Workplace Matters 3edges

Per Feldthaus, Global Head of Workplace Management and Design at Signal Architects, joins Ian for the third and final part of the Workplace Matters Danish workplace mini-feature. Signal is a practice whose interest isn’t in buildings per se, and whose business model is not built upon delivering new space… necessarily.


With core competencies of strategic thinking, design, and change management, Signal’s interest is in design thinking - as a full process of discovery, design and delivery - and Per explains Signal’s ‘mental rebuilding’ concept, their trademarked approach that drives their in some ways counter-intuitive business model.


Just over a year ago Signal was acquired by Facilities Services giant ISS as part of their own workplace strategy. Per explains how design thinking can unlock workplace value chain opportunities that stretch far beyond FM in its current form. There's loads in this conversation - enjoy!


Some links to take you deeper:



Signal Architects website
Eat Sleep Work Repeat podcast interview with Bjarke Ingels

This episode of Workplace Matters is sponsored by the Workplace Leadership Programme, our partnership initiative with the British Institute of Facilities Management. It’s time to unlock your workplace advantage.


The first course in the programme, Essentials of Workplace Leadership, is now taking bookings for this July and November. We can also tailor the course for in-house delivery, focussing on your own business needs. Click here for more info, or contact us directly

Jeff Saunders, Director at the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, joins Ian for part 2 of the Workplace Matters Danish workplace mini-feature. CIFS, who have been around since the 60s, recently completed a seven-year six book collaboration with facilities services giant ISS with the publication of their ‘Future of Work, Workforce and Workplace’ capstone white book. Enjoy!


They discuss a particular future scenarios matrix which is developed in the first book, and then revisited in the sixth capstone book. It shows four possible futures, considering primarily the extent of automation versus the prioritisation of sustainability, which are called ‘fragmented world’, ‘capitalism reinvented’, ‘sustainable business’ and ‘the great transformation’.


As Jeff explains, these are possible scenarios which were created at the beginning of the collaboration to engage with future issues. They’re revisited in the most recent capstone book to reflect longitudinally about changes and timescales. Well worth a look...


Some links to take you deeper:



Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies website
ISS 2020 vision white book series plus lots of other content from servicefutures.com
ISS business forum video (with Peter, Ian and Jeff all speaking, with others) here
BIFM manifesto for change information

Peter Ankerstjerne, former long-standing Chief Marketing Officer of global facility services provider ISS, joins Ian for part 1 of our Workplace Matters Danish workplace mini-feature. The discussion goes under the bonnet of the global facility services megacorp that employs almost 500,000 people worldwide to explore ideas about workplace, FM, innovation strategies, digital technology, and - yes, they go there - the future of work. Enjoy!


This episode was recorded at the ISS global headquarters. It’s more than a shop front and a HQ: it’s a living lab for their own ideas about future workplace, which - in a tech-enabled art of the possible way - they bring to life fantastically in a video called 'how Internet of Things technology brings the workplace into the future'. Well worth a watch...


Topics discussed include:



The relationship between facilities services and facility management
How to drive better value out of FM outsourcing through partnership approaches
The value of The Stoddart Review in helping to shift the conversation from managing facilities towards workplace benefits
The value of creating workplace experiences, including behavioural nudges
ISS's innovation approach using agile development methodologies to fastrack ideas, and growing their digital competence to enable this to happen
The IT enabled future of workplace and FM, and ISS's digital technologies strategy, including their partnership with IBM
ISS's digitally enabled focus on IWMS, workforce integration and optimisation, IoT sensor technology, AI, and big-data analytics insights
The need for more R+D investment in the industry, plus more demanding and daring customers, to create drive for new developments

Some links to take you deeper:



ISS 2020 vision white book series plus lots of other content from servicefutures.com
ISS business forum video (with Peter, Ian and Jeff all speaking, with others) here
The Stoddart Review
Harvard Business Review article 'The New Corporate Garage'
Peter's LinkedIn page (@P_Ankerstjerne on Twitter)

Workplace author, blogger and executive consultant Neil Usher joins Ian again on the day of his book launch, and also the day the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) announce their proposal to become the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM). Will 2018 be remembered as the year workplace tips? Neil’s observations and views are as perceptive as ever. This is elemental workplace listening, folks - enjoy!


Some links to take you deeper:



The book site: elementalworkplace.com
Neil’s ever insightful and entertaining blog, featuring a particularly relevant post: workessence.com
... and his super-popular post about our co-authored Workplace Leadership Manifesto
More about BIFM’s proposed name change:


BIFM's manifesto announcement
Workplace Insight's first news story about the change

A huge thanks to Herman Miller in London for hosting us

We're back with part 2 of the inaugural Workplace Matters Metacast, where Ian and James from 3edges are joined by i-FM.net editor Simon Iatrou and independent workplace specialist Will Easton, to explore workplace issues through non-workplace podcasts episodes. Very meta.


If you’ve not listened to episode 15 part 1 yet then go do that first, or it might feel like you've walked in on a really interesting conversation halfway through. Because that’s exactly what you've done...


Podcast episode selections:


Will: The Walkman from The Pessimists Archive
Simon: Our Computers, Ourselves from Invisibilia
Ian: The Blue Yarn from 99 Percent Invisible
James: Saigon 1965 from Revisionist History



Big overall themes include:


How new technology affects us both individually and collectively - in the workplace and beyond
Human responses as both individuals and institutions (like for example organisations and governments) - predictable and otherwise
The sorts of information and data we do (and don’t) respond to
How our level of involvement in something affects our ability, understanding and desire to change



And finally some key learning points from our round table reflections at the end of the session:


The power of stories: the stories we tell ourselves, and the stories we tell others
The importance of ‘narrative’ when it comes to anything to do with workplace - there has to be a message that resonates emotionally with people
The importance of leadership (not only management) in workplace change
Fundamentally, is leadership about the management of meaning?
The power of podcasts as an accessible, on demand, democratic learning tool... to listen to, share and discuss stories!



Once again, don't forget to subscribe to our sparkling new Workplace Matters newsletter at 3edges.co.uk, and check out our Workplace Leadership Manifesto comrades, out daily during January on Twitter and LinkedIn. Search #WpLeadershipManifesto. Power to the people.


And a huge thanks to the fantastic Kelham Island Brewery in Sheffield for hosting us.

We’ve got something different for you this time - the first ever Workplace Matters Metacast. It’s a round table discussion between four podcast geeks: 3edges co-founders James Pinder and Ian Ellison, editor at i-FM.net Simon Iatrou, and freelance workplace provocateur Will Easton. It’s all about workplace. Except we’re not allowed to say anything about workplace unless we use an unrelated podcast episode to make the point. Like a game show without any prize... or something like that. Very meta. Hence the name.


It’s a big discussion, so we’ve cut it in two. The intro and first two podcast examples are here. The final two examples and our wrap up learnings discussion will in episode 16, part 2, out tomorrow. Think of this as a gateway to more. There is so much great content out there to expand your horizons. Try things, go deeper, and let us know what you think @wpmpodcast on Twitter.


Podcast episode selections:


Will: The Walkman from The Pessimists Archive
Simon: Our Computers, Ourselves from Invisibilia
Ian: The Blue Yarn from 99 Percent Invisible
James: Saigon 1965 from Revisionist History



Don't forget to subscribe to our sparkling new Workplace Matters newsletter at 3edges.co.uk, and check out our Workplace Leadership Manifesto comrades, out daily during January on Twitter and LinkedIn. Search #WpLeadershipManifesto. Power to the people.


A huge thanks to the fantastic Kelham Island Brewery in Sheffield for hosting us.