Creating today's place for tomorrow's talent

connecting the dots

8th June 2016 Smartworking Summit

Widely acclaimed industry leaders brought together by Quora Consulting to explore

the positive momentum Smartworking can have on the workplace.

Bringing thehottest topics of

tomorrow's workplace to life

today

What we do...We are committed to helping organisations comprehend and respond to the changing nature of work and avoid ‘solving the wrong problem really well’.

In June, I was thrilled and honoured to find myself voted as one of the top 100 global influencers (W100™) in the workplace field by the acclaimed analysts CREinFOCUS.Smartworking Summits are our riposte to the countless PowerPoint-laden, industry siloed events that traditionally dominate and quite frankly distort the seminar and conference calendar.Staged three times/year, Smartworking Summits reflect the realities of corporate life by featuring widely acclaimed industry executives – CEOs, CFOs, COOs CIOs CHROs and Group Property Directors - under Chatham House rules in a PowerPoint-free environment talking openly about how they are addressing the changing nature of work.Summits are a truly unique opportunity to be amongst leaders learning from leaders. I trust you will be able to come along and experience the journey with us.

“...we need to be open to the idea that things we did in the past may hold us back in the future..."

Greg Searle, MBE

John BlackwellManaging Director, Quora Consulting john.blackwell@quoraconsulting.com

Tel: +44 1491 628654

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Greg Searle MBE, Triple Olympic champion, Gold medal

Simon Hay, CEO, Dunnhumby

Richard Bandell, CEO, GRG

Cheryl Kennedy, Director of Digital Services, Barclaycard

Josefin Holmberg, Director Transform. Thomson Reuters

Johnny Dunford, Director of CRE, BNP Paribas

Richard Copley, Head of Transformation, DWF llp

Smartworking and the paradigm shiftQuora's Smartworking Summit delivered pioneering approaches towards tackling some of today's most critical challenges.The full-day programme at the stunning 200 Aldersgate, London venue, offered peerless opportunities to network with prominent executive speakers throughout the morning. The afternoon followed with a deeper dive into business critical issues through six intimate round table sessions.Attracting 250 c-suite executives keen to explore workplace challenges and address the rapidly changing nature of work, everyone left with distinct and clear takeaways.

Afternoon round tables considered business critical issues

The morning delivered compelling insights from seven executive speakers;

Creating productive workplaces

Improving quality of life for tomorrow’s talent

What’s the future of FM?

Corporate sustainability beyond compliance

Technology innovation surgery

Engaging & retaining future talent3

Quora ConsultingPreparing for a different tomorrow

Who is Quora?Quora is an 88-person independent consultancy that guides mid-large size organisations to achieve high performance work practices and workplaces through unique analytics. Our work enables organisations to optimise costs, increase productivity and crucially enhance employee engagement.The bottom line is that we help frontline leaders focus limited resources on critical decisions, providing clarity to ensure optimal investments are made in changing work practices and 'avoid solving the wrong problems really well'.With recognised thought-leadership in transforming work practices and workplaces, Quora is a global practice, operating out of Seattle for the North American market, Sydney for the Asia Pacific market and London for the wider European market.www.quoraconsulting.com

Our researchWe are globally renowned for thought-leadership research. Through a long-term sponsorship with six global leading universities, providing they act as a network, we fund their research and, in return, they assist with the development of our core workplace analytics.With over 110 reports currently available in our online repository and 8-10 new reports released each year, we are the single largest publisher of research into the rapidly changing nature of work.Our research is open to public domain via a no-cost subscription and currently attracts over 30,000 subscribers, with some 800 new subscribers joining each month.By the very nature of our research, the subscribers are predominantly c-suite readers from FTSE 100/ Fortune 500 organisations.

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“You can’t solve a problem at the level it started”Josefin Holmberg, Business Transformation Director, Thomson Reuters

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What do the Global Goals meanto you and your organisation?

Takeaways from theWe all have a role to play in achieving

As more leaders encourage us to live these core values and mindsets in our day-to-day

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, along with a set of 17 bold new Global Goals, which Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General hailed as a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world. These Global Goals provided a framework backdrop for our Summit outcomes.

We all have a role to play inachieving the common greater good.

As more leaders encourage us to livethese core values and mindsets in our day-to-day actions, what will your organisation

do to help make the transformation happen? Working in unison to:

Connect Silos Enhances cross-disciplinary relationships Integrate each silos’ competencies.

The challenge: To integrate stakeholderswithin your organisation to work

in unity as one?Global Goal #17

Identify the high potentialsin every organisation to:

Become independent leaders Solve complex problems

Drive coherence and transparency Stimulate cross-departmental emergence

The challenge: If high potentials from allsocietal stakeholders can turn their

attention to Global concerns, they will conceivesimple solutions forus all to develop and

implement.Global Goals # 3 & 4

The responsibility of CEOs:

Living and breading the culture Relentlessly deliver your busy today

Avoid the traps of history Enable non-linear innovationGlobal Goals # 3, 4, 11 & 12

The challenge: To enable the organisations to lead and instil a human-centred culture.

Propel the impacts into communitiesand sustainable cities around the world.

