Last week, I focussed primarily on the methods for understanding how office space is being utilised however that alone will not enable you to get the most out of your institutions office space. What this data does do is provide you with a platform and a reliable data source that can be used for the next step – user engagement.
User engagement is critical to not only improving but also understanding how space is being used. The office space utilisation survey data alone, will often not paint the full picture rather just provide a snap shot in time that offers little back story or explanation. Only using this data to make decisions regarding the use of office space can end up causing more harm that good, hampering departments performance and growth as well severely impacting upon the relationship those effected have with “Estates”.
I see this final point as a critical element to managing space and it is often a point that is over looked.
The relationship between departments and those responsible for space management is typically a delicate one. This is understandable, departments are often competing for space and ultimately there is often not enough to fulfil everyone’s needs, therefore there is a lot of scope for staff feeling unsatisfied, ignored and marginalised by “Estates” decisions creating an attitude of us and “them”.
It doesn’t however need to be this way.
User engagement is the critical process that helps to prevent this [Read more…]