Het Nieuwe Werken

Posted on 13th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Microsoft has been pushing the boundaries of flexible working for years now obviously leaning heavily on the empowerment that mobile, productivity and collaboration software enable. Last year I highlighted some of the measures that the UK office had introduced which led to it being selected as Mother at Work 2008’s Employer of the Future. But the country that is truly trailblazing in this area is Microsoft Netherlands.

Attached below is a round table session that Chief Financial Officer magazine organized at Microsoft’s brand new Schiphol headquarters which have been totally revamped around the principles of the New World of Work.

“Inevitably, the radical way in which the concept was introduced at Microsoft Nederland created a culture shock that everyone will have to work through. At the moment, the process appears to be shaping up well. Recently, CFOs from various companies visited the new Microsoft headquarters to talk about this issue and to gain inspiration for their own organizations. Bemused, the finance chiefs strolled around the new building with its designer furniture, bean bags, computer game corner and even a ‘relaxation cockpit.’ ‘We no longer have fixed workplaces, not even for the directors,’ says Microsoft CFO Franklin Hagel. ‘The 660 people who are employed here are free to decide whether to work at home or at the office. The company provides them with a laptop and a broadband connection, as well as a budget to set up a home workplace that meets the applicable health and safety standards.’”

A more comprehensive study of this whole area using themselves as subjects was commissioned by them with the Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University, originally at the request of Microsoft Netherlands. The study, ‘RSM Research: New Worlds of Work’ examined the central question, “Did workplace innovations impact the work dimensions and the multidimensional productivity of the Microsoft the Netherlands” with lots (172 pages) of affirming insights.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Netherlands,New World of Work Rotterdam School of Management

Telecommuting Tips

Posted on 12th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

CIO magazine ran an article ‘7 Things the CIO Should Know About Telecommuting’ with great pointers on this tactic for exploiting Dynamic Work…

1. Telecommuting Saves Money. Truly.
2. Telecommuters Really Can Be More Productive.
3. Telecommuting Doesn't Work for Every Individual.
4. Trust Your People.
5. Hone Management Skills for Telecommuting.
6. Keep the Telecommuter in the Loop.
7. Tools and Technology Make a Big Difference.

I often see #5 – Management Skills – as one of the major blockers. Managers don’t support telecommuting and flexible work not truly because of concerns about the employee or the business, but rather concerns about their ability to manage.

“Telecommuting is a true test of a manager's skill. It's hard enough to measure employee output when the individual is in the office; now supervisors need to add the complexity of doing it from a distance. And not every manager possesses the necessary skills for keeping tabs on telecommuters.

“Elizabeth Ross, director of technology projects execution at AMEC Earth & Environmental, has telecommuted and managed telecommuters. She sees a direct relationship between the strength of a manager and the telecommuting experience. ‘Managers who know how to manage resources, subcontractors, and the like, can make the situation work, sometimes exceptionally,’ she says. ‘Managers who don't communicate well, [who] don't know how to manage their own time well, and so on, don't get around to checking in or managing the telecommuter very well — if at all.’ “

“It's that latter kind of manager (for example, the inept manager) who's typically the least supportive of telecommuting, according to Ross, because the work arrangement highlights the manager's weaknesses and requires him or her to improve or change his or her style. For that reason, user experience consultant Albers suggests that only managers ‘who have demonstrated extraordinary organization and leadership abilities’ should be allowed to manage telecommuters.”

Technorati Tags: CIO Magazine,management skills,telecommuting

Who Benefits

Posted on 11th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Recently I attended a symposium organised by the British American Business organisation at the offices of PR firm and workspace pioneer, Edelman, on the top of ‘Flexible Working – Who Benefits’.

For starters, it became startlingly clear that there were two major business benefits for companies to look at flexible working – to save money and to comply with the law.

IBM’s Chris Emin a thorough review of their vision ‘new ways of working’ with their e-Place on Demand as well as their own dogfooding of the principles. He made a very insightful comment that could have been taken straight from a SOA primer if you replaced the word ‘employees’ with ‘processing’ and ‘workstation’ with, well, ‘workstation’ for one (though Emin was referring to ‘workstation’ as ‘desk’ area):

“Once the connection between employees and workstation is broken, this allows for more efficient allocation of the resources.”

IBM have done research that the cost ‘per workstation’ (desk) is ‘£15,000 to £20,000 per year’. That is a lot of cost to target for removing from a business.

