CHAPTER 9: THE WORKSPACE REMIX

Question 1

By 2015 approximately ___ percent of offices had converted to open plans.

Answer 1

70 percent

Question 2

Yes, Google, which is often credited with launching the ________ trend—and the use of scooters to move around that office—designed a workspace to embody its corporate culture and to cater to the job needs of its employees, many of whom are programmers who sit silently at their desks all day writing code.

Answer 2

open office

Question 3

According to Nikil Saval, author of Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace, the original design concept of open floor plans and cubicles was created in _______ in the 1950s to enable individualized, autonomous space for workers that was flexible, modular, and easily changed as circumstances in the office changed

Answer 3

Germany

Question 4

In my experience and observation, whether or not a person likes to work in an open space has far more to do with the work they are doing and their personal _______ than their age or generation.

Answer 4

preference

Question 5

Personality type—introvert versus extrovert, for example—can often have much more to do with how different individuals ____ to work.

Answer 5

prefer

Question 6

The workspace remix involves rethinking professional environments from a one-size-fits-all approach to more _____, deliberately designed spaces.

Answer 6

flexible

Question 7

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

What concerns me most is the way in which employees are criticized for how they adapt to a work environment over which they have little to no control. Leaders should not be surprised when employees find ________ and adaptations to make a work environment better fit their individual preferences and work needs

Answer 7

workarounds

Question 8

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

If I had to name the question about generational differences I receive more than any other, it would be this:“What do I do about my Millennial employees wearing _______?”

Answer 8

earbuds

Question 9

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

But a deeper reason is to find a modicum of privacy in a wide-open, ________ space in which everyone can hear everything, which is especially important for employees doing work that requires deep thinking or personal creativity.

Answer 9

boundery-less

Question 10

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

headphones are the new ____

Answer 10

wall

Question 11

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

A 2018 Harvard study found that switching to an _______ office space decreased employees’ face-to-face interactions by over 70 percent and increased the use of e-mail and instant messenger by 67 percent and 75 percent, respectively.

Answer 11

open-plan

Question 12

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

Rather than increasing face-to-face collaborations, open architecture had the exact opposite effect: it was more likely to make people socially _______.

Answer 12

withdraw

Question 13

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

Some organizations are putting a Band-Aid on the problem by installing “_______” systems, which pump in an almost imperceptible whooshing sound designed to match the frequency of human voices and therefore be less distracting when people talk in an open floor plan.

When simplicity would have sufficed

Answer 13

“pink noise”

Question 14

“Headphones Are the New Wall”

Once you ________ with the tensions that might be lurking, you can begin to research and advocate for solutions.

Answer 14

empathize

Question 15

The Remix: “A Diversity of Spaces”

We needed to create an environment to fuel innovation and collaboration that would allow our people to ultimately support our customers, and also to be inclusive of different people’s work styles.”

Answer 15

This is why they made a work space with many different options

Question 16

The Remix: “A Diversity of Spaces”

Not surprisingly, it can be especially challenging for _______ employees to change the way they have worked, perhaps for decades.

Answer 16

long-tenured

Question 17

The Remix: “A Diversity of Spaces”

The workspace remix, as exemplified by Capital One, boils down to this: give people a variety of spaces in which to accomplish a variety of types of ____.

Answer 17

work

Question 18

The Remix: “A Diversity of Spaces”

“Across industries, we found that balanced workplaces—those prioritizing both focus and collaboration—score higher on measures of ______, innovation, effectiveness, and performance.”

Answer 18

satisfaction

Question 19

The Remix: “A Diversity of Spaces”

As Stefanie says, “Don’t let _____ define your space. We don’t want labels as people, and so we don’t want labels for our workspace, either.”

Answer 19

labels

Question 20

Your Workspace Remix

For example:

1) OFFER OPTIONS
2) PROVIDE PRIVACY
3) ADD “IN-BETWEEN” SPACES
4) INCREASE TRANSPARENCY
5) ENGINEER OPPORTUNITIES FOR “CASUAL COLLISIONS.”
6) ENCOURAGE SOME PERSONAL EXPRESSION
7)
8) INVITE IDEAS AND FEEDBACK.
9) REMIX YOURSELF

Answer 20

7) BRING THE OUTIDE IN

Question 21

Your Workspace Remix

OFFER OPTIONS:

Research out of Great Britain has shown that when workers can choose their working conditions, productivity on cognitive tasks increases by ___ percent or more. Organizational psychologists call these environments “empowered offices,” and it’s a concept any organization can implement in some way.

Answer 21

25 percent

Question 22

Your Workspace Remix

PROVIDE PRIVACY:

While many workplaces now offer private spaces such as lactation rooms for breastfeeding mothers,

Answer 22

There are a wide verity of reasons that a person may need privacy

Question 23

Your Workspace Remix

PROVIDE PRIVACY:

If you don’t provide such spaces, either these important calls won’t get made at all or you’ll stumble over junior employees camped out in your stairwells trying to find a little slice of _______.

