KSA Presents "Visual Discovery" at VANHA

KSA Interiors Presents "Visual Discovery: Creating a Meaningful Vocabulary for Your Next Design Project" at the VANHA Annual Conference May 21st-24th.

A design team from KSA Interiors, led by Cameron Stiles, CID, FASID, LEED AP; will be leading an interactive presentation at the VANHA Annual Conference in Hot Springs, Virginia. This collaborative and fun Design Thinking exercise will engage conference attendees in a mock design session where they explore Visual Discovery techniques and engage in role-playing collaboration scenarios. Participants will work with the KSA team to define design priorities and vision for the administrators, residents, and staff of the fictional “Heron Bay Retirement Community!”

One Constitution Square - Mobility, Efficiency, Wellness.

In the summer of 2011 KSA Interiors was selected by the General Services Administration to help lead their organization in adopting a new model for the collaborative workplace. In keeping with President Obama's Executive Order 13514 and the GSA's Agency Sustainability Plan - KSA helped develop mobile work environments that compressed physical real estate, promoted improved use of space, flattened corporate hierarchy, and maintained the organization's Zero Environmental Footprint Goal.

Primary goals for our team were to reconfigure existing furniture and to compress the traditional working environment to better align with the growing needs of telework and cross-organization communication.

Long term cost savings were a major factor in all project decisions as the life-span of all products and furnishings identified in this project were intended to outlive their proposed location in the One Constitution Square facility. This requirement established a key challenge as all furnishings and materials would need to work not only here at One Constitution Square, but also work seamlessly at the GSA headquarters facility – the final home for these solutions and departments. 

Programming sessions with the various departments within the organization identified a variety of specific needs and requirements for each unique group - with several key themes that were consistent throughout the organization, including:

Compressing and maximizing the use of existing physical space.

Supporting the needs and culture of telework.

Providing increased opportunity for collaboration.

Addressing privacy as a function of specific tasks as opposed to a measure of status.

Promoting individual and organizational wellness.

To meet these challenges, open work spaces were reconfigured and compressed using "benching" and collaborative open plan systems to increase cross pollination of ideas and to provide appropriate space for telework. Hard walled spaces formerly used for private offices were converted into areas for multi-media collaboration, team meetings, and private interactions. Open collaborative areas which adjoin the open office workspace created areas to improve team communication and also encouraged team members to move throughout the facility. Movement throughout the day was one of the final initiatives in promoting a more healthy work environment and team.

The success of these solutions will assist the GSA in adopting a more effective and efficient work environment - reducing the need for physical real estate and improving the productivity, corporate culture, and well being of it's staff.

Facilities Managers can benefit from a "Culture of Service"

Facility managers rely on an integrated team of support staff, vendors and contractors to ensure proper daily maintenance of their facilities. Each player in this complex team relies on trusting relationships to ensure that a facility’s operations are rigorously supported. Successful facility managers expect and trust that their vendor’s knowledge of various building functions are often better than their own. They also trust that the vendor is equally committed to the right solution, weighing alternatives with the facility’s best interests in mind. Unfortunately, one uncommitted player in the mix can cause the entire support structure to fracture. Establishing a committed level of dedication among any support team requires the development of a “culture of service” in which all vendors, consultants and contractors feel fully engaged in a facility’s operational success.

To achieve a “culture of service”, organizations must develop an approach which communicates the importance of commitment to their support team and provides the tools for strengthening, understanding and empowering individuals. In an effort to develop such a strategy for their own organization, KSA Interiors adopted a service methodology aimed at developing a deep level of understanding with their partners. Easily adapted into any organization, this process, titled “Best in the World”, distinguishes between the ideals of serving someone to the best of your ability and providing someone with the best possible service.

The foundation of this process exists in adopting five key behaviors - “Elicit-Empathize-Empower-Enthuse-Eject”. These keys foster the understanding necessary to become an extension of your partner’s organization. “Best in the World” contractors understand how to elicit a deep understanding of a situation or problem and empathize from the perspective of their client. They have empowered employees who have the willingness and authority to act on their client’s behalf and who build enthusiastic relationships focused on their client’s success, ejecting processes or procedures that hinder rather than help solve problems.

When a vendor asked Andrew Grove, then CEO of Intel Corporation, how to gain more work from the computer chip manufacturer, he replied “Go out and learn how to make chips, and then help us do it better”. Intel’s varied team of supporters understands that their primary purpose is to put their talents to use in helping Intel improve its own ability to do business. From landscaping to R&D, or from facilities to sales, every employee, consultant, and vendor shares the same overriding job description: to help their client’s organizations perform better at what they do.

The free eBook “Best in the World – A Client Centric Approach” details the five keys identified above, and outlines a process for becoming an integral part of any organization’s success. To download the free eBook click here

Christopher M. Good, CID, ASID, LEED AP
Chris is an Associate Principal at KSA Interiors, an award winning interior design firm located in Glen Allen, Virginia