Developenhanced un

of people as indiv

Make better, more Unlock under-util

tale Understand mo

people beha

The challenge: To cworkplace for open,

less conv

Global Goals

“The new agenda is a promise by leaders to all people everywhere. It's an agenda for people, for good health & well-being, gender equality, economic growth, industry innovation & infrastructure, equal pay for equal work all its forms – an agenda for the planet, our common home.”

“Business is a vital partner in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Every organisation can contribute through their core activities everywhere to assess their impact, set ambitious goals & communicate transparently about the results.” Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General

Smartworking Summitthese goals for the greater common good.actions, what will your organisation or community do to help make transformation happen?

Aligning to and delivering against these Global Goals can provide organisations

with a tangible advantage in attracting and recruiting critical talent as well as improving productivity,

collaboration, and innovation

To bring emergenceinto business we must:

Find a band leader who respects thetalents and feelings of each soloist

Allow the individual personalities to shine Bond with and follow the natural leader

The challenge: This systemic connectiongoes beyond rules and processes, it's

about being intrinsically connected at ahuman, emotional, intellectual and spiritual level.

This enables us tocontribute to the common greater

good, whilst contributing withour own unique skills and

talents.Global Goals

#4 & 17

In order to adapt tothe changes ahead we must:

Think holistically Become human-centred at the core Let these two elements come alive in

our actions

The challenge: This cannot just beanother ‘add-on’, it has to be a core

guiding principle for all actors in society.Global Goals #3 and 10

Unleash intrinsicmotivations of individuals,

organisations and cities to align:

Values Purposes Drivers

The challenge: Finding the people,spaces and cultures that would optimisethe unleashing of intrinsic motivation?

Do they even exist yet? Beginning withthose who want to do somethingdifferent may encourage others

to follow.Global Goals # 3, 9, and 11

ing anderstandingiduals in order to:

informed decisions,ised potential andntsre about the wayve and act

reate spaces in thehonest and taboo-ersation.

5, 8, and 9.

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Greg Searle, took us through his personal journey as a world-class competitor looking at how culture breeds unity and accelerates transformation. He revealed how scrapping uniforms spawned unity, moving furniture fostered friendship and ditching the sunglasses sparked strength. At each of the four Olympic games that he has competed in, Greg increasingly understood more about the key to developing a strong, united team. At the 1992 Olympic Games Great Britain took home just a single gold medal. Twenty years later. at the London Olympics, Team GB won 28 gold medals. How was this achieved? As Greg would have it, it’s a lot to do with culture. He recalled intimidation he felt in his first games when thrown into the same environment with all the other athletes. Each Great Britain sports team wore a different uniform, which caused a huge cross-disciplinary divide. Greg would even opted to sit with rowers from other teams rather than sitting with his own GB Team. Everything changed for 2012, with every single Team GB athlete wearing the same uniform regardless of their sport. The team came together as one and went on to achieve phenomenal success. Those 28 gold medals were won because the whole team stopped being one that was broken into silos with short term goals, and became one connected organisation that brought together a variety of equally important skills and talents. Greg states, “We recognised the importance of everyone”. Next, Greg recalled a period during his training when he and his team mate decided to move the newest addition to their team into the same room as them whenever they travelled. They wanted to make him feel valued and part of the team. “Everyone is of equal value, we put his bed in the room to have a different kind of conversation and find out more about each other”. Through something as simple as having a conversation, Greg and his team were starting to become more than little silos working alone.

“The key to a good culture is about the kind of conversations that we have... when we have genuinely honest conversations and encourage others to take risks we grow a level of trust, which ultimately enables that person to deliver.”

Is there a need for some unlearning?Many organisations are very proud of what they have achieved in the past. The pace of change, however, is growing evermore and, as leaders, we need to be open to the idea that the things we did in the past may hold us back in the future - or as Greg puts it - there may be a need to do a little ‘unlearning’. At 28 years-old and competing in his third Olympic Games, a new German coach was assigned to Greg’s team. As a seasoned competitor with two previous games under his belt, Greg felt confident in his knowledge and experience about the way the team should work. When his view differed from that of the new coach, Greg was prepared to quietly go against and undermine him. As a team, they never really connected properly or had the honest conversations about what really drives them. “I was undermining the culture I was part of.”So when it came down to it on race day, Team GB were overcome when a French coach for the boat next to them screamed the names of the rowers’ children. The coach’s injection of internal motivation pushed his team to overtake Great Britain and win the race. “Shouting the names of their children pushed them to win the medal, our (coach) simply said ‘pull harder’.”

Developing aWinning Culture

How better to learn the importance of working in a team than from a Great British Olympian?

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Levels of communication framework

Greg encouraged participants to work their way through the framework’s levels, illustrating the impacts that open and meaningful conversations can bring. When these values are lived and embodied our silos can become unified. How could civil society contribute towards this unification?

“It feels good when we move up these levels, it’s much more engaging and makes a real

difference. Every organisation I’ve worked with has some kind

of values, but it’s about what you do with them. Whether

you live and breath them, ensure that people care about

them and that these things aren’t just talked about.”

As the business world understands and applies this for itself: it connects silos, enhances cross-disciplinary relationships and integrates the different silos’ complementary competencies.Could the next step be to bring together all societal actors to do the same?Should we integrate stakeholders within every organisation, district and county to work in unity as one? Global Goal #17 invites people around the globe to do so!

