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Piloting: Adopting a prototype mindset for today’s workplace
Corporate Real Estate Journal,
14
(1),
23-35
(2024)
Abstract
This paper is designed to help corporate real estate (CRE) leaders adopt a ‘learning by doing’ approach to workplace strategy and design to improve employee experiences and organisational outcomes. While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought lingering uncertainty relative to the future of the physical office, it has also spawned a spirit of openness to change and a willingness to experiment. In this paper, we discuss ways to learn by doing at various scales, with a focus on the largest-scale methodology: piloting. We show how pilots provide a low-risk approach to introduce flexible work policies and new ways of working within a sustainable financial model. We demonstrate that by generating data and insights, pilots can drive plans to scale and inform future space types within the larger real estate portfolio. This paper draws upon years of research and exploration conducted by MillerKnoll brands and our customers on pilots of varied types and scales. It provides a roadmap to implement a pilot, including questions to ask, selection criteria for teams, and locations and methodologies to measure success. Case studies illustrate various approaches and results achieved.
Keywords: pilot; participatory design; prototype mindset; hybrid work; workplace strategy; flexible work
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Carolyn Cirillo is a member of the Global Research and Planning team at MillerKnoll where she studies macro trends, the future of work and the impact of inspiring workplaces on the human experience and organisational outcomes. Her articles on the future of work and the flexible workplace have appeared in Work Design Magazine, The Business of Furniture, Workplaces and Allwork.Space, where she is a contributing writer. As a marketing researcher, strategist and content creator, she has worked with architects, developers and brands in the built environment including Knoll, Maharam, Holly Hunt and Armstrong World Industries, focusing on the power of design to improve the human experience in environments where we live, work, learn and play.
Jason Rosenblatt is a Workplace Designer at MillerKnoll. Educated in industrial design and architecture, Jason served as the Director of Design at NELSON for seven years and prior to that was a Senior Associate at Perkins & Will for 15 years. During his time in professional practice, Jason’s projects have been recognised with over a dozen design awards from organisations such as the AIA, ASID and IIDA. His 28 years’ industry experience has included a broad range of corporate/commercial interiors projects as well as healthcare, hospitality, retail, higher education, branding and product design. His experience with this wide variety of clients and industries has given him insights into human-centred design methodologies, participative client engagements and trends across the different regions and markets. Jason is NCIDQ certified and a LEED Accredited Professional.