Field Fisher Waterhouse’s Peter Holt comprehensively reviewed the imperatives, opportunities and considerations in flexible working from a statutory as well as pragmatic perspective. In his Q&A, I raised a question with him which led to an interesting discussion, “What are the roles that are inherently and structurally less flexible?” For starters, we identified workers tied to big, hard to move capital equipment (eg. CAD/CAM systems, airline pilots). Holt noted that challenged small businesses have in being flexible with fewer resources to, both physical and human, around which pivot. I’ve raised this question on LinkedIn so share your perspectives there or comment here.

Copies of the slide decks from the event are posted here for reference.

Technorati Tags: IBM,Field Fisher Waterhouse,British American Business,Edelman

Dynamic Education

Posted on 10th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

The ‘workplace’ for our children is school and this institution suffers many of the same issues as the ‘knowledge worker factory’ mode of daily working. And here too the notions of flexible and ‘dynamic’ learning are just as applicable.

Dan Ramus, Microsoft ‘Futurist,’ and steward of its ‘New World of Work’ thinking, is a digital soul mate on the matters of Dynamic Work. His blog ‘The Future of Information Work’ carries lots of posts that support and extend the ideas and notions shared here. His recent post ‘Five Way To Reinvent Education and Stimulate the Economy’ describes an educational system as flexible in its use and application of resources as the Dynamic Workplace…

1. Complement teachers with retired or out of work professionals.

2. Think of schools as multi-purpose and cross-generational ‘learning hubs’ for flexible use or resources and facilities.

3. Foster entrepreneurship.

4. Distribute learning so it isn't about an educator or a single school.

5. Adopt new learning models that cross school boundaries, regional boundaries, even international boundaries.

Dan’s call for a dynamic learning place evoked memories of my own high school days where my first foray into activism was to protest a newly instated absenteeism policy. Essentially, the school said that 10 absences meant a mandatory failure grade. Not only did this smack of a violation of due process (which I had just learned something about in my civics class), but also it defined that the only real education was sitting in chairs in classrooms. At this stage of my life, I was getting involved with community programs, private study and a host of exploration. Who cared if I missed the class, as long as I caught up on the notes, did the work, learned the material and ultimately made the marks? I successfully fought back against this effort to straight jacket learning into presenteeism , and yes, the school kindly rescinded the policy later that year.

Technorati Tags: Dan Rasmus,Microsoft,New World of Work,schools

N=1 and R=G

Posted on 9th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

I had the chance to listen to business management gurus C.K. Prahalad at the recent London Benchmark for Business event (thanks again Katie). C.K.’s presentation on ‘Realising the Opportunity’ talked about embracing the positive potential of the economic turmoil as being a catalyst for changes that have long been brewing and are primed for embracing all of which echo the core themes of Dynamic Work

1. Fundamentally Change Industry Structures
2. Require New Approaches to Managing
3. Provide Exciting New Opportunities
4. Put a New Premium on Innovation
5. Demand New Organisational Capabilities

He talked about the need for a change in ‘Organisational Capabilities’ from…

1. Hierarchies to Networks
2. Investment Capacity to Collaborative Capacity
3. Organisation Structures to Velcro Organisation

Prahalad concluded that the ‘New Game’ boils down to

· “N-=1”: Co creation of Personalised Experiences
· “R=G”: Multi-institutional and Multi-Geograohic Access to Resources

‘N=1’ or ‘Co-Creation’ is ‘dynamic work’ to the extreme. Making your customers your workers to the benefit of both. In the SOA context, ‘co-creation’ is akin to Microsoft’s “Software Plus Services” (S+S) vision. Combining the power of software (the organisation’s workforce) with tapping into the ‘cloud’ of value add content and services (the customer base).

“R=G” is practically the very definition of Dynamic Work. He describes it as the “Emergence of Nodal Firms and Supply Webs”.

Technorati Tags: C.K.Prahalad,Benchmark for Business,Software + Services

Free Agent Nation

Posted on 8th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

Seth Godin’s latest book ‘Tribes’ offers up a passionate plea for more dynamic work fuelled by the initiative of pervasive and distributed ‘leadership’ for change.

“Organisations are more important than ever. It’s the factories we don’t need.”

I like the quote because it provides an important point of clarity to his radical proposal. Too often, in fact often with the concept of ‘Dynamic Work’ here, people misinterpret that a call for dramatic change is a call for complete change. To go from one extreme to another. With Dynamic Work, people interpret that it’s all about taking everyone out of the office and going to home working. That is not the case. The ‘office’ still can be a useful tool in modern business (as ‘organisation’ are in Godin’s vision) and not all work that leaves the ‘office’ goes to the ‘home’ (it can go to lots of other places as well).

Godin offers up a trove of insights about Leadership (though not Management), communication, motivation and other essentials for driving a dynamic business built on new principles of community, customer co-creation and employee empowerment.

