Planning a Move is the Same as Planning Work

by

Bary Sherman

 Pour a cup of hot coffee, walk into your new office space, quickly put all your files into their correct place, arrange your work surface, begin the day's work, take a sip of coffee ahh, still hot.  Reality? Absolutely!  When you proactively plan the move, just like any other planning work, of the individual office, the coffee will still be hot when you finish the unpacking process minutes, not days later.

Companies regularly make decisions regarding moving.  For some companies, the reason is one of growth, for others it is the need to change their work environment, and yet for others the stark reality of downsizing as a survival tool becomes the catalyst.  Even before the final decision to move, companies set into place the forces for the eventual outcome of opportunity or nightmare.  A clear, proactive plan allowing for visualization of achievable results can make the difference between calm and chaos.

Executives and managers quickly focus on the "big picture" issues of moving.  They approve floor plans, select new or upgrade existing computer systems, and decide upon communications equipment design.  They also decide whether to purchase new furniture or move the "old stuff."  The furniture decision is influenced by the choice of office space: traditional, one of the newer concept of office environment, or a combination of the two. 

Yet if equal attention is not paid to the "small picture"such as how the affected staff respond to the movethe seeds of nightmare will be sown.

In most cases companies elect to hire consultants to assist in portions of the move process.  Consultant services can be valuable because consultants focus on the single project they are hired to perform, unlike corporate personnel who are struggling to keep up with their regular duties as well as prepare for the move.  It is vital that one consulting group within the array of hired consultive services is proficient in identifying and addressing people needs plus paper- and electronic-based information retrieval systems.  An acute knowledge of people needs and filing systems consulting should be client-focused change management process and should not be an expected service of the furniture provider or an architectural & design firm.  While it is true that furniture vendors have proficient knowledge in the design and the ergonomics of their product lines, they have limited knowledge of filing systems/retrieval information as they relate to people and processes.

A move is change, and the process of change, although one of life's constants, is stressful on the individual.  Companies must be aware of these stresses and proactively address and implement an action plan to help the individual through the move/change process just as they would invest time planning work.   

We find that the single most neglected issue in the move process is the unique needs of the individual.  Often the human factors of the new office space are not well planned.  Attention to helping the individuals prepare, pack, and move is virtually nonexistent.  It is imperative to address these concerns and to plan, in detail, all human factor needs before ordering furniture or finalizing move dates.  The move should be viewed as an opportunity for personal development.

The human factors issue in space planning requires careful consideration of the specific use of space.  This means, as an example, that title alone does not dictate the location, size and configuration of the work space.  Human factor engineering is the careful consideration of  the job task, information storage needs, and personal requirements of the individual.  An issue of importance to be considered when making furniture decisions is what we call the Individual Work Radius (IWR).  The IWR is the area in which an individual can work, reach, and manipulate the papers, tools, and equipment necessary to complete normal work with simple body motion and without actually repositioning the body within the work space.  Today's office furniture systems allow for careful consideration of the IWR without reducing flexibility of future redesign options.

We advocate individual office/work station organizational systems which are ergonomically designed in a time-based configuration.  Simply put, things people use most often are within the IWR.  External to the IWR, yet within the individual's work space, is information referenced less frequently.  For example, when a job task requires the use of large amounts of ring binders in the day-to-day routine, employees need shelf space within their IWR.  Unfortunately, many lateral files, overheads, and closed-shelving systems do not have sufficient height clearance for binder storage and quick retrieval.  It is important to take an actual sampling of active binders and "test" them in any prospective records-housing equipment purchase being considered.

Careful thought must be given to the availability and positioning of file drawers to support a time-based storage and retrieval system.  Working (active with predictable retrieval) files should be within the IWR, Reference (occasionally used with no predictable retrieval) files should be just outside the IWR, and Archive (never expect to be used, but kept for legal reasons) files should be predictably retrievable from a site outside the individual office.

The word retrieval is used many times in this article.  This is because the proper mind set about files is not the "storage" of paper-based data, but the ability to instantly "retrieve" information.  Too often the job description of "file clerk" puts the wrong focus on the job task,  which would be more appropriately named "retrieval clerk."  Most often, "retrieval clerk" defines the outcome achieved from the job task performed.

The first critical point necessary for a successful move is that the ergonomically time-based configuration be in-place and operating within the current office before any individual planning or packing begins for the move to the new office.  Employees having effective time-based office processes routinely operating in their existing space can easily transfer these effective processes to their new office environment.

Knowledge of where one is going to be officed is the next key element to a successful individual move.  It is important that people have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with their new office environment before the actual move.  Whether the move is to a private office with casegood furniture, an open office with systems furnishings, or a hoteled office environment, it is necessary for people to know how their new space will look.  It is always possible to create drawings showing detailed plan and perspective views of the individual's work space.  These drawings should be dimensionally detailed, as well as indicate every housing unit's inside dimensions, number of shelves, and  filing format.  In all cases, "hanging" files should be used in either front-to-back or side-to-side filing. (Most furniture manufacturers provide bars or rods which allow the flexibility of either format.)  At this point the future occupant should have the opportunity to compare the planned office design to his actual needs and have input into the final layout.   

