MG
Taylor provides processes, tools, and knowledge-rich environments which
enable the collaborative, creative thinking necessary for today's organizations
to meet the challenge of such rapid change. In turn, MG Taylor has
met the challenge of change by continuously evolving our environments to
meet client needs. The first Management Center was built in Boulder, Colorado.
While in Boulder, two important concepts in our environments were developed:
magnetic write-on, wipe-off walls which enable all participants to see
the same ideas at the same time, and "sticky" walls which enable display
of knowledge as it is developed. Virtually every wall in the facility could
accept markets or magnets to aid individuals, teams and large groups in
expressing and sharing ideas. Yet, it wasn't enough to merely supply
expanses of write-able wall space. The configuration of the walls in the
space must support flexible group process. And the furniture that the Crew
and participants use must serve the process as well.
The
economic strategy of the networked information age is to increase our wealth
of knowledge by sharing. MG Taylor's flexible environments facilitate
sharing -- sharing resources, sharing knowledge, sharing vision.
When these elements are shared, there is a quantum increase in effective
implementation of that vision. If the users require a 50 foot long wall
to lay out a complex process that 40 people can see and comment on in real
time, the Center must provide that.
In
these early years, a variety of clients faced numerous questions.
An opera company discovered new ways to use its resources. A municipal
office redesigned its operations. A small food store took the option to
enlarge and meet its 90-day construction goal, later to become a national
chain. The environment provided a place in which people could get away
from the everyday pressures of the office and work collectively and intensely
on new scenarios for their organizations. Client environments provided
a place for charting progress and managing long-term projects.