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The ChangingNature of WorkReflecting on some lessons learned and challenges faced, CEO at Dunnhumby Simon Hay explored the topic of workplace culture and its role in supporting strategy.

Hoverboards are a metaphor for our timeUp until the spring of 2015 most people didn’t know what a hoverboard looked like, much less what one of them can do. Then photos and videos emerged online of superstars Mike Tyson, Wiz Khalifa and Justin Bieber mounting them and subsequently spring-boarding these smart scooters into the mainstream.

Overnight, hoverboards become the ‘must have’ accessory of 2015. Such were the extreme heights that popular demand called for a city in China to produce half a million hoverboards in just one month! They were at the pinnacle of popularity ... until suddenly things started to go wrong.

These ‘must have’ gizmo's dipped out of favour when reports of the scooters catching fire began to headline every news outlet around the world. They were immediately withdrawn from Amazon and other household retailers, as the products were no longer deemed to be trusted or safe.

Drawing on this narrative, Simon believes that the rise and decline of hoverboards mirrors how things seamlessly move in and out of our lives. The swift lifespan of such a promising product illustrates the global ripple effect that takes place in every industry.

Change can come so quickly and competition can come from anywhere. How do we cope? How do we build ourselves up for competitive advantages? How do businesses survive?

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you know for sure that

just ain’t so.”Simon Hay, CEO Dunnhumby

paraphrasing Mark Twain

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Creating a business that lastsThree critical elements:

How do you relentlessly deliver, with efficiency, your busy today?How do you avoid the traps of history?How do you enable non-linear innovation?

These must become an ongoing loop as this is what will move us forward.

Culture vs StrategySimon also talked about the precedence of culture over strategy, stating that, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast". He believes that establishing clear values is the thing that will determine an outcome, as culture determines how successful your strategy is and how it materialises on a daily basis. “Culture comes alive in your actions,” he says.

“Strategy is important, but culture is the number one responsibly that I have

as CEO.”“Change will never be this slow again"

Truth vs RealityAccording to Simon, “Insanity is in every organisation - and that’s what you have to change”. He explained that organisations seem reach a point where the truth detaches from reality, and if you’re not courageous enough to talk about it, things will start to go wrong.Unfortunately, truth is often the hardest thing for people to say and deal with. Simon added, “When opinions get presented as facts that’s when you get into the dangerous territory”.“It’s easy to think a better version of what you do today is innovation, it’s not.” There is a pattern of becoming dynamic, positive and constructive yet it is all about developing the right culture, of which the CEO needs to become the ultimate sponsor and ambassador

Tying intoGlobal Goals

# 3, 4, 11, & 12

Who are the CEOs in the UK responsible for our culture within communities, districts, and counties? How do businesses and politics address the common culture today?

How can we make this happen for a better wellbeing in education, sustainable cities and the circular economy?

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“How can you get them to have an affinity with your aims if you don’t have one with theirs?”

Identify your high potentialsRichard Bandell, CEO of GRG talks about improving productivity through high potentials. Have you identified the high potentialsin your organisation yet?

Unlocking our intrinsic motivatorsWhat gets you out of bed on a Monday morning? Is it your boss? Colleagues? Or is it something else?

There are very personal reasons as to why we all go to work, says Richard. Sure, we could use the money, but it’s more than just that. And if as leaders we do not recognise and encourage people to meet their full potential, we are doing it wrong.

Research suggests that 7-out-of-10 people are not engaged with their company’s vision. If you compared that to players on a cricket team, it’s like saying that 3 players are determined to win the game, 4 players aren’t bothered either way and 3 of the team are actively playing for the opposition.

Richard therefore believes that it is the duty and responsibility of business leaders to actively go about recognising, understanding and promoting the personal motivators and drivers of the workforce as individuals.

Once they are stimulated to fulfill their highest potential, they’ll become more engaged, productive and synchronized with the organisation’s overall vision.

Lose the hierarchyRichard shared his findings from transforming his organisation’s business model from hierarchical to an adhocracy. “The first thing we realised was that culture had become very stagnant, it was a hierarchical and clam like organisation.” He determined that when there is a hierarchy, people are afraid to step outside of the lines, and that their behaviour is quickly corrected on the occasion that they do. In one example he shared, the reaction from leaders to employees who tried something different was even described as a ’drive-by shooting’! These models are counter-productive as far as employee engagement is concerned.When people don’t authentically, genuinely believe that leaders value their aspirations, this results in a huge problem - not just in business, but across all areas of society. As Richard asked, “How can you get them to have an affinity with your aims if you don’t have one with theirs?” As follows, the organisation’s business model was completely disrupted and a very bold new vision and goal were determined: A vision to

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inspire people to meet their full potential and a goal to hit a huge financial target that was sky high. Both the vision and goal were established to encourage employees to shoot for the stars, even when it seemed beyond the organisations', and indeed their own capabilities.

The organisation brought in new attitudes, approaches and programmes to really bring the best out of their employees. These included defining behaviours, not values, and introducing a recognition system to boost peer-to-peer awareness, support and value.

