I attended the Workplace Trends Conference as part of the Workplace Week New York event hosted by Advanced Workplace Associates (https://www.advanced-workplace.com/). AgilQuest sponsored the conference, and we’re very glad we participated.
First, profits from the conference went to “I have a Dream” foundation. What a worthy cause! Every time I saw the darn video that described this foundation, I had tears in my eyes…every time.
Second, the content of the conference was excellent, as were the “fringe events” of Workplace Week, where great workplaces across New York City hosted tours and talks, including WeWork HQ, Teach for America, Deloitte and Allsteel.
Which brings me to my third reason this was such a great event. My favorite take-away was the research done by Andrew Mawson of Advanced Workplace Associates to create the 6 Factors of Knowledge Worker Productivity research. The work is thorough and the final product truly impressive. The net of it is they boiled down over 800 credible academic studies and verifiable data on measurement of knowledge worker productivity to six essential factors: Social Cohesion, Perceived Supervisory Support, Information Sharing and the Transactive Memory System, Vision and Goal Clarity, External Communication, and Trust. I immediately thought of the Gallop Q12 questionnaire and saw some immediate parallels. Then I thought about how these factors can be enhanced in the workplace.
To me, it all starts with the last factor…Trust. Trusting people to do the right thing. Trusting people by giving them the freedom and capability to easily choose where to work (both inside and outside of the traditional office). To Trust people by allowing them to self-select their movement to collaborate with whom they wish to work (rather than to presuppose the best place with a workplace assignment). Providing management support for their freedom of movement, to invite and trust customers, prospects and partners to come into the workplace to enhance cross-organizational collaboration (what better External Communication and Information Sharing is there than face-to-face meetings with your external ecosystem inside your office?). If you can’t trust your people, why did you hire them? If you don’t trust your customer/partner, why do you work with them? A big word with far reaching ramifications…Trust.
While the research was expansive, thankfully the work product is concise! Take and opportunity to read and ingest it. I think you’ll be glad you did.
Full Paper: 6 Factors of Knowledge Worker Productivity, by Andrew Mawson
Research Brief: The Six Factors of Knowledge Worker Productivity, by Advanced Workplace Associates and Allsteel
After you’ve read the research and paper, hear more about the 6 Factors from Eric Johnson of Allsteel in our webinar, The Six Factors of Knowledge Worker Productivity.
