Moving Others: Reviewing Dan Pinks "To Sell Is Human"

      

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Daniel Pink's now not so new book "To Sell is Human, The Amazing Truth about What Motivates Others" connected with when I first read it in early 2013 with it's ideas reverberating with me everyday since.  I'm serious. Reading it confirmed something I knew intuitively, that "we are all in sales" and that selling isn't a dirty word, rather a reflection of basic human activity we do each and every day. 
      Pink shares how day in and day out we spend "40% of our jobs seeking to persuade others to act, choose, decide, select an idea, in some way to behave a certain way to achieve a desired outcome"  As Pink says, this is called "Non-sales selling". This behavior is basic to our existence. We all do it. Reading this rang true to me as a sole-proprietor architect and business person. 
      Everyday I seek to move people in my work, engaging in non sales selling and yes sometimes selling, and what better way to improve I found is reading Pink's book and acting on the ideas and research he shares.  Whether you realize it or not, everytime you post on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and the like you sell yourself, your ideas, the things you find interesting.  
      You can continue doing so without clarity or understanding of this basic fact or recognizing you do it harness the aha moment and put it to good use. As Pink says, "It turns out that we are all natural salespeople. Each of us- because we're human--has a selling instinct, which means that anyone can master the basics of moving others." He goes on to say how the traditional catch phrase ABC, "Always be Closing" no longer applies, rather could be replaced with a new ABC, "Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity." 
      Attunement is fascinating to me for a number of reasons. Pink says "Attunement  is the ability to blend one's actions and outlook into harmony with other people." He believes you increase your power by intentionally reducing it, beginning each new encounter or interaction believing you are in a position of lower power or authority. Doing so helps you empathize with the other's viewpoint.  You walk in their shoes, understand their perspective better.
      Attunement is strengthened "by using your head as much as your heart - Top Sales people have strong emotional intelligence but they don't let their emotional connection sweep them away." You need to connect and empathize with your coworkers but not get sucked in too far, finding a balance and objectivity.
      A very direct way to explain attunement which I continue using daily is mimicking others in a self-aware, observant, respectful way.  Pink goes on to share many examples of this but for me I explain this as keenly observing those around you, picking up cues from them about how they're interacting with you and blending with them by interacting similarly rather than in sharp jarring contrast to them.  This blending translates to figures of speech, body movement and position, energy level together and more.

A Growing Self Awareness of Technology Overload

A Word Cloud  Explaining How I feel

     This holiday season I am really overloaded by technology, so much so it's making my head hurt and I feel both annoyed, confused and conflicted by the media messaging coming at me from all directions.  I see and feel all the beautiful images and implied lifestyle of ultmate media experience.  I see families sitting in contemporary styled living rooms watching large flatscreens, heads bent down looking at tablets, laptops.  All together they appear it seems, but in actuality so far apart from one another.  I don't buy what I'm seeing in the advertising because I'm living in a media overload nightmare.  I think it's a tip of a proverbial socio-cultural iceberg. 
     I'm surrounded by screens of various sizes and shapes.  I'm uncomfortable seeing so many friends and family uncontrollably it seems bent over tablets, itouches, laptops vaguely interacting with one another, not making clear eye, mumbling answers to questions down to the screen but not across the room to the person asking the question.  If this is togetherness and family time why does my skin crawl ever so little sometimes when I look across to see a loved one head down on a screen, body in place, mind and focus elsewhere.
     I can't be the only one feeling a little weird about this can I?  I know all of this great cool tech at least in the commercials, web and multi-media advertising has us all living in a super happy fantasy world of better lives etc.  But is it really making us better people?  Do we know how to do things like basic communication, like....talking to one another?  I know that after a long day working on my architectural work surrounded by screens at my desk, where I frequently post strategic updates to my LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, flitting around doing work related research I feel a bit scattered. 
     In the last year or so, have you tried reading a newspaper article or picked up a magazine and tried reading an indepth piece, quickly realizing you can't because you're still scanning the pages like they were on a screen and you can't settle down to actually read like you used to.  I have.  Often.  I feel all of this tech and my unwitting behavior with it has led me to a self-created attention deficit disorder.   
     Backing up a little, let's set some context. In our home bookshelves we have an old children's book from the 1950's or so espousing the glamourous miracles of the technology then called television.  Looking at its simple colored illustrations showing how the technology worked, explaining the complex and mysterious ideas of programs of various kinds being beamed over airwaves into people's living rooms seems quaint today.  Often books like this or Norman Rockwell paintings depict entire family's sitting around a living room, a barber shop, restuarant or bar looking at a single TV or listening to a radio.  
  