“Instead of defining a strategy we actually asked people to constantly define the strategy and their own productivity targets. We gave people permission to make mistakes and applauded the effort and bravery that went into doing something different.”

Discovering High PotentialsGRG also developed a High Potentials Programme designed to discover self-selecting workers who

was quietly advertised in order to prevent scaring anybody off. Once people had put

had fuller potentials that were previously being under utilised. Open to all, it was quietly advertised in order to prevent scaring anybody off. Once people had put themselves forward, they were interviewed and a selection of candidates were then invited to attend an assessment day. This included tests, tasks and psychological profiling to explore their personal drivers in more depth.

Those twenty individuals are now driving some of the most important change within the organisation. Richard described them as ‘informal leaders in the business’ who are so pleased for the development opportunity that they are really pushing to meet the company’s new vision and previously ‘unattainable’ goal.

Each disruption transformed employee engagement and productivity, as well as making the workplace a fun, happier and more interesting place to be! It comes to the high potentials in any business, who have access to altruism, empathy and a holistic understanding, to create cross-disciplinary emergence.

High potentials exist in all organisations. It is our task to find them and, in return, they will solve complex problems, drive coherence and transparency.

If high potentials from all societal stakeholders can address the Global Goals #3 and 4, they will conceive simple solutions for us all to develop and implement.

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Nurturing a balanced culture within the workplaceCreating spaces for open conversationDirector of Digital Services at Barclaycard, Cheryl Kennedy dismisses the idea of treating everyone as equals and states, ‘we are all different and should treat people as individuals’. And she’s right, we all have different likes, dislikes, talents, abilities, roles to play, and Cheryl encouraged leaders everywhere to get to know their workforce as individuals.

As a leader in business, Cheryl is passionate about gender equality in the workplace and inspiring more women at work. Getting the gender balance right with recruitment is a tricky task in any organisation, but it shouldn’t be one that is ignored or that goes unresolved. Cheryl pointed out that there is so much potential to be found in ‘head-down’ female workers; and if they are unaware of their own abilities, it’s the responsibility of the leaders to promote their opportunities for growth. In turn, they will become an inspiration for others.

In order to achieve this, Cheryl believes that leaders need to prioritise create spaces for honest conversation across the organisation. There are types of conversation, about gender and workplace diversity in particular, that are typically taboo topics. All employees should feel safe and trusting enough to talk openly about any issues, especially when they play such a significant role in the workplace.

Alternate location workingCompanies think that they are cooperating internally, but in practice there isn’t much cross-silo communication about their experiences.Cheryl believes that developing an alternate location working policy is an excellent response to this challenge, as it implicitly conveys a sense of trust to employees which in turn acts to strengthen engagement levels. This becomes fundamentally opposite to the traditional hierarchical waterfall models that encourage working separately.“There isn’t necessarily going to be a silver bullet for fixing everything”, Cheryl admits, “but if you can develop a culture of trust and communication, people will become naturally more open to trying and experimenting with new ideas”. It’s about linking and nurturing everybody who makes up the workforce.

It might not be enough to say ‘we have the right balance of male and female workers’, it might be more about the differences in the

way we think, make decisions, behave and act.

We all have an opportunity to bring about change on some of these topics, as seen in the

actions of Global Goals # 5, 8, 9.

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Re-engineering to recognise individual motivators

Head of Transformation, DWF llp, Richard Copley took us through his fascinating journey through a working life beginning smashing bottles in a factory, to a career in law. Along the way, he explored the meaning behind our motivators as employees, and why the are relevant in prospering fundamental organisational transformation.

Types of workers and what they meanMany people get great satisfaction from their work and take great pride in it; others view it as a burden, and simply work to survive. Many management theorists and social psychologists have explored the topic of employee motivation. As a result, two fundamental cultures have emerged, Theory X and Theory Y:Theory X refers to employees who are naturally unmotivated, who dislike work and need to be directed. Theory Y relates to those who and are motivated to achieving goals, who seek responsibility and can solve problems imaginatively. Richard referred to both models to illustrate the importance of harnessing employee motivators as an accelerator of transformation.

Disruption is happening nowRichard described a disruption, based on motivations, that is taking place within the law industry to find out what’s working, whether the way things are being done is right and where things needs to be changed and improved. “Often, the way we do work is not the way

it should be done. In many cases the wrong person is doing the work. The law industry is changing and it’s an industry that’s reshaping itself”.In many cases, there are better ways to do the work that is currently being done. For example in law, many tasks can be automated and more focus can be put into supporting the people who do the work; by taking into account the different aspirations that they have or what personal goals they are aspiring to. This approach also identifies stronger routes to collaboration. Additionally, Richard reinforced his belief that there is ‘pride in drudgery’ which leads to the ‘self-realisation of the workforce’. All work has some drudgery in it. It is down to the individual to develop the resilience to find the greatness in what they are working on, to stay open minded and to ask themselves, "how can I do my mission and that of my company, industry and society to actually bring added value?". To just stay where you are is not harnessing all the potential within you. Richard’s experience with the industry reshaping itself is a microcosm for what’s going on in society on the whole. We need to re-engineer the whole system so that people are in the right roles for their capabilities.

“We are in danger of a three-tier society. We need to do something if we want to

make a world for our children, if we continue doing what we are doing it’ll get worse.”

