Workplace 2013 and Beyond - Do you have vision and a plan?

It's back to school time so with that it's time to get those 2013 plans in place.  What better time than now to re-examine how your facilities and workplaces operate? Can you do better?  I bet you can!

Check out our questions below.  We offer them to you to ponder.  whether you're in the C-suite, facilities, HR, IT, Finance if afterwards you're left realizing your workplace and facilities have some issues please don't hesitate to contact us.  Maybe we can help you sort them out, assess your situation more clearly, develop and plan for success together.  If we can't help you we'll find someone in our extensive network of expert professionals who can.

Their goal is to help make our workplaces in 2013 a better, more effective  and higher performing with stronger sense of community and purpose, serving the big vision of why you come to work each day.  If these questions help you get there, sparking the necessary conversations around conference tables, board rooms so be it.  They're doing their job!

The Questions:
- Are you looking at your 2013 financial and staffing projections and do you see too little or too much seating, workstations or offices around you?  Do you have enough storage, warehouse space, production areas? Is that a big deal? Will this hurt or hamper you in the coming year.

- Is your Real Estate footprint to big?  Do you have space or property you could re-purpose to rent others or sell?  You'd be surprised how you can downsize work areas, up the amount of collaboration space and reduce your Real Estate footprint.

- Is your office in the right location to serve your business, your customers effectively?  Do you have the right site services, enough parking, the right kinds of visibility etc.?

- Are you wondering and worrying how to attract and retain employees in the coming year to get the work done you're forecasting? Look around your workplace with their eyes.  Would you want to work here?  How could it be different, better?



- Do your facilities and workplace in general align with your strategic plan and support your employees in the work they do effectively on and off site?

- Do your facilities cost you and arm an a leg to run whether you're renting or paying the bills and/ or passing along the costs to your tenants....?

- Are you using technology as effectively as you can to collaborate both within your workplace and off-site to other team-members, vendors, clients and other stakeholders?  Do you use telepresence technology to extend your reach?

- Are your workspaces over lit with out of date less energy efficient lighting?  Do you have heating and cooling systems running at their highest efficiency? Do you think you can do better?

- How is your workplace design as it is right now helping or hindering your efforts to create an engaged work community and culture?

- Is your workplace organized physically with spaces for collaboration with the right balance of open vs. closed more private work areas?

- When you walk around hallways is there visible wear and tear?  Are you proud to show off where you work to customers, your family?

- When you walk around your workplace can you see coworkers at work, teams collaborating together, do you have places for impromptu conversations, white boards nearby to capture discussions?

- Do you eat in for lunch or make sure to leave the building because it's no fun to stay or supporting of breaking bread together?

- Are you sitting on uncomfortable seating and or in outdated workstation furniture getting in the way of being effective in your work? Do you have too much storage spaces?

- Are the paint colors on your walls outdated looking, tired and fading? Carpet dingy or with crazy patterns which don't seem to relate to anything meaningful?

This is just the beginning of the kinds of questions leaders in the C-suite should be asking going into the fall looking towards 2013 and beyond.  They all add up to the big question, are you thinking strategically about your business and including your facilities and workplace in that  equation?  Or are you lost in the day to day tactical, operational level?  Can you separate the forest from the trees and leaves of grass?

Regardless, to foster high performing work organizations periodically evaluating your workplace, your real estate and facilities and their operation is essential to your future success and continued relevance to your employees, customers and marketplace.  Contact us to help you discover how you can do better in 2013 and beyond.  The time is now to start!