Can workplace design support thriving at work, bring out the best in people, and help nurture positive organizational change?  If so, what are the scalable tools that help make this happen?  These are questions that brought people together at the recent Thriving Workplace Summit, which was held at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

As Associate Principal and Director of Strategy and Discovery for HLW, I co-designed, launched and MCed the Thriving Workplace Summit with a team of HLW designers and strategists and representatives from the University of Michigan’s School of Business and School of Architecture and planning.

If you ever wanted to get beyond the “white noise” of typical workplace conferences and co-create a new way of understanding and designing the future of work, then plan to attend this summit.

These days, the “future of work” and “new ways of working” are popular topics.  Many people crowd these discussions with a mix of proclamations, trends, and best practices.  But this often leads to more noise than clarity.  Leaders recognize the importance of these topics as they wrestle with its various meanings and solutions in very real ways within their own organizations.

To help elevate the conversation while bringing some discipline and rigor to some of the key messages, the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business is hosted a small hands-on workshop with a select group of leaders to engage in a rich, day-long, peer-to-peer learning session.  Faculty from the Ross School of Business joined others from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture in leading a series of discussion sessions, panels, and active learning activities with workshop participants.  In addition, a small group of industry practitioners from Colliers and HLW  co-facilitated various activities throughout the day to help balance the academic and practitioner perspectives.

Participants engaged with the presenters and with one another to gain new insights and ask questions that they might not otherwise get to do at trade shows or industry seminars.  This type of workshop may generate a whole range of new questions that participants may choose to explore more deeply through ongoing research collaborations or other partnerships.

Read more here…

Speakers: Full Bios Here

Gretchen Spreitzer, PhD | Keith E. and Valerie J. Alessi Professor of Business Administration, Professor of Management and Organizations

Wayne Baker, PhD | Robert P. Thome Professor of Management and Organizations, Professor of Sociology, Professor of Organizational Studies

Jean Wineman, DArch | Professor of Architecture, Professor, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Kim Cameron, PhD | William Russell Kelly Professor of Management and Organizations; Professor of Education

Participating Organizations: Blackstone Group, Bluewater Technology, DTE Energy, Duo Security, Ford Motor Company, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Google, Masco Corporation, Toyota, and Vectorform

HLW Summit Design Team: Pete Bacevice, Liz Burow, Jinghang Huang, and Lee Devore