Facilities managers should become “gardeners” rather than architects, claims report ⁰

A new white paper from ’boutique’ facilities management firm Anabas. It claims that the proliferation of diverse office environments and agile working means that facilities managers must develop a greater insight into the behaviour of people to help them deliver. The report, What Type of Office Worker Are you?, claims that it ‘helps to rediscover what it means to be human in the workplace and takes us back to the beginning by focusing on understanding individual behaviours, work styles and how they influence interaction within the workplace itself. It examines the importance of people in the workplace and discusses the ‘work style formula’ of – Culture + Mobility + Temperament – demonstrating how this can guide behaviours. It also claims to identify four main types of worker based on brain chemistry; Pioneers, Guardians, Drivers and Integrators and how despite the differences, each is driven in the same way, by the environment.

Key ideas presented in the report include:

• Face-to-face and team working will eclipse computer interaction in the office
• Computer-based working will increasingly be undertaken in remote locations (e.g. home or satellite offices)
• Work style will increasingly reflect personality types rather than culture (as organisations become more multicultural and multinational)
• Organisations will encourage diversity in work styles in order to get the best out of any team collaboration
• In successful organisations, greater ownership and personalisation of space will create group identity and trust
• Activity-based Working will reflect each of the four personality types (rather than being based on a singular organisational monoculture)
• Attention will be recognised as the single most limiting resource of an organisation
• Facilities managers will be ‘gardeners’ rather than ‘architects’ ensuring that the elusive quality of engagement is continuously nurtured in the office environment.

On the White Paper Anabas, MD, Alistair Craig, said; “Agile is a hot topic in the industry and is one that will remain for many years to come. We felt it pertinent to look at a series of White Papers to understand its evolution and to address the contributing factors. This first paper really focuses on understanding people. FM is no longer just about the fabric of a building it is about the people within. By taking the time to understand workers within an agile environment and what makes them really tick, FM’s are becoming gardeners, rather than architects and instead of just managing a pre-designed space, they will be able to manage, nurture and cultivate the people and the place, to create a harmonious agile workspace.”