A recent CBRE Research study showed that on average, L.A. offices and cubicles are only occupied 48% of the time; and The Times Business Masterclass claims that 37% of the global workforce will be mobile by 2015. These are pretty compelling stats. We had to ask ourselves—what does this mean for our future workspace?

For us, it meant transformational change that improved the way we work, the way we generate business, while at the same time optimizing our assets. The road hasn't been easy, and it wasn't a perfect process. Having lived it, we know the challenges that companies implementing similar strategies will face. So we wanted to share our experiences and lessons learned regarding successful change management.

CBRE's Top 10 Lessons

1. Assess your needs and determine how change links to your business.

Partner with workplace experts to assess how your employees work throughout the day and what environment and tools will best support them in each activity (we consulted with CBRE's Workplace Strategy Group, which advises clients worldwide on workplace transformation). Equally important, identify how your teams create value—individually and as a collaborative unit—and work towards creating the ideal atmosphere to enhance those moments of value generation.

2. Start early.

Pilot some of the planned changes before you make the move. Giving your team an opportunity to adjust while still in familiar surroundings enables you to refine your solution with their feedback.

3. Define what's in it for them.

Cost savings can't be your only goal. It's equally important to invest in the things your employees care about, like new technology that will give them an edge. Create an amenities-rich environment that makes it fun to come to work.

4. Get people involved--everyone!

Engage your supporters and your most vocal critics, keeping them informed from beginning to end. Listen to their concerns and incorporate their ideas to get buy-in. If you can make them believers, they will help you bring others along as well.

5. Communicate.

Recognize that different people absorb information in different ways. We had email updates, a dedicated website, a blog, meetings and training sessions; we gave everyone an opportunity to share their experiences along the way and to provide insights to help their teammates.

6. Look for the similarities

If you're anything like me, you're reading this article with a running list of why this will never work for your organization. Instead of looking for the differences, start looking for the similarities. Once I made that shift, it opened my eyes to the incredible possibilities. We are not Google and we're not a technology firm—but why wouldn't we aspire to be one of the best places to work?

7. Engage people in the things they care about.

We gave people opportunities to impact the things they cared about most by creating several committees. Our health committee was formed during flu season, when our employees protested sharing keyboards and phones. That one concern evolved into a comprehensive office and employee wellness initiative, involving everything from furniture fabric to water filtration. It has also inspired people to become involved in the change process.

8. Educate people in how to do things differently.

With a “free address” environment, we knew we would need to eliminate as much paper as possible. Many of our professionals have files they've saved for years--and let me tell you, they weren't happy about getting rid of them, primarily because they didn't know any other way. So we initiated digitization training. One-on-one tutorials helped people assess what they needed to keep, what should be scanned and what could be recycled. The result? We have purged 89% of our paper files, reduced the number of file drawers by 78%, and decreased our file storage square footage from 5,600 square feet to 1200 square feet. You can do the math on the cost savings!

9. Be transparent—admit your own fears and mistakes.

We made many mistakes along the way. The first was crashing the entire office server in my eagerness to digitize my own files. We quickly engaged experts to right my errors and get us back on course—and I'm now a digitization pro.

10. Lead by example.

When you ask your employees to support a major workplace shift, you have to be willing to be the first to make those changes. I moved out of my private office eight months before our space was ready so that we could test the concepts of unassigned space. While uncomfortable at first, I'm now thriving on the energy of our team.

The result of this process will be one of the most forward-thinking offices in the country—an office that will truly reflect the strategic advice that we are providing to our occupier clients who are increasingly exploring new ways to work better, smarter and more productively in an increasingly mobile, highly connected world.

With our new global headquarters, we will be leasing 10% less space with room for 25% more people; but the cost savings and increased efficiencies—while significant—are not as meaningful as the cultural change this move has ignited. This is not simply about driving efficiencies--it's about building a more collaborative, mobile and healthy environment.

It's about building a better company.

Lewis C. Horne is the Executive Managing Director for CBRE in Southern California and is the 2013 Chairperson for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. He has served as the firm's executive leader for all aspects of the new Corporate Headquarters office in Downtown Los Angeles, overseeing everything from design to technology to change management. As a recognized business leader in Southern California, Horne regularly speaks on a wide range of topics pertaining to business and commercial real estate, including Workplace Strategy and Design. The views expressed in this column are the author's own.