At DS&D we help organizations enhance their performance by providing the best integrated workplace solutions. Our job is to help you create great experiences wherever work happens.  

Part of that task involves re-inventing the workspace to perform better by allowing people to communicate and collaborate more effectively. We achieve this task by moving from Cubicles to Collaboration.

Check out our new video showing just how innovative the workspace of tomorrow can be.

“You can only do so much with salary,” says global architecture and design firm Gensler, in their 2008 Workplace survey. “High-performing companies, the ones with high profits, strong brand positioning, and better employee engagement, are the ones that have the highest-performing workplaces,” the study said.

So, what exactly does a high-performing business workplace look like? Steelcase researchers agree that Generation-Y workers seem to know, as do Baby Boomers, who are slowly picking up their values from the younger set, this kind of business setting allows for four basic elements to come together and happen at any time:

1. Focus – Concentrating on “head down” work.
2. Collaboration – Working with other people to achieve a goal.
3. Learning – Building knowledge through education or experience.
4. Socialization – Interacting interpersonally with others.

What’s being seen is that the importance placed on a company’s size, brand image, and history is shifting to how well the business can support a worker’s preferred working style, how much they can learn, and how well it supports work/life integration. In other words, a business’ physical workplace has to get better at allowing the people in it to learn, create, and innovate.

How does that happen? We’ve found that a range of work settings is key. The ones that are the most effective support all of the four personal work modes above. Some ideas might be as easy as installing outlets around the office with seating to allow employees to plug in their computers and congregate, or by using Media:Scape technology in your conference rooms.

Skeptics may say that a changing business’ office characteristics isn’t the only way to building a high-performance company, but we feel that it’s certainly key to surmounting the challenge, which is why we’ve made a range of products such as cobi, i2i, and c:scape that attempt to do just that.

Backed up by data that you can find on our Come Together website, we’ve seen that the environmental aspects of work reinforces a company’s values – by paying attention to how you’re communicating access, openness, and free communication to your employees, you’ll be well on your way to enhanced performance.

I don’t know about you, but I like lists. The Inc 500. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. People’s 50 Most Beautiful People. Oh, and of course you can’t have a list discussion without including David Letterman’s Top 10 List.

Cue the drum roll. And now, from Steelcase, a new list: 8 Considerations for Building a Workspace for a Networked World! Ok, so it might not have the same staying power as the lists above, but it’s interesting none-the-less, especially if you’re in the process of setting up a new office space.

The list and accompanying introduction were taken from the June 2008 edition of the Steelcase 360, Workspaces for a work-anywhere world. Enjoy.

We may be mobile, global, and wireless, but we still need connections beyond the virtual. We need spaces to connect in person with others. Today’s workplace must be a collaborative environment that extracts the most value from the space, attracts and retains great talent and reflects the aspirations of the organization. What are those places like? Those spaces often include the following:

1. Smaller workstations—rising real estate costs drive smaller workstations, but smaller technology, smarter work tools, and the need for less paper storage help smaller space feel larger, as do…

2. Lower panels that let in more light, provide better sight lines to others, and help open up the conversation.

3. More spaces for collaboration which are easier to fit it when less space is devoted to dedicated workstations; these on-demand spaces are often out in the open, sometimes behind glass walls and doors, and may hold just two to six people; key is proximity: close enough to individual workstations so they’re used, far enough away so they don’t distract.

4. Impromptu meeting places may include a café, of course, but also niches in the hallway, a couple of chairs and table amid a workstation cluster, a stand-up worksurface along the window or on top of a row of files: creativity doesn’t keep a schedule or a fixed address.

5. Easier connections to technology & tools—Wi-Fi, sure, but also simpler ways to present information and share it (think portable whiteboards and easier hookups to monitors, power, and data).

6. Head-down space—sometimes you need a place where you can focus on a task, have a private conversation or phone call, or just distance yourself from interruptions.

7. Organizational identity—from ways a team can display work in progress to using the space as a metaphor for the organization (this is who we are and how we work).

8. Places for mentoring—millennials are joining the workforce and boomers are starting to leave, so quiet places (e.g. a private enclave, a meeting space off to the side, etc.) help people share expertise and experience, further the organizational culture, preserve institutional memory, and encourage more collaboration.