We live in a roller coaster world. One day you’re up and the next day you’re down ¹

• Countries destinies are determined by social media crowding-sourcing and opinionating of the moment, devoid of plans for ‘now-what’ let alone the future.
• Company stocks are traded by computer super algorithms that disregard a company’s performance and just bet the odds, yet distinctly affect a company’s profits.
• CEO longevity is now an average of three years, hence the ballooning of compensation as hazard-pay reward for being the corporate shooting-gallery duck.

With this constant flux, every company needs an Elasticity strategy. They must be able to expand and contract, be flexible, agile and mobile – on a day-to-day basis. There probably isn’t anything more static and unmoving than the bricks and mortar part of the business – the physical work environment. The workplace facility and its equipment, fixed assets that are the second to third highest consumer of company monetary and other resources, is in dire need of more than a face lift.

Looking for a plug-n-play formula for Elasticity? There isn’t one. Nor are the answers found solely in more or new CRE/Facility investments. Elasticity is a mix and balance of components that span all operational and enterprise entities, intrinsically determined by the uniqueness of each company. And that mix, in and of its self, needs to be changeable on a dime. Hence the need for variable movement – elasticity at all levels and categories of the organization.

Is there a bit of the Ouija Board or witch craft in this? Maybe. More accurately, elastic strategies and plans are proactive maneuvers based on intuition and trending – moving on the aggregation of multiple data points available at the moment. For the workplace, the foundation is no longer made of concrete, rather a quicksand mixture of risk and experimentation, micro-markets desires, niches and a plethora of options. (See Pluralism)

If the ups and downs of the world are constantly volatile and ever-changing, then the solutions aren’t perfectly pre-determinable or static. They breathe, like a workplace diaphragm that expands and contracts and pumps oxygen equal to the extent of the corporate exertion and the varied, proportional and variable needs of its organs and limbs, at any moment in time.

¹ As so now famously expressed by Heidi Klum on the Project Runway TV show.

QOTD: What attributes make a workplace FANTASTIC instead of just “average”?

My thanks to Rachel Permuth-Levine, PhD, MSPH  for posing this question on our LinkedIn Work Experience Group and to
Thanks go Tim Springer for moderating the on-going discussion. This question has been live for over two months with much good input. It also led me to look at the workplace dialogue from a different point of view. And to pursue one of the key ingredients I feel is mandatory for making workplaces as success.

Also a great thanks to Tim and Pauline for showing their support (see below).

Here is my contribution to the discussion.

Catherine Adams Lee • I applaud the thread developed around what message the workplace sends. I call this congruence – when the message and the actions are in sync. Does the workplace delivered follow through on the business’ value message? Does it walk the corporate talk and put its money where its mouth is? Too many don’t.

Unfortunately, examples of negative congruence and mixed messaging abound. Companies that espouse diversity but present a workplace that is bland, banal and same; ones that manufacture technology but either bar employees or internal investment in successful usage; ones that say they value their people but, as mentioned keep a messy, even filthy, facility. Too long the workplace industry has opted out of its responsibility in acknowledging its strategic role and ensuring that what it designs and delivers is truly affecting the appropriate culture and is in alignment with the messages from other parts of the business.

For positive congruence to occur, hard discussions need to be had around what is the real culture and what is actually being delivered. Workplace’s part is to understand, acknowledge and translate what it builds and what that truthfully represents. Additionally it needs to engage in delivering more than just a passive environment or corporate image – to accomplish not just the sizzle but also the steak.

A congruent workplace where all of its business parts, including the key player of the physical environment, work in concert to achieve, support and sustain a culture of diversity, respect, health, trust, choice, accomplishment and profit. Now that would be a FANTASTIC workplace!

Comments:

Tim Springer • Catherine
Brava!

Pauline Mok • well said, catherine! and great to see you here!