Answer 23

seclusion

Question 24

Your Workspace Remix

PROVIDE PRIVACY:

If you can’t provide privacy for each individual, team privacy can be effective as well.

Answer 24

team privacy

Question 25

Your Workspace Remix

Add “IN-BETWEEN SPACES”

Instead, “in-between” areas like alcoves and booths allow for a mix of both the ______ and camaraderie of an open space and the privacy all humans desire.

Answer 25

Proximity

Question 26

Your Workspace Remix

INCREASE TRANSPARENCY

This not only provided more light to employees working in the middle of the floor but also literally gave workers transparency into their leaders’ domains. Remember Remixer Rule #7: Be more transparent, whatever that “more” may be in your environment.

Answer 26

transparency

Question 27

Your Workspace Remix

ENGINEER OPPORTUNITIES FOR “CASUAL COLLISIONS”

When Steve Jobs was designing Pixar’s headquarters, he intentionally placed the restrooms in the building’s main atrium, a long walk away from where people worked. This encouraged _______ interactions between people of all departments and levels in the company.

Capital One removed all personal trash cans from peoples desks so people would have to walk to more central locations.

*Consider moving snack dispensers to a further location from where they are now.

Answer 27

Impromptu

Question 28

Your Workspace Remix

ENGINEER OPPORTUNITIES FOR “CASUAL COLLISIONS”

Chief people officer Katie Burke explains, “Our founders realized that in every office there are good seats and bad seats, so they set up a lottery in which everyone, including them, participated…. The point is to eliminate ________ of power imbalances. The reshuffles also emphasize that change is constant, so you need to be adaptable. And we want people to get out of their entrenched social patterns so that they will collaborate and learn.”

Answer 28

perceptions

Question 29

Your Workspace Remix

ENCOURAGE SOME PERSONAL EXPRESSION:

This woman, a longtime, loyal employee, wanted more. That cardigan was clearly part of her _____ and she wanted a home for it. And that is a cross-generational human desire: to mark a place of our own in the space where we spend a large part of our lives.

Answer 29

Identity

Question 30

Your Workspace Remix

ENCOURAGE SOME PERSONAL EXPRESSION:

Maybe the next ______ of workspace personalization is not on our walls or furniture but on the things we carry with us at all times: our devices, our notebooks, and our personal items.

Answer 30

iteration

Question 31

Your Workspace Remix

BRING THE OUTSIDE IN:

According to Capital One’s Work Environment Survey, when asked what feature employees most desire in a workplace, the number one answer by far is…________.

Fifty-seven percent of employees say that they want more sunshine at work.

Answer 31

Natural light

Question 32

Your Workspace Remix

INVITES IDEAS AND FEEDBACK:

As with so many suggestions in this book, many of the best workspace remix ideas will come from your own multigenerational _______, who know your business best.

Answer 32

employees

Question 33

Your Workspace Remix

INVITES IDEAS AND FEEDBACK:

At Capital One, the Workplace Solutions team, as part of its change management process, goes back to those teams whose workspaces have changed after ___ to ___ days to check in about what is and isn’t working.

Answer 33

90 to 120 days

Question 34

Your Workspace Remix

REMIX YOURSELF:

Make a ____ change and see what happens.

Answer 34

small

Question 35

Telecommunication Nation: Rise of the Remote Worker

This is not surprising. I was on the early fringe of one of the biggest changes to today’s labor market: the rise of remote work by both entrepreneurs and employed professionals, made possible by the spread of broadband Internet and mobile devices. In 1996 only 20 percent of employers offered telecommuting as a benefit. By 2016 that number had reached ___ percent.

Answer 35

60 percent

Question 36

Telecommunication Nation: Rise of the Remote Worker

What the author notes that has been lost:

1) Some people miss the camaraderie of seeing their colleagues every day or occasionally working late together and bonding over midnight pizza.
2) Some senior executives have shared with me how they think younger workers today are missing out on the _________ opportunities that took place when more people worked on-site.
3) And more than a few long-tenured professionals have shared with me that they miss having a distinct separation between work and home.

Answer 36

incidental learning

Question 37

Telecommunication Nation: Rise of the Remote Worker

Advice to anyone resisting to embrace remote work:

1)
2) offering flexibility will help you achieve your goals with a multigenerational workforce.

Answer 37

1) The ship has sailed

Question 38

Telecommunication Nation: Rise of the Remote Worker

While many organizations and leaders still consider flexibility to be a benefit or perk, I prefer to think of it as a multigenerational management and _________.

