’t want to be are defined — and their importance — is boundaries,” Ulrich notes. “Because the and develop their potential, and they work elements of their personality to be reflected. checking email while cooking in the kitchen isolated; that makes them feel as if they may changing dramatically as work becomes more one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work very productively and creatively in the context More important, they want and seek the level — in support of the larger goal of increased as well be back at the office. Instead, many integrated into the rest of life. And there aren’t well, employers often don’t make boundaries of strong relationships with others. They of wellbeing that lets them do their best work, flexibility and being able to sometimes have are creating what Coalesse researchers have many guidelines in place yet for how to do it explicit, and so workers who are trying to stay have a sense of control over their mindset, no matter where they are.” personal time during the day. At the far end of termed “hybrid settings” — work locations successfully. These were among the major connected and ahead are interpreting and surroundings, activities and schedule, knowing the spectrum are those whom the Coalesse throughout the home that don’t sacrifice A principle of choice: findings of observational and interview-based managing these boundaries for themselves.” how to make wherever they are work for researchers term “progressives.” They’re highly residential comfort. Netherlands Oracle whatever work they need to do then. research of mobile knowledge workers The search for wellbeing in the new workday adaptive, technologically savvy and adjust A related trend: As more people do more Known to be early adopters of social sponsored by Coalesse, a brand of Steelcase, challenges many norms, and people are finding Although flexible work is almost always well to complicated situations. They embrace work away from the office, they want company innovations, it’s not a new thing for that was conducted in the U.S. and Europe different ways to cope, says Arjun Adamson, technology dependent, doing it successfully mobility and tend to find the best setting for workplaces to be less institutional. In other Dutch knowledge workers to work during 2010 and 2011. who conducted research on mobile workers is about more than devices, network the work they’re doing, which is often tied to words, when work-related pressures are from multiple locations. “How do you cope, or better yet manage this in Paris, London and Munich as part of the support for their technology needs. connections, software and apps; it also no longer confined to 9-5 office hours, “What is new here at Oracle is what we call changing and ever-evolving workday? We think Coalesse project. encompasses being able to create authentic For people who remain challenged and workers want personal comforts wherever our ‘no limits’ concept,” says Afiena van den this is one of the most pressing work-related connections and presence, whether you’re “Our research showed people in Europe are frustrated by the demands of orchestrating they’re working. Broek-Jonker, human resources director, issues today, particularly as mobile work communicating via phone, emails, instant suffering from the same strains as U.S. groups work and home, the cost can be their wellbeing Netherlands Oracle. “It means nobody has options expand,” says researcher Emily Ulrich. messaging, using Skype or teleconferencing. “Employers who recognize the role that as they constantly toggle between work and life as well as their productivity. Both are causes their own assigned place. Even our executive “People value the ability to modulate their own Adamson calls this ‘context awareness.’ personal choice and life experience outside the activities. Especially within global companies, for employer concern. leaders don’t have their own offices. All of our work/life balance as they see fit. Those who office has on employee expectations will have global pressures to perform tend to transcend spaces are activity-based and shared, whether have a choice of where to work will gravitate established boundaries within a culture.”
118 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 119 it’s team spaces, concentration areas, why and how to employees, and have clear meeting rooms, brainstorming areas, and so protocols. “It’s about behaviors, awareness forth. The basic principle is choice.” and how you work together. You need to agree as a group on how you are going to behave,” More than 1,000 employees work at Oracle’s she says. year-old facility in Utrecht, but only about 60 percent are normally there on a workday. Some Training is another important component. At routinely work at home at least 1-2 days per Oracle, mobile employees have been educated week through a structured program; others on how to become paperless, learning what work at home on an occasional basis. to store digitally, where to store it and how to easily find it. And managers get guidance on “This way of working is a good value how to successfully manage a mobile team. proposition,” says van den Broek-Jonker. “It gives our employees the flexibility to organize Oracle has taken extra steps to make sure their work in an independent way that works mobile employees stay connected. On every for them. It also means we need less office floor, there are coffee corners, fittingly called space, which saves money. And our concept of “anchor points,” and throughout the building ‘no limits’ means I may sit next to one person are many areas to have a quick chat. one day and the next day I’ll sit next to another In addition to providing the kinds of spaces that person. We want people to communicate make it easy for people to interact day-to-day, across our lines of business, and this is a great the company hosts many special events and way to do that.” onsite networking opportunities. Just as the Steelcase/Coalesse research has Especially valuable is a location-finder system confirmed that flexible work arrangements can called “C U.” As soon as employees enter the be initially challenging for employees, van den Utrecht facility, they’re electronically registered Broek-Jonker says they can be challenges for in the system. As a result, coworkers can track employers, too. Among her tips for success: each other’s whereabouts and find each other Make sure your program includes explaining easily throughout the day.