Small Steps to an Energy Independent World, Montpelier's Electric Vehicle Charging Station

All-Electric Vehicle Charging Station in Montpelier, VT

     Yesterday while downtown in Montpelier, I walked behind City Hall and literally ran into something I've never seen before and which given April 22nd and Earth Day is just around the corner it's definitely worth sharing. It's also just another reason why I think Montpelier is the best place to live in Vermont. We do stuff.  Seriously good stuff.  

     In February, the City and Green Mountain Power teamed up to install a free solar powered electric vehicle charging station behind city hall.  It's the third one for GMP so far, with one installed in South Burlington and Colchester.  Last week I pumped over $4.00/ gallon gas into my cars for the second time in my life, the last being in 2008.  I read yesterday how hybrids and all electric vehicles had there best month ever in the Burlington Free Press and here as described in the March 2012 Hybrid Dashboard.  I believe it.  While the current percentage of the total vehicle sales pie is small at 3.5% or so it's a rapidly growing segment of the market fed by high prices at the gas pumps.  

Keeping Posts Simple

A Simple Line -Winter's Frosting
copyright Stephen M. Frey, 2011

Is writing a blog post a good idea with an Apple iTouch? Or a similar smart device? I think so.

Here's why.

Maybe it maximizes the reader's experience of whatever I'm sharing and is respectful of their time. Writing from such a device ensures I say only so much as I am not fluent in typing on such a small screen.  Yet.  Or maybe never.  So the device helps focus the writer's attention on saying only what matters most.

The small size also means it's portable so it can go with me wherever I go.  Perhaps having it around will make it easier to post more frequently about ideas, trends, people influencing designcultivation.blogspot.com.

The small form factor shapes how you respond to the urge to write about something essentially.  Here's a question; what if you adopt this mentality using a laptop or writing an email?

See the recent Email Charter or the movement to keep emails short with voluntary following of the three sentences or five sentences rule (see threesentences.com, foursentences.com, fivesentences.com)?  In the interest of promoting quality time away from email you can do your best to adhere to the policy of writing and responding in 3-5 sentences.

Writing in the active rather than passive voice while using simple verbs and adjectives, energizes your text not deadens it.  Maybe this will activate the conversation?  Can't hurt?

Over the last year I have steadily seen people write emails to me with much simpler language.  Usually they    have only one or two ideas they're focusing on.  Maybe I'm a little slow but I figured out recently they're writing from a smart phone or texting from a cell phone.  Detail is out.  Brevity in.  They don't have a choice. The device drives the communication style.

They also might be using their intuition when they realize they're writing something very detailed and recognize its better to cut to the chase and call someone or visit them face to face about what you're writing about or responding to.  Try it, especially before you hit the send button, before you inflict irreversible pain on yourself and others.  Life is too short.  I have learned the hard way, believe me.

So since I'm not very bright but catch on after a while I'm thinking this is a good idea.  So look for simpler communications of all types from designcultivation, Stephen M. Frey on LinkedIN, @designcultivate or  @arocordisdesign on Twitter, or arorcordisdesign on Facebook.

I include an image from last Winter in keeping with the spirit of this post.  "A Simple Line".  That's my mantra for 2012 and beyond.  What's yours?

Do you have any communication tips and suggestions balancing the needs of short and long form online media, paper media, especially as it relates to the design fields?  Please share!

Concerned about social media and technology? Maybe a good idea.

What often is missing in diving into social media activities is 'actually thinking' about what we're doing and reflecting on what our values are and why we're using these services/ tools etc.  