Technorati Tags: Seth Godin,Tribes

The Costs of Commuting

Posted on 7th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

The Transport Studies Unit at the University of Oxford has released a study on “The Costs of Transport on the Environment – The Role of Teleworking in Reducing Carbon Emissions” which looks comprehensively at empirical macro-economic data on workers and commuting. Its conclusions include…

· Empirical studies of teleworking show that it typically results in substantial reductions in car mileage for the day on which teleworking takes place.

· Teleworking can save energy at the worksite – providing working practices change accordingly.

· Teleworkers typically have longer than average commutes but this does not necessarily mean that teleworking encourages more remote living.

· Mobile working has fuelled a recent growth in teleworking.

· The majority of teleworkers are self-employed or unpaid.

· Teleworking has a wide range of benefits for employers, employees and communities. It has been linked with lower absenteeism, improved recruitment and retention, higher productivity, good work-life balance and good quality of life. Teleworkers tend to work longer hours than non-teleworkers, and identify this as one reason for their improved performance, but see reduced stress and better concentration as more important factors. Greater autonomy and flexibility in work planning and performance appears to be a key reason for improved work-life balance. Teleworking has also been linked to better health. There is evidence that teleworkers become more involved in their own communities and spend more on local services.

An example of the research cited is Microsoft’s own Tickbox.net survey (April 2007) on the benefits and profile of remote and flexible working. The study is really a comprehensive review of latest thinking and research in the UK which underscores the imperative and increasingly critical economic benefits to reforming the conventional modes of work and stripping out much of the synchronous commute to our knowledge worker factories.

Technorati Tags: teleworking,commuting,Oxford University

Gensler’s Modes of Work

Posted on 6th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

One of the observations Edelman’s Robert Phillips notes is the segmentation into different workstyles. He speaks of the ‘podists’ and the ‘benchists’ describing sub-groups that have formed based on personal preferences for where and how they work.

The design firm Gensler who engineered the Edelman London offices, has also published its own segmentation of work modes…

· Focus – 59%, thinking, reflecting, analysing, writing, problem-solving, quantitative analysis, creating, imagining, reviewing, assessing.

· Socialise – 6%, talking, laughing, networking, trust-building, recognition, celebrating, interacting, mentoring, enhancing relationships

· Collaborate – 22%, sharing knowledge and information, discussing, listening, co-creating, showing, brainstorming.

· Learn – 4%, training, concept exploration and development, problem-solving, memorising, discovery, teaching, reflecting, integrating, applying knowledge.

This appreciation of the diversity of both the workforce and the workplace is central to the notion of Dynamic Work. Too often when I speak to people about Dynamic Work they try to pigeon hole it from one specific mode (office work) to another (home working, mobile working). Actually, Dynamic Work encompasses all of the modes of working aligning the mode with the person with the task to be done.

Technorati Tags: Gensler,Edelman,work modes

Edelman’s Velco Office

Posted on 4th October 200930th November -0001 by DWAdmin

An essential component to Dynamic Work is applying the principles of dynamism to the workplace itself. Much as there is too much wasted office space (lit, powered, air conditions, secured) and time in centralised offices, ‘the office’ can and does play an important role in professional productivity.

A little while ago I had the privilege of a tour of Edelman’s offices by their UK chief executive Robert Phillips. Edelman is one of Microsoft’s PR agencies who run a number of campaigns including citizenship and top level vision.

The stereotype is that fancy-shmancy innovative digs are the preserve of well-to-do companies with money to burn on such niceties. The reality of the situation is that despite the couches, the artwork, the chandelier, the leather couches, the bar, the artwork, etc., the ‘fit out’ cost of the space is in the lowest quartile of expense for London offices. A dirty little secret to office space expense is that cubicles and standardised office fittings destroy the wallet as much as the soul.

The FT has done a great overview of the workspace in the article ‘No space wasted in in the Velcro workplace of the future’:

“Breaking down barriers between staff, too, was a primary aim when Edelman HQ combined with two subsidiary agencies in the new office in June. Mr Phillips says the results are already showing through. ‘Our win rate on cross-practice pitches has gone up by 30-40 per cent in four months because people haven't sat in silos,’ he says…Each part of Edelman's office, which was created by Gensler, the international architecture and interior design firm, is multifunctional. This accords with Gensler's model of four 21st-century work modes. Only one of these – head-down, focused work – is solitary. The others – collaborating on tasks, learning skills, and socialising for work purposes – involve interaction.”

Other details are included in the following references: Case study article and a Presentation overview on project by design firm Gensler.

Technorati Tags: Edelman,Gensler,Robert Phillips

Dynamic Work

Dynamic Work Blog

Author: DWAdmin