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BusinessWeek just published an article about how groups around the world are preparing for the Knowledge Economy.

Notice the focus on the design of the physical space that they’re proposing and how that will help foster the necessary community that will be required for collaboration, learning and innovation.

Now I’m clearly a little biased in my support for this message – but that bias first came from all of the other sources that turned me on to this trend.

Using the ideas in the article, what can your organization do to prepare for the knowledge economy?  How can your workspace be configured to best support the way work happens?  How can you integrate the collaboration of your customers, suppliers and employees into the learning and innovation that will drive your organization forward?

We’re doing work with a large organization to help them support their knowledge networks by building learning communities, increasing collaboration, etc.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get to them before they moved into their brand-spankin’ new office space because they missed a golden opportunity.

This new space is actually quite progressive – it’s touted as the first fully LEED certified building in Denver and with that comes nice aesthetics, trendy fixtures and many other neat amenities.  Where they went wrong, though, is in some of the construction decisions.  A great example of that is in the kitchen/copy rooms…

They made a great decision by putting the copiers and supplies in the same space as the refrigerator and micowave – it is intended to serve as a central spot where people will happen to be as part of their day and engage in informal conversations…thus leading to knowledge transfer and collaboration of course.

The problem is that this space is quite narrow.  When people are standing at each copier shown above it’s too cramped to walk through and certainly not inviting for an ad hoc meeting.  Same at the other end – the microwave, water machine and refrigerator are all so close together that you can barely stand at one without being in the way of someone at another.  I’ve seen many impromptu conversations spoiled by someone needing to walk through or just not happen at all because of the confining feelings generated by the space.

What opporuntiies are there with your space to foster more informal conversations?  Look at the areas with an eye for welcoming spots that have plenty of room for people to meet and chat while others that aren’t involved can easily drift past unnoticed.

Are you wondering how we’ll transition from our current work trends to the eco-friendly paperless offices of the future?  I’m on a mission to store everything I can paperlessly(?) yet always feel a tug to print it out when I’m going to be using it b/c of the familiar sense of having tactile things on my desk.

Take 6 minutes to watch the video below for a sneak peek at a beta version of how our digital desktops will continue to evolve in a way that aligns with how we’re comfortable working:

The New York Jets new training facility profiled recently in Fast Company shows that workspace design doesn’t have to be just for office workers.

The Jets have completely revamped their complex to reinvigorate both players and all other team members.  The slideshow via the link above is well worth the look – some highlights are the entrance shaped like the stadium tunnel [shown above], light slits meant to evoke yard lines, Exec offices overlooking the field and a high-tech system for coaches to access films.

Just goes to show that surroundings can play a big part in how people do their jobs – no matter what it is.

What changes could be made to the workspace in your organization to better reflect how work gets done?

We just toured the new offices of one of our clients and it’s pretty impressive.  The workspace design certainly incorporates the ability to have impromptu meetings and mixes that with great light, nice views and world-class art thrown in just for fun.

Here’s a write-up on the building.

It will be interesting to see how this space impacts the workforce of this large global organization.  They are beginning to embrace some elements of Learning 2.0 such as communities of practice, knowledge management and social networking and the move to the new digs coincidentally happened at the same time.  

While I feel strongly that the physical environment has a strong impact on these other areas of informal learning we had absolutely no say in how this building was arranged – but it’ll be a nice bonus that we are able to continue our project operating out of such a progressive environment.