What do Ferrero, Philips and the European Space Agency (ESA) have in common? Contamination as a driver for their communication and HR management.
“Contaminate” is one of the key verbs of the new ways of working, a solution to spread and create know-how and new competencies in a company and to foster creativity and innovation. But, when can we really talk about good contamination? That was the topic of a dedicated conference at the IFMA’s FM Day 2018 in Milan.
Ferrero: a social mentality and an online contest.
“Dematerialization is mainly about moving from an exchange of documents towards a sharing of documents. The cloud system brings us in a relational dimension. Also in Ferrero, we are using a social mentality and instruments inspired by Facebook to design our ways of working together”.
Gian Piero Barra, Italian management services Ferrero, presented the experience of a traditional company as Ferrero in changing its way of communicating, both inside and outside the company.
An example of it is “Design the woking break”, an open contest for re-designing the new break area of the production line published on the Desall website. The goal is to design a more relaxing and energizing space, that helps to create a more welcoming and lively environment.
ESA: cross fertilization.
“Imagine a scientist becoming a Facility manager…” this is the challenge of the ESA’s “cross fertilization” project described by Maurizio della Fornace, ESA Infrastructure Engineer.
Based on moving employees from their own department to another one for 2-3 months, the project aims to make every worker more aware about the company’s life and to give them a new perspective about waht they do everyday.
“There are some problems, although: a considerable waste of time and the difficulty people have to come out from their confort-zone” Della Fornace explains. “We have other projects about contamination: an open blog, a cloud system and also smart working. Thei goal is the same: make people come out from their corner and put them in a different and wider context”.
Philips: smart office as a collaborative platform.
“Philips has started a contamination process years ago, starting from defining the human capital already present inside the company and arriving to the smart working and the smart spaces of the new offices in Milan”, Roberto Ponte, Philips Real Estate & Facility Manager, told. “A maxium grade of flexibility and of desk sharing managed by a digital collaborative platform are the main features of the new office’s design. Contamination among colleagues and company’ branches is the message we wanted to spread across the enviorment: there’s no trace of hierarchy in the space, nobody has a private office and everyone is called to collaborate with everyone”.
However, how can a manager deal with a possible employees’ resistance to change? Roberto Ponte quoted a Deming’s aphorism “We have done this way for years is the confession that the system doesn’t work”.
Text by Gabriele Masi.
Opening and closing picture from Intesa San Paolo’s Hive project.