Part of any buying decision regarding the purchase of either new or used systems furniture should include that the supplier construct in the current office space or a nearby facility one or more models of the new work stations.  (Manufacturers routinely provide, free of charge, a typical "mock-up."  Arrange for the "mock-up" to remain in the current facility until after the move is completed.)  The "typical," as it is called in the furniture industry, will prove to be a valuable asset to the move process.  All elements of the "typical" should be complete and exactly as they will appear in the "real" office space.  (We recently worked with a client where the supplier had switched the type of bookcases in the typical.  The supplier thought that this switch would make no difference to the client.  This was not true. The interior shelving and filing space were "night and day"; the individual's planning process was tainted.)  Effective planning requires that "typicals" contain components identical to those of the new office space. 

We encourage people to "visit" their new office "typical" often, before the move process begins.  They should sit in their chair and envision where they will position their Working (active) files, Reference (less often retrieved) files, binders, manuals, supplies, personal items, and individual mementos.  Managers should plan employee visits to their new work space "typical."  Staff should also be encouraged to visit the "typical" at their leisure.  Frequent employee visits to their "new" work space converts the strangeness of the new space into a familiar home and enhances the ability to plan properly for the move.

The third key element for a successful move is blocking out time, the primary key to successful time managment, prior to the move, to actually purge old files. This is also the time to update the filing system to one which is time-based.  Setting and keeping appointments on one's calendar to do this work is the only assurance that the work will be accomplished before the move.  There is no logic in moving outdated and never used files which have lost their value.  Eliminating junk before the move will accelerate the process of getting up-and-running in the new space.

It is also useful to note that in recent years there has been a growing trend toward using only letter-size file folders and doing away with legal-size documents.  This trend toward letter-size documents is occurring even in the legal community.  The letter-size movement is a good idea and, because of cost savings in paper and filing equipment, will certainly continue.  The most opportune time to convert legal-size file folders to letter-size file folders is before the move.

Although it is important for all employees to be involved in the proactive planning of their personal part of the move, it is absolutely necessary that managers be on top of their own move process.  Scheduled and specialized move project implementation planning sessions for managers assure the managers’ personal move success.  The success of the managers’ own move will directly determine whether calm or chaos will reign in their department during as well as after the move.  Managers who have a clear knowledge of where they are moving and a plan of how they will move will have a successful move.  Managers who quickly complete their personal move can then devote time to their direct reports.  Leading by example is one of the most powerful tools managers can use to normalize their staff and subsequently the entire company.  By calmly and quickly completing their individual move, managers can devote time to "wandering around" their departments helping their staff settle in, complete work in progress, return to normalcy, and, perhaps most important, reduce the stress level of their reports.

We have created the following "Hints To Help You Move" from our work with companies in the move process:

• ORGANIZE your files before you pack
• REVIEW every file.  Look for duplicate and outdated files.  Throw away
  all useless paper.
• KNOW why you are keeping things. Ask yourself:
  "If I need this information, where can I get it?"
  NOT
  "Will I ever need this paper again?"
• DO NOT KEEP OR DUPLICATE FILES when you know someone else within your organization can quickly provide you with the information.
• REVIEW, very carefully, the layout of your new work station.  If you have any questions, consult your move coordinator or facilities manager.
• PLAN, ON PAPER, where each type of file and binder will go in your new space.
• CREATE SEPARATE FILE AREAS for your "Working" (very active) and "Reference" (occasionally used) files.
• Only put into ONE moving box what will go into ONE file drawer or storage shelf.
• LABEL each box to identify into which drawer, shelf, or part of a shelf  its contents go in the new office.
• Do not move boxes full of "STUFF."
• IDENTIFY critical items you will need the first morning after the move and place them in a "special" box, or your briefcase, and take them home with you.
• COMPLETELY EMPTY each box into the correct pre-identified drawer or shelf in the new office.
• PLAN to be completely set up in your new office before the coffee in your cup gets cold.

The investment of time, energy, and money in proactive attention to the individual in the move process brings multiple forms of payback to companies.  (1) Employees clearly    see that the company cares for them as individuals and isn't just pushing them around.    (2) By being asked for information, staff buy into the move process and can do their part to make it a success.  (3) The faster the move process is completed,  the quicker focused attention can again be given to the customer.  Customers accept and understand that there will be a brief period of interruption of service during company moves.  In fact, frequently customers perceive that the move was initiated to provide better service.  However, customer service must be quickly up-and-running or the customers' perception will change.  Customers will question the quality of companies that blame poor service on the move process.  (4) There is a "soft" dollar payback to a company's investment in human factors planning.  The proactive instruction and training of all employees before the move will result in a short down-timesaving hours, if not days, of wasted time.  

Management's careful attention to the individual's needs both before and during the move process will assure that any employee, in any organization, will pass the "hot coffee test" and complete the move process with greatly reduced stress. 

Bary & Lynn Sherman are the owners of PEP Productivity Solutions, Inc..  They have spent over a decade and a half helping organizations paln and transition to new, more effective, more productive ways of working. 

For more detailed information relate to time management, productivity, and reduced stess issues related to the move event please visit www.PEPproductivitysolutions.com or call 760.731.1400.