“I can do at home everything I can do in the office,except meet with people.”
Like many Oracle workers, van den Progressive companies like BT and Oracle congestion. So whereas their employers could Broek-Jonker often works at home, but have proven there are business benefits that be enjoying the business continuity benefits she usually comes to the office. It’s where stem from having a flexible work system in of employees working away from the office, she can meet people face-to-face, and it place. BT, for example, cites absenteeism instead they’ll be operating short-staffed. supports her best work. reduced by 63 percent among flexible As the nature of work rapidly changes, the employees. Steelcase Solutions, which “Most of the time I start my day at home to best companies aren’t waiting. Instead, they’re supports flexible start/finish times and home avoid traffic jams, doing emails, phone calls, claiming win-win opportunities by embracing working, boasts an employee retention rate thinking and organizing what I need to do,” she flexible work now versus later. Looking ahead, that’s 35 percent better than the UK average. says. “I can do at home everything I can do in they realize that’s how the grand game of the office, except meet with people. The office Although it’s relatively easy to endorse the business is going to be played best. is for collaborating and being able to quickly concept of flexible work, putting a system ° contact people I need to work with to get in place usually means a major overhaul of things done. Today I’ve already changed my management attitudes and practices, as well work location about 10 times, based on what as rethinking the design of the workplace for I was doing and the person I needed to see. If how it can function best. I were claiming one desk for the whole day, I For some organizations, ignoring trumps could probably do that better at home.” acting. For example, a study conducted
A call to action by Steelcase Solutions of 1,000 London office workers showed that 60 percent think Trusting people to make choices about where companies should do more to accommodate and when to work makes their jobs more employees during the Olympics, but only 14 engaging. Steelcase research confirms that percent of their companies are changing policy workers of any generation can quickly adapt to allow employees to work from alternative to mobility and flexible work, and most highly places like home during this time. value its advantages. “If my company said I needed to come back to regular office work, I’d Given such indicators, the team at Steelcase say, ‘No way, I’m staying mobile, give me a 20 Solutions wasn’t surprised that their study also percent cut,’” said one seasoned professional showed that nearly 20 percent of London’s included in the Steelcase/Coalesse research office workers are planning to take holiday project in Europe. time during the Olympics just to avoid the
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360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 123 { Bo Fishback and his company Zaarly helped turnstone kick off their “Win a Sweet New Office” contest. To view Zaarly in action, scan the code below. For contest winners, go to: getting http://myturnstone.com/contest/ real
How one of the hottest tech companies managed the transition from startup Start-up companies begin in humble places. But when the company finds its legs and office to a professional work environment They start in garages (HP, Apple), dorm starts to grow, it’s often tough to manage rooms (Microsoft, Facebook), and similarly the transition from back office to professional unassuming places. There are no customers office space. coming to call and the staff is tiny so communication is simple.
124 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 125 How does a company move from start-up space to legit office?
“When you’re no longer nurturing an idea but not as well understood, such as making a a company, how do you move from start-up smooth transition from the start-up phase to space to your own professional, legitimate a business with a legitimate presence in the office? Does a digital company really need a marketplace. How do you create that first, physical office space? Whether it’s an online real office?” virtual company or a traditional accounting A company called Zaarly illustrates the firm, what does an office really do for a small challenge. The e-commerce firm operates business?” says Melanie Redman, a senior an online bazaar that facilitates commerce design researcher with WorkSpace Futures between buyers and sellers (kind of a cross Explorations at Steelcase. She co-led a between Craigslist and eBay), and it’s become research effort to better understand small a bright star in the tech world. Fast Company companies and how they manage their calls Zaarly one of the world’s most innovative businesses. The study was sponsored by companies, and Forbes tabbed its co-founder turnstone, the Steelcase brand inspired by the Bo Fishback an “agent of corporate change.” spirit of small business. Like many start-ups, its steep trajectory traces “We developed key insights about the a contracted lifecycle that illustrates lessons for differences between running a small company other small companies. and a big corporation, and quite often the Zaarly started in an apartment in San Francisco challenges that are least studied are the “when three of us got together and basically trickiest tasks. Getting start-up financing or in a weekend hackathon created the business hiring good people, for example, are well concept,” says Fishback, who had experience covered in the literature. But other issues are with two earlier start-ups.
