Archives for June 2009

On Thursday, the BH Radio Theatre hosted our second major get together of over 200 colleagues involved in helping Workplace support the BBC and it was great to see so many familiar faces and to meet new ones.

We covered a great deal and we also had the chance to look at all the big projects we're involved in from the new space at Salford to the massive Broadcasting House W1 scheme to the sale of Television Centre and a host of other projects.

Thanks to Pat West who not only hosted the event but did sterling work behind the scenes helping Hellen Martin and Nisha Jani mastermind the whole show and I know that they were supported by many other team members who helped out.

Many of the team actually participate in Town Hall meetings within different parts of Workplace - so lets label this as the "Big Town Hall Meeting" For those based our of town we will aim to have one of these out of London during 2010! but the next one will be in September.

Rather than going into the detail of the various issues covered now I will post a number of blog entries over the next week or so which will provide more detail on our strategic plan, the corporate property plan and our annual operating plan.

I was very keen to take on this task, (despite all my other responsibilities!) as I strongly believe that being able to work in an environment which is engaging, culturally reflective and that affords access to all parts of 21st Century Britain is something worth fighting for.

I may not have all the answers and I certainly don't have total awareness of the Diversity agenda but I have started the journey towards an Operations Division that is inclusive and recognises Diversity - there is some interesting information available online, you can check out the links below as a start - why not find out more? As ever, feel free to comment on this mail if you have a point you'd like to raise in response.

Chris

Information on BBC Diversity policies

BBC Jobs Diversity page

Press Release re Diversity Executive

Equality & Human Rights Commission

The Focus for the 2009 DEGW Founders' Lecture

When thinking about the future of the Workplace, I tend to consider who else is doing interesting stuff. However, one should never overlook what were achieving ourselves and what's going on under our noses.

This was truly brought home to me when I attended the recent DEGW Annual Founders' Lecture. Usually the August event is held at the Royal College of Physicians. But the 2009 lecture was hosted by BBC Worldwide at the new Media Centre HQ in West London.

Such a break with tradition did not put off DEGW clients and a large crowd came out to White City to see what the BBC gets up to.

On a personal note I feel very proud of how the reception/facility team handled everything in a smooth and unruffled manner.

Despina Katsikakis, Chair of DEGW, delivered a thought-provoking discourse on the future direction of work and the buildings that will best support this activity.

John Smith, CEO of BBC Worldwide, provided the responses to Despina's lecture and used this platform to outline how he had used this move to a new building as an enabler of significant business transformation.

John in his speech captured, in my view, the essence of what BBC Workplace is trying to achieve through 'Flex' our version of an alternative Workplace strategy - by stating: "The new space has re-energised us to maximise the future of our business."

This is all about understanding the vital role space plays in helping a workforce to engage with one another and in doing so collaboration and thereby creativity flourishes. As John put it: "Space needs to encourage people to talk, to listen, to think, to walk about and to be engaged with their organisation."

Are there any other examples of where using different spaces has had an affect on your business or creativity?