To unleash intrinsic motivation it's essential that the values and purposes of individuals, organisations, cities, society

are aligned. Where are the people, spaces and cultures that would optimise

the unleashing of intrinsic motivation?Do they even exist yet?

We believe that if we start with those who want to do something different, the others will follow.

Global Goals # 3, 9, and 1115

Have you ever considered matching jazz with how emergence happens in business? There are no rules, but you know when it’s time to listen, time to talk, time to stay quiet.Educated lawyer and musician Josefin Holmberg is a perfect personification of her views on embracing the unexpected.Borrowing a little knowledge from jazz music, Josefin laid out three core components for operating effectively in business: Foundation, Personalisation and Connection.For foundation, it’s essential to have a band leader who knows the audience, who fundamentally respects the other musicians and their crafts, and who brings everything back on track. To have personality, the band leader must allow for different people to solo at different times. You need to know when that time is so that you can be there to push that solo forward with positive encouragement.

As for the connection, you’re not going to play on your own - it just doesn’t happen. You need to really listen to and respect others’ contributions, otherwise you’ll end up playing in isolation.Josefin concluded that once the three core components are aligned, we can grow our businesses by tackling more challenges together. “We cannot just function as a collection of lots of different things, we are one business that needs to grow organically.”This model is something which Josefin has implemented as Director of Business Transformation at Thomson Reuters. Josefin revealed that there needs to be a ‘massive investment’ from leaders into what really makes their employees tick.“We started by actually getting out there and talking to people face-to-face. We got into what drives them as people (foundation) and asked them ‘who is the band leader? We spent even longer on the personalisation.”

Adjusting to modern times

In 2008 the entire world was changed unhesitatingly. The financial crash catalysed a tipping point in society that ricocheted irreversibly across every industry at every level. As a result of the tumultuous world our prospects were thrown into, our mindsets shifted. Director of CRE, BNP Paribas, Johnny Dunford spoke of how in the eight years that followed, expectations have advanced and leapfrog technology has propelled perhaps the most instantaneous mindset shift of modern times. “We want everything now. Delayed gratification is almost gone and it’s all about top quality at the lowest price!” Johnny affirmed. Mindsets and attitudes have a huge effect on productivity and the impact of an organisation on the outside world. He characterised this by conveying several urban myths that govern the way many of us work and manage our employees.

This theme about how you build life and work together will come through ever-more moving forward. The most influential element for our

cities and organisations to adapt to the changes ahead effectively is going to be in their ability to

become holistically human-centred.This cannot be an ‘add-on’, it has to be a core

guiding principle. Global Goals #3 & 10

Welcoming the Unexpected

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Josefin and her team worked with their employees on being present, on mindfulness and on recognising their impact on others. “We asked them about the shadow they cast and what it means for other people.”

Through positive reinforcement, Josefin was able to change leadership competencies and began to encourage the whole organisation to embrace the unexpected. People began to ask more thought-provoking questions and began to think differently about their roles.

One 22 year old inquired why she couldn’t use Snapchat instead of sending emails. She asked, “Why do I have to work in a way that I would never live outside of work?”

Preparing for the shift: There is a huge generation shift in the workplace and we have to understand the changing needs in order to avoid any discord.

“We’re not going to have workplaces in the same way”, Josefin concluded, “fundamentally we need to know what our foundation is and who the leader is. We need to allow for personality and to be able to connect better both inside and outside of businesses.”

"...To bring emergence into business, we must respect the talents, feelings of each personality and bond with the natural leaders. This systemic connection goes beyond rules and processes, it's about being intrinsically connected

at a human, emotional, intellectual and spiritual level. This enables us to contribute to the common greater good of the orchestra and the audience, whilst contributing with our own unique skills and talents..." Global Goals 4 & 17

What people really want is for their work to be an extension of their home life and to find connections and building relationships.

Looking aheadMoving forward, facilities will change rapidly as our needs and wants in the workplace continue to evolve. Already we see it in the emergence of The Internet of Things (IoT). IoT allows us to do things remotely; to deliver - without even thinking about it - the appropriate environment to be healthier, fitter and more productive.

As we adapt we must embody a mantra that places the workforce/individual using the space at the centre of what property groups/Facilities Managers do. “We haven’t been very good at measuring productivity in the past. We need to concentrate on how to be effective whilst putting the customer at the heart”.

In order to achieve this, a fundamental mindset shift to become more open-minded, collaborative and fun is required. “Work is what you do and not a place you go. It is actually a social activity.”

One urban myth enforces that ‘everyone wants to work from home’. Is this strictly true for everyone? “How do you connect with others?” Johnny mused, “What if you’re on a conference call and the dog won’t stop barking?” Working from home seems to reduce cost so people do it and leaders encourage it but that doesn’t mean that it is going to work for and suit everybody.Another urban myth depicts that Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species states it’s about ‘survival of the fittest’. “It isn’t,” Johnny argued, “It’s about the ability to adopt change”. He used 88 year old retail company BHS to reinforce his view, as he believes that their cease in trading could be in great part due to their inability to adapt to the change fast enough.