126 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 127 “The people starting to excel were the ones interacting across lots of different people.”
Less than a year later, Zaarly had 22 people “We see this time and again in our field and a need for a legitimate office. “Our team research,” says Redman. “Successful small was split between two offices five blocks apart, companies have a transparency and trust and even that short distance created problems. that permeates the entire staff so every We were on this amazing pace and to maintain employee becomes a decision-maker. They’re it, to build things fast, we were making encouraged to try their hand at different jobs sacrifices that we didn’t realize because we and that prevents the silos you see in so many were located in different places,” he says. larger companies. The key in a small firm is to keep the communication going.” Distance breeds disconnects Fishback and his co-founders got the message The founders noticed that staffers who worked early. “We started to understand that it doesn’t closely together were more successful. matter if you’re a thousand miles away or five “People in the company who were starting to blocks away or with just a room in between you excel were the ones who were in the office and the person you want to talk to. You need interfacing across lots of different people, to see each other constantly and know they’re understanding what we were trying to tackle. a resource, that there’s someone you can start The ones who struggled were the ones kind of collaborating with instantly without waiting.” watching it from afar, trying to be a part of the conversation but having a difficult time being plugged in.”
128 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 129 Need for speed number is, we wanted the office to Small companies can move faster than big feel full of energy and life, not like a companies since they have fewer moving disgusting sweatshop.” parts. Speed is an important differentiator Zaarly and turnstone had three phone for the little guys like Zaarly. “We’re a baby conversations. “They designed a plan for our company. We’re not going to go out and spend space, a local San Francisco person came by “It means a lot 250 grand on furniture to get this thing up and to check it out, and two days later they said, to our people that we want going. We also didn’t have time and we needed ‘Your furniture’s on a pallet, it’s being shipped people to help us get this thing up and going and should be there early next week.’ them to feel good about where quick,” says Fishback. they come to work.” “Ten days from the first email I sent, everything At the same time, Zaarly needed their arrived in a semi-truck.” 3,500-square-foot office to be flexible enough to accommodate fluctuating staff levels. About Zaarly’s office is entirely open plan except for two dozen are full-time workers with an equal two conference rooms. Desks are built with number who rotate in and out of projects. Bivi™, a new take on modular desks that “Some days we might have 60 people and includes tables, storage, power, worktools and some days might have 12 and, whatever the a couch called the Rumble Seat.
130 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 131 “We’ve been here four months now and I still get people who grab me and say, ‘Dude, this space is so awesome!’
A purpose-built office “We just totally nailed it. It’s so awesome. The company’s first real office exemplifies Everyone here loves this space. People will what Redman’s team identified as key aspects spend the night here. They’ll live two blocks of small company work environments: open, away but they’ll want to spend the night here.” informal spaces that generate energy by “We’ve been here four months now and promoting communication and collaboration, I still get people who grab me and say, and spaces that need to quickly and easily ‘Dude, this space is so awesome!’ It’s a good shape shift to new purposes. “They spend feeling. I know we did something right.” money within a budget and they’re very intentional about what they buy. Everything They’re doing a lot right. One year after they buy has to reflect their values and the apartment hackathon, the average Zaarly mission,” she says. online transaction is around $52 each and almost 100 percent of people who post Fishback compares the feeling to places are repeat users. Meg Whitman, CEO of HP, he worked before Zaarly. “In bigger or older has joined Zaarly’s board of directors and companies you might take the place for other high-profile tech investors have pumped granted after a few weeks, but we’re small in money. and growing and very passionate about what we’re building. People don’t take this kind of “We get to work at a fun, really hot start-up stuff for granted. company in one of the hottest start-up markets ever, and we get to be in the “People sit in different places every day. There middle of downtown San Francisco in this are great, comfortable places for people to super cool space.” work on couches, in a conference room or on the little balcony. It’s not a corporate feeling. It In the middle of the office, Bo Fishback picks means a lot to people who work here that we a place to work each day alongside the rest want everyone to feel good about where they of the crew, confident Zaarly has the office come to work every day. it needs. °
132 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 133 when is a desk more than a desk? when it's bivi.