Answer 38

retention strategy

Question 39

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

It is almost a _______ that as a leader today you will have to manage multigenerational workers who are not in the office. Here are some strategies to guide you:

Answer 39

Guarantee

Question 40

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

1) BE DELIBERATE WITH YOUR TERMINOLOGY.
2) BE CREATIVE AND INCLUSIVE
3) SET GUIDELINES FIR REMOTE WORK
4)
5) KEEP UP WITH TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT
6) WORK IS EVERYWHERE

Answer 40

4) TRACK RESULTS

Question 41

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

BE DELIBERATE WITH YOUR TERMINOLOGY.

Get in the habit of referring to people as “__________” even when they are in another office or on-site with a client. This removes the perceived hierarchy of one location being more “appropriate” than any other.

Answer 41

“Working remotely”

Question 42

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

BE CREATIVE AND INCLUSIVE:

They fear that allowing flexibility for ____ employees will make others feel excluded.

Answer 42

some

Question 43

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

SET GUIDELINES FOR REMOTE WORK:

It is totally ________ to set guardrails and expectations around remote work, whether at the organizational level or among members of an individual team.

Answer 43

appropriate

Question 44

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

Pick and choose the strategies that are appropriate for your culture and needs:

1) Have a shared calendar on which workers indicate when they will be working remotely so people know where to find one another.
2) Whenever anyone on a team is working remotely, have all meetings by phone or teleconference to ensure a level playing field and no “sidebar” conversations that remote workers miss out on.
3) _____________ or core hours during which all members of the team agree to be on-site for in-person meetings.
4) Set clear expectations for professionalism and work hours. For example, no pet sounds in the background on conference calls, no taking calls at the grocery store or other non-quiet environment, and have a professional background for teleconference calls taken remotely.

Answer 44

Determine core days

Question 45

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

TRACK RESULTS:

PETER DRUCKER, “That which is measured, _______”

Answer 45

improves

Question 46

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

TRACK RESULTS:

The most common fear is that people aren’t going to do their job, so decide how you will measure if somebody is _________.

Answer 46

doing their job

Question 47

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

TRACK RESULTS:

To set up remote workers—and yourself as a leader—for success, decide if and when you will require remote workers to ______ each remote day with you or their teams.

Answer 47

check in

Question 48

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

TRACK RESULTS:

Also ask remote workers what they _______ as the successes and challenges of working from home.

Answer 48

perceived

Question 49

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

TRACK RESULTS:

What is most important is to clearly state your ______ as a leader and listen to your remote workers about what support they may or may not need.

Answer 49

expectations

Question 50

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

KEEP UP WITH TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT:

Remember that remote work really became possible because of the ubiquity of ________ and broadband Internet.

Answer 50

Mobile devices

Question 51

Remote Control: How Do You Manage a Multigenerational, Multi-located Team?

KEEP UP WITH TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT:

Employees will continue to _____ that the devices they use at home will be available to them in the workplace and that their use will be accepted.

Answer 51

expect

Question 52

Work Is Everywhere

Limiting workplace options feels counterproductive and unnecessary. As leaders, we will only benefit from increasing the _____ people have of where to complete their daily goals

Answer 52

options

Question 53

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

The workspace remix involves rethinking professional _______ from a one-size-fits-all approach to more flexible, modular spaces and remote work options.

Answer 53

environments

Question 54

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

While you as an individual leader may or may not be able to control the physical environment in which you and your team work, you can begin to pay attention to the ways your employees have been _____ to their physical workspace. Once you empathize with the tensions that may be lurking, you can begin to explore potential solutions.

Answer 54

adapting

Question 55

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

Keep in mind that people’s workspace preferences are often unrelated to their generation and can have more to do with _________, physical abilities, and the kinds of work they need to accomplish.

Answer 55

personality type

Question 56

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

Open floor plans are actually working against the innovation and collaboration they were meant to enable. This is why younger workers often wear headphones or earbuds to find a modicum of _______ in a wide-open, boundary-less space.

Answer 56

privacy

Question 57

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

Ideally, give people a variety of spaces in which to accomplish a variety of types of work. When we ask employees to be more ____, innovative, disruptive, and multidimensional, we need to provide spaces that allow for agile, innovative, disruptive, and multidimensional work to take place.

Answer 57

agile

Question 58

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

When asked what feature employees most desire in a workplace, the number one answer by far is _________. You’ll get the most bang for your employee satisfaction buck if you simply raise the blinds in your office space.

Answer 58

natural light

Question 59

CHAPTER 9: KEY TAKEAWAYS

We’ll never return to the time when “work” meant going to the same physical space with the same people every day. The ship has sailed and the desire for remote work options is perhaps the only example of one benefit appealing to _________. Think creatively about whether it is possible to offer some degree of flexibility—even 5 percent of a person’s job—to keep up with the times and allow your people some wiggle room in their schedule.

Answer 59

all generations