How is doing what we do in this space helping out at home, at work and within our community, in the grandstands watching your kids play sports?  Are you better for it? Are you sure?  Really! Just because you can use it doesn't mean you should!  That's a great phrase to take to heart especially if you haven't actually thought about why you're using these tools.

William Buist at the Societal Web posted about this issue and raised some very interesting points. As he says social media  gives us new and heretofore unforseen ways to communicate with each other, and its problematic.  Just because we can "update our status" while at a meeting, or "text friends or have long drawn out phone calls" while at our sons and daughters ball games is this multi-tasking positive behavior? The technology allows us to do this but should we do this?  

I know this dates me, but my dad and mom (pre cell phone days) actually watched me and participated in my games, or helped out coaching.  Now I do the same and watch all kinds of parents, older sisters and brothers and younger work their "smart" devices at the game. Their bodies stand facing the play but they're  far away, disconnected from the visceral present.  If this is the "positive example" my generation of parents  is truly capable of I'm thinking this isn't so good.  

Recently I plucked one such parent off of his phone he'd been wearing by the side of his face for the past five games and asked him to be a third base coach for a few innings while I umped.  The guy was super animated and really involved with his kid for the first time I remember all season.  I learned this guy has so much too offer the kids, the team and our community.  But he sits back and uses his "smart phone".  I know its tranquilizing, almost narcotic in its influence.  I want an Ipad too!  But I'm going to wait until I get my head around this issue more clearly.

And now that we're so deep into this how do sensibly tame this addictive behavior?  Or does it (meaning social media) control us, especially if we don't take the time now and again to think about it critically?  Often, we're missing the fact we can have a face to face conversation, or a phone call rather than Tweeting about something to someone or Facebooking it.  Or doing another LinkedIn update.

Why not go to someone's house and have dinner and connect..?  Or taking a walk with someone and talking.  You can't easily do a Goto meeting session or AppleFace Time while walking can you?  It's hard to do two things at once?  But yet we try...it's exhausting to multi-task.

Part of this is temptation of the new and the cool.  It's the joyful exuberance of using our new tools, the smartphones, tablets du Jour, the apps and buying into the "lifestyle" choices being shown us in the advertising we see where ever the media source.  However, there's relatively few voices stating "let's think about this" and examine what we're doing collectively etc. leading to setting up a goals and values discussion and learning how to recognize what's missing in these new interactions.

What kinds communities are we really building, families, teams etc. when social media seems to an important aspect holding everything together?  Caring about this is important to our communal well-being.  What do you think?  How is social media impacting your life?  Think back five or ten years ago, how much time were you spending talking face to face to people versus today?  What would happen if your smart phone disappeared for two weeks? Or your iPAD?  Would it change your life for the better? Or the worse?

Remember, just because you can use the latest and greatest tech gadgets and software services doesn't mean you should.  Take a moment to think about it every once in a while.  Talk it over with  your family, your coworkers etc.  You'll find there will be lots to discuss.

Strategic Workplace Survey Results In! Part 1 of 2

I am sharing with you today the results of the recent Strategic Workplace Survey I conducted over the last two weeks.  Thanks to all of you who participated! I did the survey to do a number of things. First was to test out the surveymonkey.com online survey process.  Primarily I wanted to shed light on issues shaping the design and operation of the workplace this year and beyond and learn more on what is on the minds of the readers of this blog and those I reached out to via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.   I'll also keep the survey open for a while to continue collecting data.

Reinforcing the generally better news about the economy most responded their place of work would likely be adding staff or additional resources or at least keeping staffing numbers level.  No one surveyed reported the likelihood of more layoffs or downsizing.
The area which surprised me somewhat was the results from the selection of the top three general workplace challenges facing respondents in 2011?  Worker disengagement and lack of clear management process and support were tied with lack of training and development focus and attracting and retaining talent as key underlying concerns.
Perhaps this indicates workers at all levels are burned out from the past couple of hard years and that management hasn't paid attention to managing effectively or providing clear training and professional development oppourtunities.  The cut-backs many have endured or had to make might be now hurting growth, innovation, performance and service.  Clearly more can be done operationally to build more effective team work and worker engagement.  This might be good news for those in the training and professional development services area to connect with clients again!