Bike rack. Lounge. Snowboard rack. Viewing station. Working station. Introducing bivi - putting the power to define space and culture in your hands. Bivi is a simple desking platform with imaginative add-ons that let you create a space that works the way you like to work. Running a business is hard enough, having a great space to work in should be easy.
myturnstone.com t r en d s 360
t r en d s 360 TRENDS 360
Creating Enduring Good Leading organizations are leading the way.
Doing good now means doing good for the world, as well as the Henkel, Düsseldorf, Germany sq/m of lab space organization. How they are achieving this is through a systemic To make science fun for kids, Henkel supplies the equipment, approach that is socially and environmentally sustainable. These materials and learning experiences for Forscherwelt (Explorer World), organizations leverage their knowledge and their networks to create a dedicated 300 square meter hands-on lab for primary school enduring good. The result can be a system that pays dividends for students up to the age of 10. The kids are guided through experiments years to come. recycled materials and their teachers receive training from Henkel. This year the program includes one-week projects on sustainability. SustainU, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA SustainU uses 100-recycled materials and has contracted with a blind workforce, proving they have the ability to be gainfully employed and make high-quality products. ARZU Studio Hope, Afghanistan revenue to weavers ARZU, which means “hope” in Dari, is an innovative model of social entrepreneurship that helps Afghan women and their families break the cycle of poverty by selling the desirable artisan rugs that they weave into developed countries.
Inditex, Arteixo, Spain shops in Spain To support finding a cure, Inditex collaborates with Médicos Sin Fronteras (Doctors without Frontiers) on “Voices for a Future without AIDS,” a musical project involving choirs from Zimbabwe formed by members of AIDS support groups there. The project has resulted in 50.000 MP3 play buttons, on sale in more than 2,000 shops in Spain. PepsiCo, San Gabriel, Mexico increase in wages Small farmers in San Gabriel are selling their corn directly to PepsiCo factories. PepsiCo guarantees a price upfront so the farmers can get the credit they need to buy seeds, fertilizers, crop insurance and equipment. The project saves PepsiCo transportation costs because the farms are close to two of its factories.
higher pay
Good African Coffee, Kasese, Uganda This locally owned company is raising the standard of living in the sub-Sahara with a new roasting factory that exports finished product to elite Western markets, so farmers no longer could still have their homes have to sell their raw coffee beans cheaply to exporters. Good people benefit IBM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil African Coffee pays 70 percent more and gives equipment and Tata Steel Ltd., Mumbai, India Through its Smarter Cities project, IBM is designing a command training to improve crops. center that will, among other things, pull data from dozens of In remote Indian villages where safe drinking water sources to track rainfall and predict where flooding may occur. The is scarce, Tata Steel provides potable water to goal is to be ready for the kind of mudslides and floods that communities through tankers or piped water distribution killed hundreds and left 15,000 people homeless here in 2010. systems and hand pumps. The company has also constructed or reinstated wells that have so far made more than 50,000 people self-sufficient in water.
136 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 137 sustainability spotlight A look at people and organizations that are making the world better for us all.