So what is the correct mindset?Let’s start by looking at what people want. People want to be part of something real, something that engages them in a group and gives them a sense of belonging. “Loyalty is really important,” he adds, “as people like being together.”

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Six afternoon round table sessionsOffering a more intimate deeper dive into some of the hottest

topics challenging today's boardroom

Is your organisation thinking in the right direction?

Are you sure you're not solving the wrong problems really well?

Have you ever thought about what other organisations are doing to address these common problems?

The six round table sessions at the June Summit debated;

Creating productive workplaces

Improving quality of life for tomorrow’s talent

What’s the future of FM?

Corporate sustainability beyond compliance

Technology innovation surgery

Engaging & retaining future talent

Each of these six topics were debated at length by delegates attending the June Smartworking Summit and indepth details can be found at www.quoraconsulting.com

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Creating productive workplaces

Improving the effectiveness of those whose jobs consist of interactions with other colleagues, customers, suppliers, et al and involve complex decision-making based on knowledge and judgment continues to confound most organisations.

The stakes are high: raising productivity represents a major opportunity to drive GDP growth. Unfortunately, business leaders have a hazy understanding of what it takes to bolster productivity. This lack of clarity is partly because today’s work involves more diverse and amorphous tasks than at any previous time.

Likewise, performance metrics all-too-often prove hard to come by, making it challenging to manage improvement efforts (which often lack a clear owner in the first place). Against this backdrop, it’s perhaps unsurprising that far too many organisations settle for scatter-shot unfocused investments.

The first hour of the round table debated "What’s productivity and what's it comprised of?" Among the factors agreed to adversely impact workplace productivity were;

• Light,• Noise,• Well-being,• Collaboration,• Personal respect,

• Happiness,• Work settings,• Management,• Disruption,• Trust.

• Measure productivityat individual level,

• Understand tangiblevs intangiblemeasures (what'struly intangible?),

• Need for clearmetrics,

• Need for education,especially at managerand executive level,

• Include measures of'happiness' inworkplace planning,

• Act on interventionsaimed at enhancingproductivity,

• Offer the ‘customer’choice,

• Create a sense ofquality across theworkplace setting

The second hour debated how to enhance productivity across workplaces & what actions could be tried in the respective attendee organisations;

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Improving quality of life for tomorrow’s talent

What is quality of life?

Just as with the changing nature of work, the dimensions of ‘quality of life’ are evolving at a rapid pace. Current leading edge practice for quality of life considers six dimensions;

• Physical environment concerns everything that contributes to an individual’s comfort and security:optimal temperature in a corporate environment; quality room furniture in a hospital and effectiveenergy and well-monitored environment in universities,

• Social interactions refer to factors that help to strengthen bonds among individuals. In a company thiscould be meal sharing experiences. In a hospital, actions could include comfortable visiting areas. In auniversity, this could mean on-line student communities,

• Ease and efficiency involves factors that impact an individual’s ability to carry out activities smoothly:flexibility of working hours in a corporate environment; reducing waiting time in a hospital;transportation services in a university setting,

• Health and nutrition represents: nutritious and healthy meals, advise on nutrition and lifestyle, access tofitness and athletic programmes whether in a company, a hospital and a university,

• Recognition includes factors that help an individual to feel truly valued, such as non-financial employeerewards or incentive programmes for companies,

• Personal growth refers to everything that helps individuals to learn and progress, for instance: offeringfirst professional experience to students in universities.

The debate surfaced that employees are now looking to their work environments to contribute more to their quality of life. Some of the emerging expectations are;

• Meaningful environments,

• Measures of ‘happiness’,

• Inspiring, creative and innovative work settings,

• Far greater choice and variety of workplaceconfigurations,

The round table concluded with all agreeing that organisations must be increasingly nimble and responsive to adapt to this rapidly evolving work ecosystem.

Finely balancing physical environments, people, technologies, and cultures, along with the ever-present drive to optimise productivity and control costs while maintaining the crucial quality of life across the workplace requires a precise analytic understanding of how work works.

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What’s the future of FM?Facilities Management has a pivotal role to play in supporting the organisation’s core business. This round table considered how the ‘Facilities Experience’ that stakeholders, both internal and external, have when interacting with an organisation can affect an organisation’s value proposition and what can be done to ensure that FM maximises the opportunities at both a strategic and tactical level to be value creators.

In the first hour the group debated...• FM Services – what should organisations be looking for when selecting FM providers?

• How to measure the value of FM to an organisation?

• What FM means to different stakeholders?

• Leveraging technology and data analytics for FM stakeholders.

• Balancing long term vision with short term requirements.

• Why would someone want a career in the FM industry?

In the second hour we debated how to address the items discussed in the first hour and what takeaway’s we could have...

• The need to discuss value creation partnerships with FM providers; share strategic objectives on bothsides; possible risk/reward contractual arrangements; avoid race to the bottom around cost.

• Engage FM stakeholders to map out where they can add value to an organisation’s customer journey;listen to both employees and clients for insights.

• Use the cross functional insights that FM have to shape the impact of business transformation acrossorganisations.

• Create checklists and Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) documentation to engage and informstakeholders about what FM does and outline benefits; create Best Practice Centres.

