KI, a leader in education furniture recently put out a great article on the changing classroom.  Many of the initial thoughts were based on the Harvard Education Department's study, The Pathway to Prosperity-preparing young Americans for the 21st Century.  Harvard's study learned that there are over 1 million dropouts from high school in the United States every year, and only 40% of Americans receive a Bachelor or Associates Degree.  Clearly something has to change for our students to compete in a world job market.  One interesting piece of feedback they learned was that current education does not resonate with students as it relates to the job market.  One of the biggest issues they feel is a major change on how classrooms and campuses are designed.  Also, to bridge the digital way young people live their lives now, classrooms must change.  Also, an updated curriculum must drive planning.

Some of the keys to start are, Incorporating informal learning spaces, enable and support technology, deliver versatility, and advance environmental objectives.

To read the entire white paper, go to KIeducation.com, click on education trends,education articles, and Learning per square foot.

Hopefully you had an opportunity to visit Neocon , but if not, Environments That Work was there in full force.  We were very excited for Teknion winning a Silver Best of Neocon Award for Interpret which is a great product that bridges systems furniture and desking systems within a single correspondence offering.  Manufactured globally, Interpret allows standardization for global companies as well as offering a positive environmental impact, a speedy delivery, and reducing the carbon footprint.  It was designed specifically using DfE (Designed for the Environment) principles.  Interpret is totally reconfigurable and able to be built onto in the future.  You can also mix in wood components to dress up the look.  Also, Interpet works perfectly with Teknion's award winning Mast product, a leading flat panel monitor arm.  Please contact us at Environments That Work.

Changes in the Workplace

I recently attended a seminar at Neocon regarding the many changes in the workplace.  This particular seminar was based on our government workplaces but it mirrors what is happening in the corporate world as well.  It all started with President Obama's infamous edict of 2010 to all government agencies that all of them will immediately dispose of unneeded real estate and reduce square footage in all departments.  The government found that, like the corporate world, people are not at their desks approximately 40% of the day.  This in combination with the younger workforce who does not need or want a fixed workplace, allows for shared work areas and mobile workers allowed to work from home a certain amount of days a week.  In addition, a shared conference room and meeting room arrangement among departments was worked out so that conference rooms could be eliminated to better utilize the ones that stayed.  One side benefit that was discovered was that when people were also allowed to work from home, a 16% jump in productivity was realized.  That was something no one expected.

One of the additional hopes by the presidential memo was to turn governmental offices into a more environmentally friendly scenario.  This was done by not only using more eco friendly materials, and other green building standards, but also realizing a great savings in overall CO2 reductions by so many employees working from home and not using their cars on the roads.  In addition, car pool programs were set up to further this goal.  As far as the furniture, since the overall height of the furniture was reduced, natural light was brought into the workplace, and a sound masking system was installed to take care of any additional noise created by the open environment.

If you would like any additional information on how to create this type of environment in your workplace and save your real estate dollars, please contact us at Environments That Work.

With NEOCON 2012 fast approaching, many of you might not be aware exactly what it is and where it is.  NEOCON , which is somehow short for National Exposition of Contract Furnishings, is the largest and most prominent furniture show in North America.  It is held every year in the 2nd week of June at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, this year on June 11th-13th.  What used to be a full week of showroom visits and seminars has been reduced to three days, and many vendors would tell you 2 days. It used to be that the manufacturers complained that friday afternoons were slow.  Now, with travel being curtailed for many visitors from out of town. most every manufacturer has there gala parties and events on Monday nights in fear of everybody flying out of town on tuesday afternoons.  If you haven't ever attended NEOCON, you really should invest a day and walk the halls and visit the showrooms.  It is an outstanding level of excitement and collection of new products in combination with being able to rub elbows with many of the high ranking management of the manufacturers and designers who actually design the products you use and sit in.

Bring your walking shoes because the Merchandise Mart, the world's largest commercial building coming in at 4.2 million square feet, is a challenge for sure.  While you will think , the 10 million people that visit the Merchandise Mart during the course of every year are all there on Monday June 11th, in reality it is only about 40,000-it's just that they are all doing exactly what you want to do.  If you are thinking about joining in the festivities for this 43rd NEOCON show, please give me a call and I will be glad to show you around.

I recently attended a seminar that Patrick Lencioni spoke at, and if you are not familiar with Pat, his company consults with all types of companies regarding teamwork and developing successful organizations.  He had numerous great ideas, but I thought his ability to communicate dysfunctions in a company that hinders teamwork and team building were quite good-maybe you will recognize some of them from your company.

1) Absence of Trust-trust needs to be not only between employer and employee, but viceversa as well.  At all levels of the company people must be able to feel free to ask for help, admit they are not sure of what they are doing, or just be able to speak freely. A leader also needs to show vulnerability to his employees.

2) Fear of conflict-too many times people just nod their heads in meetings or collaborations as they are afraid to question something or feel they will be taking up too much of the bosses time. Leaders need to demand input.

3) Avoidance of accountability-this is mostly on the bosses.  Too many times a leader feels they do not have the time to handle behavorial problems but they can undermine a team's whole efforts.

4) Achieving commitment-If you are not completely satisfied that everyone on your team has bought into the plan, it's not going to have a successful result.

5) Focusing on results-employees have to be trained to realize that is ultimately the teams success that matters-not individuals.  If they cannot, you might have the wrong people on your team.

Space does not permit the real flushing out of these ideas but I highly recommend you get Pat's book on the matter.  Pat additionally talks about building healthy and smart companies by creating a moral atmosphere that is consistemtly fair through hiring, firing, meetings, etc..You must build a cohesive leadership team, retain key employees, and overcommunicate your organization's goals.

Made to Order

If you've ever purchased commercial office furniture then you've probably heard the term: made to order. But what does made to order mean? To begin with; commercial furniture, by and large, is not stocked. There is no mammoth warehouse that contains every furniture component a manufacturer offers in every available finish. Logistically, it would be impossible to stock all of these items, and that doesn't even take into consideration multiple quantities. So, what "made to order" means is it is literally made only after it has been ordered. In fact, most manufacturers practice what is known as "just in time manufacturing". This means they don't even stock the raw materials for their furniture. They obtain them only after a customer has placed an order and then your furniture arrives "just in time" for your requested delivery date. So, how does "made to order" differ from "custom"? Made to orders means that all of the engineering review has been completed and the tooling is in place to process your order. All you have to do is place the order and it will arrive "just in time". Custom furniture means non-standard, such as a non-standard dimensions or even finish color. Custom furniture is still "made to order" it just takes a little longer because it has to be reviewed and approved by an engineer before it's produced. The concept of made to order is designed to benefit both the manufacturer and the customer. The manufacturer can minimize the size of their operation by not having to maintain a large product inventory; and the customer has the opportunity to select the exact furniture and finish they want. Just make sure you plan ahead to account for the lead time.

Our company recently started representing Spacefile's Asset Management and Tracking System. This RFID based system is the most comprehensive, easy to use and reasonable full featured system I have seen. It's simple software based system benefits so many types of businesses and organizations. It allows you to index vital assets, Identify asset location, track assets whenever they change hands, find missing files and assets, and gives complete audit trails. Whether you are a company simply trying to keep track of furniture, to sophisticated file systems, or perhaps a law enforcement organization trying to control evidence, this system works great. It also supports video and camera surveillance. For more information, give me a call at 630-338-0162 x301.