The statistics are startling. Containers If 90 percent of women in Africa received prenatal care, 2 clinics about 160,000 newborn lives could be saved each year. A nonprofit established in 2008 that converts What’s more, pregnancy complications such Once retrofitted for use as a health clinic, shipping containers into health clinics to bring as hypertension are increasing the maternal a shipping container is a turnkey solution: high-quality primary healthcare to women and mortality rate by seven percent annually, a durable, adaptable, secure structure that even though they’re highly treatable with can be set up almost anywhere. The first children in developing countries. proper care. C2C clinics were in Haiti, and this year the organization is expanding into Namibia. Solving for healthcare issues like these is the driving force behind an innovative new clinic Berry says the clinics in Namibia will be even that opened to women and children this spring better than those in Haiti. Nurture has donated in a rural settlement of nearly 6,000 people their design expertise plus Opus™ cabinetry, along the western coast of the African nation of counters and furniture for the new venture Namibia. It’s the work of Containers 2 Clinics in Namibia and two more clinics that will be (C2C), a nonprofit established in 2008 that installed there at a later date. converts shipping containers into health clinics “We reached out to Nurture because we so that women and children in developing wanted the best casework that would align countries can have access to high-quality with the quality of our hospital-grade walls primary healthcare. and flooring. It’s important for doctors and “Most clinicians in these parts of the world staff to feel our clinics support them to work don’t have the basic tools to do their jobs. to their fullest potential, and it’s important By upgrading their workplaces, we’re bringing that everything in our clinics can stand up dignity and professionalism to the life-saving to the test of time, even in tropical, humid work they do and making care available to environments,” says Berry. more people,” says Allison Howard Berry, “The response from Nurture was C2C director of operations. overwhelming. They mobilized a team quickly
138 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 139 “If any organization isn’t asking the sustainability questions, then it’s not asking the right questions…”
and shared best practices that helped us The first C2C clinic outfitted with Nurture optimize the limited space of our containers to products set sail from Charleston, South improve patient flow.” Carolina, on Feb. 7 and arrived in Namibia in mid-March to be trucked to location. The clinic Says Kyle Williams, Nurture vice president and was up and running in May. general manager: “We started Nurture over six years ago to apply design research and In addition to deploying essentially ready-to-go thinking against problems in clinical healthcare clinics to places with inadequate facilities, environments. In our early research, we were C2C collaborates with local organizations and struck by the extreme work conditions that governments to provide clinical, laboratory, healthcare workers were exposed to in helping pharmacy and health education services. patients and their families. We strive to better By helping with training and technical understand the problems in these encounters assistance before, during and after installation, and develop solutions to make a difference in C2C ensures strong local investment and the healthcare experience. involvement — vital for a clinic to succeed long-term. “Healthcare work conditions are certainly more extreme in places like Haiti and Namibia, “If any organization isn’t asking the and that’s why we wanted to participate sustainability questions, then it’s not asking with Containers 2 Clinics. We believe that the right questions. It has to be about building better healthcare environments should make capabilities,” says Berry. “C2C isn’t just a difference in locations where access is a about providing a clinic in a box. It’s about challenge. It’s a purpose that Nurture wants to strengthening the whole system, so that be part of.” month after month, year after year, more people receive better care. Ultimately, we view our efforts as successful when we can step away.” °
140 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com using our heads and our hands to give information physical form
Toward the end of the school year, first-year students at a Midwest medical school received an email from a second-year student offering for sale a valuable study tool: completed notecards for each of the second-year textbooks. “Why create your own notecards when you can buy detailed notecards that are already completed and professionally printed?” he suggested.
The offer was intriguing. The student had Most likely because of what first-year successfully completed the courses, he’d medical students have studied about how created a thorough set of notecards geared the brain works. The brain is divided into to the text and content of the next year’s several regions, each of which processes classes, and purchasing them would save different kinds of information: visual, students a lot of time and effort. Yet few auditory, emotional, verbal, etc. These took him up on his offer. Why? regions communicate with each other (for example, you watch a movie and have an emotional response and use the language region of your brain to share it verbally) but each region has to process things first.
142 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 143 Ó Product shown is Verb, a new classroom collection by Steelcase Education Solutions.