• Opportunity for FM practitioners to engage and shape the ‘big data’ agenda providing a high-levelroadmap for information that aligns business needs to growth in analytic sophistication with theunderlying technology and processes; transform the value of what FM does with evidenced data.

• Raise the awareness with key stakeholders, particularly those in HR to the benefits of a career in FM,the qualifications that can be obtained and the successes that have been achieved; utilise industrybodies like RICS and BIFM to help support and promote the messaging.

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Corporate sustainability beyond compliance

This round table focused on 2 basic factors of sustainability that corporates must address:1. Sustainability in the Workplace2. Education and Awareness

1. Sustainability in the Workplace• Sustainability - an opportunity to design company values into the workplace.

“The office is the modern coal mine,” said one executive. “We spend so muchtime indoors that the office environment is essential for health, well-beingand productivity.”

The ingredients of success are:Integrating company values into the designThink strategically and creativelySupport / sign-off from the CEO

• Concept stage“This is the time to embed sustainability,” according to a second executive.“Challenge the design and specification and ensure you get the right brief byengaging facilities management and office managers.” Engage six-months prior to starting on site, Use the ‘seven-stages of grief’ sessions to confront and communicate the workplace

change to people, Top tip – seek ‘change champions’ from inside the business rather than external

consultants as when you leave they have to carry on the best use of the workspace, Productivity boost by 298%

Design productivity from design stages. See the ‘cognitive function test’ by Joseph Allen, from Harvard, to set volatile organic compound levels and ventilation targets as high performing offices can improve cognitive function by 298% over a business as usual office.

1. Education and Awareness• A bridge between the classroom and the world of work• UN Sustainable Development Day

A 24-hour global day for children to celebrate their chosen Sustainable DevelopmentGoal

• Initiatives of Change Charity working with UN on projects of change around the world, coming together for

conversation and peace-building

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Technology innovation surgeryOur seemingly insatiable appetite to share almost every aspect of our lives online has undeniably revolutionised the way we connect and maintain relationships, however this has crept into the workplace and is creating real business problems.Employees are sharing sensitive information online or via email without understanding the damage to the company if this information gets into the wrong hands. Security breaches and data leaks continue to be problematic yet many companies neglect to address how information is shared externally.Compounding matters, organisations are challenged by changing working habits & workplace demands. IT consumerisation, social expectations, coupled with the demands of knowledge workers requiring access to information across multiple devices is amplifying complexity.Traditional approaches to IT security by protecting corporate boundaries create frustrations. Add to this the penalties, both fiscal and to brand, the ever-increasing risk of regulatory non-compliance, and the risk of customers is incalculable.

Safeguarding your business from over-sharing employeesThis round table explored how can business leaders can know if their organisation is at risk of data leakage by an employee who unwittingly divulges information and what can be done about it?Consider a simple 5-point checklist to determine how much control you have over sensitive business data;

1. Do your employees use email as the primary method of sending information back and forth bothinternally and externally?

2. Do your employees utilise file sharing services such as Dropbox?3. Do employees have more than one device, often blurring the lines between personal and work

devices?4. Does your business solely rely on firewalls to secure your sensitive data?5. Do you know what information is being emailed and shared by your employees?

Staff need tools that fit their work styles, tools that provide both secure and fast content sharing with anyone with a vested interest in the content. During the second session, we explored;

• Alternate location knowledge work demands,• Considering regulatory compliance,• Controlling valuable assets,• Securing documents & content,• Identifying new business borders.

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Engaging & retaining future talentThis session, debating the challenges of "engaging and retaining future talent", started by sharing the results of our recent research study where half of graduates said they consider themselves under-employed or working in a job that doesn't require a degree level qualification.This led the group to debate about how organisations position their recruitment and the perennial issue of overselling of requirements for roles that only result in hard-won talented people leaving.The round table further explored what employers could do to attract and retain all generations and genders across the workplace.Some of the ideas explored included;

• Making connections with local colleges and universities and offering work experience orapprenticeships – a great way to get a recruitment pool and spot the talent before thecompetition does,

• Changing out-dated recruitment processes to be able to reach out and attract talent in alanguage and with a process (digital) that appeals to new hires,

• Research suggests that only a small percentage of graduates want to work for a largecorporate. So, those organisations will need to adapt to attract and retain talent, e.g. replaceoutdated appraisal systems, re-think the line manager role, ensure opportunities forinnovation etc.,

• Offer lots of development – it's expected if you want to keep your talent!• Create a fun environment – most people are motivated by working for a sociable company

over a higher salary.The round table discussed at length the challenge of an aging population and how to attract and retain older workers, knowledge or freelance workers. There was unanimous agreement on the need for all types of workers as the needs of businesses are changing faster than ever previously experienced.The workforce must be flexible to resource up and down, just as the work is more flexible e.g. bringing in skills for short bursts as needed for projects and similar.

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Key themes... a look back on the Summit - part i

The morning of the Summit saw seven acclaimed executives with a combined 188 years experience of transforming performance at high profile organisations share their learnings.

Culture is key to a successful business, it’s more important than strategy – various speakersdiscussed culture and its impact on the workplace. Greg Searle stated “The key to a good culture is about the kind of conversations that we

have. When we have genuine honest conversations and encourage others to take risks, wegrow a level of trust that ultimately enables employees to excel.” We must avoid working insilos, recognising the importance of everyone and not undermining the culture of a team/organisation.

