Agilquest Blog

Training Remote Managers

by Kyra Cavanaugh, Life Meets Work This question landed in my inbox recently: Do you have some ideas about what managers can do to train a new company leader who works remotely? It’s a great question since it’s a lot easier to train a leader when you work in the same place. But, it can … Continue reading

Designers Need User Input When Planning Workspaces

The workplaces of the world are undergoing a rapid change. Technology is driving process and system evolution that, in theory, can lead to much greater efficiencies. The problem is, the physical design and structure of most workplaces represents a major obstacle to tapping into that potential. And designers should be playing a larger role in … Continue reading

Networking Building Management Systems

Networking building management systems in smart buildings creates efficiencies and saves money. Organizations need multiple building management systems communicating with each other in order to deliver operational cost savings and customizable solutions. That’s why – in an effort to save $24 million in rent costs, $4 million in energy costs and $12 million in operational … Continue reading

Identifying Mobility Types In The Workplace

Did you realize that understanding the different mobility types in your organization could potentially save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate? Each different style will have different workspace needs and with strategic space planning, an organization could cut real estate and improve operational sustainability. For example, business units with 300 desks, eliminating … Continue reading

The Key to Successfully Adopting Office Hoteling

Any change to ‘business as usual’ in the workplace, such as rolling out a new office hoteling program, require careful and deliberate communication to educate workers and encourage adoption. It takes more than just technology and rhetoric to transform an organization and its work culture. Having a defined process in place is critical for workers to accept … Continue reading

Office Hoteling Using A Mobile App

When implementing a new office hoteling system throughout your organization, it’s very important to cater to the ways employees presently like to use technology. Making your workplace optimization system convenient and easy to use will increase employee buy-in, improve utilization and provide greater accuracy for actual use of space. Employees are more mobile than ever and are more … Continue reading

Why You Need A Space Utilization Analysis

Do you know how much unused space you’re sitting on? Do you know what that’s costing your organization? Knowing how much space is actually being used on daily basis can help you cut out a great deal of excess cost.  The goal of an actual space utilization analysis is to establish a baseline of current utilization, reveal opportunities … Continue reading

Guest Blog: Knowledge Worker Productivity

Experiment of One, by Naomi Stanford, PhD I am a knowledge worker. I don’t make physical goods. I don’t receive calls as in a service center, or process a given number of invoices a day. My work is not ‘measurable’ in any quantifiable or objective way. My job title is ‘Senior Advisor’ which gives no … Continue reading

Save More Money With Business Intelligence Software

In today’s world of ‘Big Data’, answering important questions can be nearly impossible without analyzing historical data collected from multiple sources. As we gather more data, we are able to generate better answers to business problems. Business intelligence technology makes sense out of ‘Big Data’ – data sets that are so large and complex that it … Continue reading

HBR Finds Freedom of Choice is the Secret to Productivity

Among the talented professionals that make up today’s workforce, the secret to a fulfilling career is a sense of freedom, as recently reported in an article by the Harvard Business Review. The article is based on a report released by Forrester in 2009 that estimates that by 2016, 43 percent of the US workforce are … Continue reading

Visioning Your Workplace

A key management challenge in transforming traditional office space into a flexible work environment is minimizing risk. Today’s employees demand a flexible work environment that keeps pace with their constantly changing needs. Technology has untethered them from their fixed desks and freed them to work from anywhere. Many organizations have found that redesigning their workplace … Continue reading

Manage Team Presence & Availability

by Kyra Cavanaugh, Life Meets Work Trust and communication are really at the heart of a successful remote working relationship. And when you have good trust and communication, the need to “take attendance” diminishes in favor of a quality work product that demonstrates employees are truly present. That said, transparency is always a good thing. … Continue reading

Making Change Management Work

By Sholem Prasow, Insight Management At the 2014 Agile Workplace Conference sponsored by AgilQuest, many excellent speakers addressed ways in which to make Change Management succeed. In the discussion workshop that I was part of, we came up with the following summary: Three Reasons Why Activity-Based Workplace Implementations Usually Don’t Achieve Widespread Acceptance – And … Continue reading

10 Things Managers are Afraid to Tell the CEO

Listen up, CEOs.  Here are 10 things middle managers want you to know, but are afraid to tell you… 10. Your corporate values don’t mean anything. Those corporate values you make your employees post in their workspace or wear on their security badge don’t mean anything if you’re not modeling the values yourself. Don’t encourage … Continue reading