When students write with So, sitting in a lecture, the regions of the brain Other studies have shown that the physical act a TV tray and made of e3 ceramicsteel™ and Corcorran, general manager, Steelcase that handle listening and language are engaged of writing does the trick. Keyboarding notes vinyl to withstand the abuse of active students, Education Solutions. “Whiteboards fixed to the markers on a whiteboard, and the brain stores information in memory. into a computer doesn’t have the same effect Verb whiteboards are designed for use by wall don’t encourage engagement; in fact, they they evoke the physical Unfortunately, it isn’t very discriminating about – it is more mindless. When we physically individuals and small groups. limit it. The whole point of active learning is for how it does this. In fact, important information write things down, we put some thought into students to engage with content and with each and cognitive processes Unlike wall-mounted and other large and trivia are handled exactly the same way evaluating and ordering the information that other, so we designed the Verb classroom that help them recall whiteboards, Verb whiteboards are portable (which helps explain why you can remember we receive. It’s this organizing process and collection to make it easier for students to important information and personal. Students can keep Verb the words to the 30-year-old song “Safety the physicality of note taking, more so than record, share and evaluate information.” whiteboards at their desk, so they’re handy or cognitive mapping. Dance,” but can’t remember where you put the notes themselves, that help fix ideas for taking notes, capturing a fleeting thought, “Evidence-based research indicates that when your car keys 30 seconds ago). more firmly in our minds and later on helps us doing math calculations, etc. They also help students begin to teach others they begin to recall things. This act of doing is particularly When we take notes during a lecture, however, small groups collaborate and build information own their own knowledge. As an interactive important for the kinesthetic learner – the something amazing happens. As we write, we together and share with the class. learning system, Verb enables students to be one who must engage in moving in order to create spatial relationships between the pieces immersed in that process,” adds Lennie Scott- support the learning process. Verb whiteboards have cut-out handholds so of information we’re recording. The region Webber, PH.D., Steelcase Education Solutions they’re easy to carry, hook on the side of the of the brain that handles spatial information Note taking isn’t the only way to help the brain director of education environments. Verb student table, or hang from a Verb display is engaged and, by linking it with the verbal recall important stuff. Other kinds of writing, easel or rail hook on the wall. Place one in Most teachers don’t study the brain like med information the brain filters wheat from chaff. such as scrawling ideas on a whiteboard or the student table center storage dock and it students, but they know that a physically pencilling a reminder on a calendar, create Research bears this out. In a study of a lecture provides privacy during tests or quiet study. engaged student is a more successful one. a link between the spatial and verbal parts class, students who took notes remembered While engagement can be aided by technology of our brains and strengthen how important We often think of digital tools as inherently no more content than the students who didn’t — interactive lessons and streaming video information is stored in our brains. allowing more interactivity than analog tools, take notes; the act of taking notes did not can be powerful tools — there’s nothing like but when students write with markers on increase the amount of what they remembered. These insights inspired a new tool for the personally engaging with information and a whiteboard, they evoke the physical and But the students who took notes remembered classroom: a personal-sized whiteboard for others, using our heads and our hands to give cognitive processes that help them recall more key facts, those who merely listened students and instructors, part of the Verb™ line information physical form. Sometimes it just important information, or cognitive mapping. remembered more or less random content of furniture and tools from Steelcase Education takes a bit of rethinking and redesign to give an from the lecture. Solutions. Double-sided, roughly the size of “It’s difficult for students to share content analog tool a whole new life. in many traditional classrooms,” says Sean °
144 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 145 FIND your SPACE. oPTIMIZE ThE workPLACE.
Workers can spend as many as 45 minutes every day searching for a space to work. RoomWizard scheduling system can help them find their space, which optimizes your workplace. Workers can see when a space is available and reserve it on the spot. There’s no more guesswork, hassles, or unnecessary downtime — for your people or your valuable real esate. steelcase.com/roomwizard S tee lca se e d u ca t i on so l ut ons A new learning curve t i on so l ut ons Ideas on planning and designing learning spaces from Lennie Scott-Webber, Ph.D., Director of Education Environments for Steelcase Education Solutions S tee lca se e d u ca
How Evidence-based Design Can Help Improve Learning Environments
About the author, Any number of initiatives get started from a evidence have the ability to deliver solutions education realm, my education research You may be familiar with the Node® chair. advance the body of knowledge relative to this Lennie Scott-Webber, Ph.D. grassroots movement, and then it seems the that not only fit their client’s needs, but also are background combined with Workspace Secondary research was conducted to important market place. In a world of speed, design community embraces ones we see more confident the solutions also reflect the Futures’ (Steelcase Inc.’s research team) first understand the issues. Then, we spent of trying to design appropriate solutions, I’ve owned and operated design firms have the most potential for a large, meaningful current level of knowledge on the subject. The research in education means we now have a over two years in the field observing user designers and education administrators in the U.S. and Canada, taught at three impact on the built environment. Certainly, one healthcare industry is the group embracing and combined knowledge base of almost 25 years. behaviors to see first-hand classroom are