Simon Hay recognised that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” and establishing clearvalues is what will determine an outcome on a daily basis as “Culture comes alive in youractions”.

Cheryl Kennedy highlighted the need to treat people as individuals – we all have differentlikes, dislikes, talents, abilities, roles to play. She encouraged leaders to get to know theirworkforce as individuals and create spaces for open conversations. “If you can develop aculture of trust and clear communication, people will become naturally more open to tryingand experimenting with new ideas”. It’s about linking and nurturing everybody across theworkforce

Motivation at work and tapping into individuals’ intrinsic motivators is key to attracting andretaining employees – this was covered by a number of speakers: Richard Bandell highlighted “Research shows that 7-out-of-10 people are not engaged with

their company’s vision.” “If you compared this to players on a cricket team, it’s like sayingthat 3 players are determined to win the game, 4 players aren’t bothered either way and 3 ofthe team are actively playing for the opposition.” So it’s important for leaders to actively goabout recognising, understanding and promoting the personal motivators and drivers ofthe workforce as individuals. Bring in recognition systems to boost peer-to-peer awareness,support and value that reward behaviours linked to the aims of the organisation that havean affinity with their personal motivators.

Josefin Holmberg posited the idea that there “needs to be a ‘massive investment’ fromleaders into what really makes their employees tick.” She has worked with both her teamand employees on being present, on mindfulness and on recognising their impact onothers. “We asked them about the shadow they cast and what it means for other people.”

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Key themes... a look back on the Summit - part ii

The key themes emerging from the Summit were the importance of culture, motivation to change, respecting people as individuals, talent attraction and retention, trust (especially from management), understanding productivity, and the need to shift mindsets, particularly at middle and senior management levels

Quality of Life linking to sustainability in the workplace – an opportunity to designcompany values into the workplace. “We spend so much time indoors that the office environment is essential for health, well-being and productivity.”Designing productivity from design stages. Setting and measuring volatile organic compound levels and ventilation targets for high performing offices can improve cognitive function by 298% over a business as usual office. Engage six-months prior to starting, and use ‘seven-stages of grief’ sessions to confront and communicate workplace change to employees.Seek ‘change champions’ from inside the business to maintain and enhance the best use of the workspace. Surface employee expectations about quality of life at work especially around; meaningful environments; measures of ‘happiness’; inspiring creative and innovative work settings; choice and variety of workplace configurations, etc.

Creating productive workspaces highlighted the challenge of getting performancemetrics but agreeing the following factors can adversely impact workplace productivity; light, noise, well-being, personal respect, happiness, work settings, management, disruption, trust. What could be done to enhance productivity? Important factors to consider are; understand tangible vs intangible measures, need for clear metrics, need for manager and executive level education, offer the ‘customer’ choice, create a sense of quality across the workplace setting. Johnny Dunford highlighted how mindsets and attitudes have a huge effect on

productivity and that employees want to be part of something real, something thatengages them in a group and gives them a sense of belonging. “Loyalty is really importantas people like being together.” What people really want is for their work to be an extensionof their home life and to find connections and building relationships.

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Key themes... a look back on the Summit - part iii

Who should 'own' and lead the essential and ongoing mindset change interventions remains a hot debate. The natural home in organisations should be HR but overwhelmingly the Summit speakers and delegates felt that "...HR are not stepping up to the challenge...". In the face of the ever-increasing changing nature of work, ownership of this issue needs to be addressed

Safeguarding your business from over-sharing employees. Balancing the way peoplework to get work done productively while managing risk effectively.

Using a simple 5-point checklist to determine to determine how much control you have over sensitive business data and giving staff tools that fit their work styles, tools that provide both secure and fast content sharing with anyone with a vested interest in the content while addressing ‘alternate location knowledge work demands’, ‘regulatory compliance’, ‘control of valuable assets’, ‘securing documents and content’, ‘identifying new business borders’.

Richard Copley stated “Often, the way we do work is not the way it should be done. Inmany cases the wrong person is doing the work.” Look at using automation to supportpeople who do the work; take into account the different aspirations that they have or whatpersonal goals they are aspiring to. This identifies stronger routes to collaboration.

Focus the 'Facilities Experience’ on improving an organisation’s value proposition.

Discuss value creation partnerships with FM providers; share strategic objectives on both sides; explore possible risk/reward contractual arrangements; avoid race to the bottom around cost; engage FM stakeholders to map out where they can add value to an organisation’s customer journey; listen to both employees and clients for insights.

Use the cross functional insights that FM have to shape the impact of business transformation across organisations and leverage technology and data analytics for stakeholders.

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Smartworking Summits are the voice of the rapidly changing nature of work.

Unique and compelling, they are the only events where you solely hear from 'unplugged' c-suite

speakers of the very highest acclaim.

It's your opportunity to be amongst leaders learning from leaders.

5th Octoberis the date of the final Smartworking Summit of

2016.

As usual, there's a remarkable speaker line-up but with spaces strictly limited to 250, you'll need to book your place now to avoid disappointment.

Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 5LX United KingdomTel: +44 1491 628654 Web: www.quoraconsulting.com