When asked what were the five general physical aspects needing the most help in the workplace the standout was a shortage of collaboration and meeting spaces. After that there was a tie between inadequate shared common areas, poor acoustics and lack of visual privacy, poor indoor air quality, followed by distance from home and lack of adequate parking.

These are common issues we design professionals here from our management customers and space users.  If these issues were more aggressively addressed in workplace design or renovation, perhaps this could impact worker productivity and wellbeing, ultimately helping the bottom line of the company.  When you're considering your next project whether renovations, additions or new construction really dig deep here when developing the project brief and space programs. Consider adding more conference and meeting spaces of various sizes and types. Make sure you tame the acoustics, general lighting issues and indoor air quality.

With your architects, interior designers and facilities people, talk to your employees and really find out how they view the spaces they work in and how to re-imagine together a more collaborative, effective workplace.  What kinds of common space and amenities would help both employee effectiveness and worker wellbeing?

Next post I'll focus on more specific ways workspaces can be improved, issues around sustainability and green design and day to day interactions between workers results there.  I'll also share some feedback from other designers who wrote me back in some of the LinkedIn groups I belong to.  In the meanwhile, thanks for checking back about the survey results.  Let me know if this is helpful to you and if there's anything I can do to improve.  Thanks, Steve

On Spirals and Gravel

I am a fan of sacred places and spaces.  Sometimes they are fueled by movement of the body in some kind of ritual.

Here, I explored making a spiral in a bed of gravel at a friends home. While it wasn't an exactly religious experience per se. starting out at the center and walking in a tightly spiraling path outward was both meditative and rhythmic.  Not to mention a little dizzying.

While temporary, the completed spiraling form had a beauty and appeal about it.  A few days later, it dissolved in the storm runoff from our recent heavy rainstorms.  Largely a figment of my body memory, I do pleasantly I remember the flowing feel of walking in the heavy gravel, the stones giving way beneath my feet making crunchy noises as I made my spiral shape.  What was really neat was how the low afternoon sun grazed the ridge and gullies, amplifying shape and form.  The photo captures the essence of the light and is a reminder of how fleeting such experiences truly are.

The act of turning in circles like this has a name, circumambulation.  Whether its a pilgrimage around a holy mountain, a religious monument or a May pole, the act of circling around is a primordial aspect of our lives.  The experience of being in the gravel reinforced this greater message in an aspiritual way.

Passive Haus in Central Vermont

Today I saw a link to this video from the New York Times site showcasing an unusual super insulated and hyper efficient home requiring no heating systems in the lovely hills of central Vermont where I live. 

The Landau family engaged a local architectural, engineering and building team to design, produce and install their home on its site to a levels of extraordinary energy efficiency and air-tightness requiring no internal heating system at all.  The family was very interested in living in a home with zero energy use to not rely upon fossil fuels. 

Their home is modeled on the European Passiv Haus model now becoming more known in the US.  There is a US Passive Haus institute, an affiliate of the original in Germany. For more projects in the US, please click this link.

Bensonwood homes, one of the building team members produced and installed the exterior building envelope including frame, walls and roof systems.  They're just over the border in nearby New Hampshire.  They are on the forefront of integrating super-high performance building design into CAD CAM aided panelized production of building elements assembled together onto the site.  It's a novel approach to construction and design build which results into more control over the building process and higher quality control with apparently minor additional costs to the project.   

A take away for me is that it is possible to design and build these kinds of homes in the chilly world of the Northeastern US.  The capabilities exist practically in our back yard.

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The original link to me to this great video is courtesy of Greg Howes from the LinkedIn Group"Net Zero Building" of which I belong as well.  Greg is CEO of ideaBuilder.com. 

 

Re-evaluate your driveway and consider Greener Options

Ever consider tearing up your driveway and replacing it with a "Greener" choice? I do every day I drive into mine.  Perhaps you live in cold wintry climate or dry hot climate.  Here's a few ideas which predominantly suggest examine your driving behavior and parking needs, then lead to material selection.

One thing to consider regardless of the material you choose is assess how much parking lot area you truly need.  I bought a house in Vermont with my wife with a very wide and lengthy driveway which when the kids grow up I'd love to make smaller.