challenged to “get it right,” or at least as universities and held administrative such example is sustainability. Just a few short fostering EBD initiatives. Healthcare providers issues from all different types of institutions’ close to right as possible. Using EBD helps positions as well, all the while research- EBD is important for the design of education years ago it was one of those “hairy” ideas. are strong, research-driven organizations that perspectives. That data was converted into that effort. ing educational environments. Over facilities. To support knowledge sharing, SES Who could envision designing processes that understand the value of research and robust insights and knowledge. We shared some the years I’ve seen the insides of more has developed an Evidence-based Design Evidence-based Design is the right approach would include a cradle-to-cradle concept? data. An Evidence-based Design Certification of that information in our presentations, but classrooms than I can count. Many curriculum program for education design. Each at the right time, guiding design solutions Having a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy program is now in place for those designers of course not all. The product is developed of them are an insult to students and continuing education unit (CEU) addresses (e.g., CEUs, products and applications) for and Environmental Design – Accredited who practice in this field. So, just like a LEED as a prototype and then beta tested – more teachers alike. multiple knowledge/research issues relative education. Professional) designer was only a dream. certification is available for green building data. We work from that new information to designing for educational places from K ° LEED is “a benchmark for design, construction, design, an EBD certification in healthcare is and continue to refine, test and then launch My passion, and my job, is helping through corporate. Approximately 10 courses and operation of high-performance green now available. Why is this trend important? a product we believe meets the major needs 1 Everblue, Retrieved April 18, 12 from: http://www.everblue.edu/leed-certifi people understand the behaviors that are being developed for the basic certification cation?gclid=CKS3x9ajv68CFYRM4Aodgwz7yw buildings1.” Today, every design firm that we uncovered in our research. That is not come from different environments, and It’s important to understand from several level and a pre-requisite to move to the next services commercial accounts must have all. Human factor concerns using secondary creating classrooms that truly support perspectives: 1) certification means a deeper level of knowledge. Education market leaders new ways of teaching and learning. multiple designers with this certification as and primary research is incorporated. We subject-matter knowledge is attained by those are skilled to deliver these free CEUs. a LEED certified building design is now a test more. We learn more. We conduct who complete the studies, 2) EBD means more Email your ideas and questions mainstream expectation. We didn’t just develop knowledge to share, but post-occupancy evaluation studies to learn rigor has been embedded in the development to [email protected] or because we are an insight-led organization. even more. We continue to evolve this portfolio Another such grassroots initiative emerging of design solutions as designers use this [email protected]. That means that each and every product for this product as we test, listen, review even with what I believe to be the same potential evidence to guide design efforts, that we develop for active learning uses both more data and then produce more solutions. strength and impact across multiple built 3) the end user and solution benefits from this secondary and our primary user-centered Now you’ll have to ask yourself, “When is a environment types is Evidence-based Design. research rigor, and 4) EBD will be embraced research data. How many times have you chair not just a chair?” Or any other solution we What is it? Evidence-based Design, or EBD, across multiple markets because it is the right heard of a chair using EBD to inform the may generate. uses secondary (someone else’s) research approach at the right time. process? You can trust that everything we and/or primary (one’s own) research to We live the insights-driven philosophy. It’s part Steelcase has a long history of being an do to develop solutions for active learning understand the phenomenon under study, of our DNA. We care deeply about developing “insights-led” corporation (research-led or environments has that level of rigor. As a learn from the evidence generated in the multiple solutions for the active learning EBD-led). As a researcher and designer here designer myself, I think that fact is huge. Let research and then incorporate that knowledge educational environment to provide our clients’ at Steelcase and with Steelcase Education me give you an example. benefiting a design solution. The overall result choices. In that process we will continue to Solutions, that is important to me. In the is those designers working with research share our knowledge where appropriate to
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25' 10"
11'
17' 2" 8' 8"
A collaboration setting that supports the sharing of digital This collaboration destination leverages An adjacent setting offers the same ~ KEY: CAMERA ANGLES AUGMENT COLLABORATION and analog content among both local and distributed team furniture with integrated technology and marker collaboration technologies and marker board boards to help teams share ideas seamlessly capability found in the initial setting, in a space BLUE: All near-side participants are visible members, allowing them to create, analyze and transform to far-side participants. information in a highly interactive and democratic way. and quickly – locally or over distance. Sight designed for a smaller group the large light lines have been thoughtfully established to delivers a sense of shelter and helps to define PINK: Far-side participants can see content captured on the marker board. ensure far-end participants have visibility the space. Mobile storage on the floor lets to near-end participants and their near-end workers unpack and work out of their bags marker board content. during the meeting. The wall solution hosts technology and cabling, Products shown: media:scape® table, while providing shelving for reference materials, media:scape® mini, Flexframe™ with hospitality or unpacked personal items. media:scape®, Answer® panel, RoomWizard® scheduling system, and cobi® seating.
