ADVICE & OPINION
PRODUCTIVE LEAD
FMJ AIMS TO SUPPORT TECHNICAL EXPERTISE IN THE FM MARKET
Leeson Medhurst, Director of 360 Workplace - Fourfront Group says good
leadership is the key to enhancing our productivity
What’s happening to our
productivity? Not much.
Since the financial crash of 2008/10
productivity in the UK has dragged
and instead has spawned its very
own minor industry: workplace
productivity analysis. Or rather,
many old arguments and design
debates have been resurrected and
triumphantly announced to the world
as the solutions to our productivity
malaise. Added to that the rapid
growth of tech and the perceived
changes in how we work there are a
lot of answers out there. So, why isn’t
there a big upsurge in productivity if
we have all the answers?
Maybe it is because we are approaching
the question the wrong way around.
It is not so much what the answer is
to improving productivity. It is what is
stropping us being productive.
The Puzzle of Productivity, the
report we backed and delivered with
Worktech Academy alongside Jeremy
Myerson doesn’t pretend to have all the
answers. But it does deliver the answer
to the productivity block: leadership.
Overwhelmingly respondents to our
survey said that leadership is the most
important factor influencing productivity.
16 FEBRUARY 2019
Not technology, not design, not the
environment they worked in – but the
management taking decisions each day.
The idea of the report is to drive
debate. It is meant to be provocative.
So, let’s do that. Let’s think laterally.
Let’s assume our leaders in o„ ices and
factories are taking poor decisions and
so limiting productivity. Not enhancing
it. Take the average o„ ice – as that’s
easier to define as a workplace than say a
foundry or shop floor. What’s going on?
There’s a trend for open plan,
collaborative work spaces. They look
good. Foster the development of ideas
and done right, need not be noisy or
intrusive, but sharing and inclusive.
But they encourage a flatter operating
structure. One that removes any sense
of hierarchy and so takes ‘leaders’ out of
the process. Does that mean we create a
more democratic work place so that we
encourage wellness, boost mental health
and develop an intrinsically happier
place to work? In a word, yes. But is it
conducive to improved productivity?
It depends on the organisation.
Sometimes these changes in ways of
working succeed. Others do not. As
workplace designers we must accept that
even the best designed spaces might
not always be the most productive.
Likewise, the poorly designed space
may be brilliantly productive for
reasons linked to culture and attitude –
not aesthetics.
Which takes us back to leadership
– because those attitudes, the culture
of an organisation stems from the
leaders. It is their vision that creates
the atmosphere people work within.
In some organisations you can in
e„ ect sense it when you visit their
o„ ices. It is something you become
very quickly acutely aware of. Design
alone can’t shape it, but it can most
definitely enhance it, channel the
energy and add an x-plus factor to the
organisational culture.
So, when we create that ideal
space, we have to allow the flow of
the organisation to continue, which
means connecting with its leaders. This
does not mean pursing the idealistic
notion of placing the CEO smack in
the middle of the open plan space.
This can work, but think about it, will
it work every time? No. It just makes
things complicated. Is it sending the
message that we are a team, or is it
making everyone within ear shot of the
CEO feel intimidated, hence limiting
productivity?
We must think far more holistically
about how our various workplaces
function and therefore, what they each
require. There is no one size fits all. Yes,
we need to respect the need for specific
key facilities and the demand from
employees for other less obvious things
that enable them to do their jobs, but
there is a balance. IT, HR and FM are the
three pillars of everyone’s workplace
and we have to do everything we can
to encourage them to work together to
create the right balance. Too o” en we
become wrapped up in one idea from
one of the departments to the detriment
of the bigger whole. For example, the
advent of new technology should be
allowing us to work smarter – not just
faster. But are we becoming too carried
away with the idea of what technology
o„ ers?
Let’s look at the idea of remote
working. In theory, we can work
anywhere: in the o„ ice, on the bus, at
home or in a third space, i.e. the café.
But is it e„ ective? Yes, people need
variety and that choice can also be a
part of an organisations culture, but the
more we separate ourselves from the
mothership are we also not distancing
ourselves from the very cultural identity
that enhances productivity? Empty desks
mean less people. Less atmosphere.
How can we foster a leadership culture
without the false bonhomie of bringing
groups together for team meetings?
For me the most worrying this is
how our leaders are coping. According
to Professor James Woudhuysen of
London South Bank University, writing
in the Puzzle of Productivity, “There is
currently a crisis of leadership in terms
of legitimacy, trust and credibility”,
and worse, some of those leaders and
managers are getting their wires crossed
about presenteeism nowadays and
turning the concept of flexible working
upside down. We need our leaders to
make better decisions. We need them to
understand that what they do really does
have a massive impact on productivity.
That’s where good design comes in.
Workplace design should be the glue, or
the oil that smooths the moving parts
of a workplace. If leaders understand
what we can do, how we can help and
if we as designers do our jobs properly
then that holistic thinking will begin to
flow. Leaders will lead and make better
decisions, informed by the respective
heads of IT, FM and HR.
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