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to m s & b i ts atoms + bits a
| FL ORENCE WOULD BE IMPRESSED | CELEBRATING AROUND Nurture® by Steelcase earned a fourth prestigious Nightingale Award at THE WORLD the annual Healthcare Design Conference for its new Empath recliner. Around the world Steelcase employees Empath is a crucial step forward in the patient care process — one are celebrating the company’s centennial developed entirely from real-world insights which included more than anniversary. From Kuala Lumpur to Grand 2,000 hours of observation, photography and video research into what Rapids, Michigan, to Reynosa, Mexico, Hong occurs between patient and caregiver as it relates to the recliner. Kong and Madrid, Spain (just to name a few), Nurture’s Director of Product Design, Alan Rheault said, “by putting employees are being encouraged to find their ourselves in their shoes and being empathetic to the realities of own creative ways to mark this big milestone. both patients and caregivers, Empath creates a safer, higher quality healthcare experience for both. It is truly a complete healthcare solution.” The Nightingale Awards honor new healthcare products and are awarded based on the product’s contribution to the quality of healthcare, functionality, quality, aesthetics, environmental sustainability and pricing.
| C reating better innovation lab designed to create solutions ~ putt ing scrap to good use ~ TURNSTONE JOINS ~ HIGHLY ADMIRED that innovate, elevate and evolve the hotel meeting experiences In Strasbourg, France, Steelcase has donated AS A PARTNER TO Steelcase Inc. has been recognized as one of work experience.” Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Steelcase and IDEO scrap fabric to make pencil cases in support STARTUP AMERICA FORTUNE magazine’s 2012 “Most Admired have announced they are collaborating to Ten prototypes that create new technology, of CISV (Children’s International Summer turnstone, a Steelcase brand, has joined Companies”. Steelcase is ranked sixth overall design, create and test innovative concepts space and service experiences were previewed Villages), an international association in support Startup America as one of only 50 partnerships in the Home Equipment, Furnishings industry and solutions for the future of work and at Marriott’s Manager Conference of peace. contributing to more than $1.2 billion in sector, and is joined by notable and global meetings in hotels. in Los Angeles this March. products and services offered to growing U.S. brands such as Whirlpool, Tupperware Brands The program was started by Executive MBA companies. The Startup America Partnership and Electrolux. “We are designing hotels for a new generation “With business executives working remotely students studying sustainable development is bringing together an alliance of major that is used to working how, where and often more frequently, work has to go where they at the Management School of Strasbourg. “Steelcase is humbled to be among FORTUNE corporations, funders, service providers, times whenever they want,” said Paul Cahill, go,” said Mark Greiner, chief experience officer, The handmade pencil cases are created by magazine’s ‘Most Admired Companies’ and to mentors and advisors working to dramatically senior vice president, Brand Management, Steelcase. “By bringing choice and control to a unemployed women as part of Libre Objet, join such a well-respected group of industry increase the prevalence and success of Marriott Hotels & Resorts. Together, with hosted-meeting environment, we are delivering a Strasbourg-based association that helps leaders in the sector,” said James P. Hackett, high-growth enterprises in the U.S. Steelcase and IDEO, we are excited to an unparalleled proposition for today and people experiencing social and professional president and CEO of Steelcase Inc. collaborate on the Future of Work, a working tomorrow’s global worker.” challenges find employment. “turnstone is proud to partner with Startup FORTUNE’s rankings are published each year America and we believe our partnership will CISV buys the pencil cases and resells them and reflect the observations and opinions help business owners be more successful,” at their annual meeting where more than 300 of executives who rate their peers and said Kevin Kuske, turnstone general manager. participants from 50 countries attend each competitors on nine different aspects. “Great spaces are part of great companies year. Sustainability, Education and Peace is and need to work as hard as the companies their theme this year. themselves.” turnstone has committed to provide more than $1 Million in potential savings to companies.
154 | Issue 64 | 360.steelcase.com 360.steelcase.com | Issue 64 | 155 The magazine of workplace research, insightS and trends 360.steelcase.com