Informed agility

It’s easy to slip into complacency when we’ve been in the marketing business for a while; we’ve earned our stripes, we’ve seen it all, and we’ve pulled off a number of minor miracles in our career.  And yes, that’s a record to be proud of; but now we’re dealing with an industry that is evolving at warp speed.

We have to be agile to continue to adapt while maintaining quality and value in what we do.  Competition is fierce, we all know that, and our clients are also continually looking for that edge to help them win new work.  The reality of our marketplace is that we’ll need to help our clients accomplish what they need to, and we all have to do that with fewer resources and in markedly less time.

Keeping up with changes requires informed agility from us.  How often are decisions made based on a gut sense or because traditionally “that’s how we’ve always done it”?  More than ever we need to make decisions based on data, not on guesses.

On the marketing side there are a lot of database tools available to us to help track our activities, the level of effort we have to put out, and the results of our efforts.  We also have an obligation to keep our C-Suite team informed of changes as we seen them happening; a surge in activities in a specific geography, a poor hit rate relative to a service, growth or reduction in backlog for a market sector.

It’s amazing how often data actually contradicts our experience and assumptions; so informed agility and decision-making is critical to the economic performance and viability of the firms that we work for!

It’s all about relationships…

If there’s one secret to understanding marketers, it’s knowing that cubbyholes don’t work for us.  Claustrophobia is in our DNA; we like to be out there, sharing with and learning from each other.

At work it’s the same thing; we’re not satisfied with specializing in a single discipline or specialty; it’s important for us to also forge connections with our technical staff and corporate team members.  We can do that in a lot of different ways – with informal associations (we love to connect or we wouldn’t be in this profession!) engaging in giving or receiving training, and participating in organizations.

Either way, the greater exposure that we have to our organization’s corporate vision and technical expertise, the more opportunities we have to be influential and bring value to the table.  And when we engage in connecting people, creating bridges from one silo to another and sharing knowledge gleaned from those interactions, then we’ve created our own opportunity to influence the culture within our organization.  And who doesn’t want to do that?

There are so many opportunities to meet each other through professional organizations like SMPS, SAME, and ASP, and the great events they provide such as meet-ups, workshops, etc.   It’s only natural to develop relationships with one another.  They also give us an opportunity to find a mentor or to be one.  Its really true that marketing professionals in our AEC industry are extraordinarily generous in sharing knowledge and ideas and experience, and the fun thing is that knowledge flows both ways.  Learning from each other has never been more fun!

Listen up! What CEOs can learn from their marketing team.

Last week our SMPS DC Chapter conducted a terrific panel discussion about the unexpected value that we marketers can bring to our CEOs.  Among the panel participants were CEOs of design and construction firms and senior marketing professionals in our industry.  At the outset it was clear that our definitions of “marketing” ranged from business development responsibilities to creating or producing marketing collateral to a dizzying array of communication activities; there are as many ways of performing “marketing” as there are firms that use our talents.

Of course, there is an obvious answer to the question of what value we marketers bring to our CEOs.  We create relationships with clients, we track our competition’s activities and we keep an eye on what is going on in the marketplace.  So if you are limiting your marketing staff to just performing proposal and qualification production tasks, then they are being commoditized and you miss a great opportunity to engage their knowledge, skills and passion for what they can do.

The best marketers are pushing their CEOs to ask questions – questions that get behind what their client needs and wants are. That kind of knowledge can be critical in helping our CEOS plan and adapt to our evolving industry, and it allows us to contribute real value in the planning process.

Creativity…it’s a process

North Coast of Scotland

The view was amazing from the top of Signal Knob Mountain yesterday.  Clear enough to see for miles;  it was easy to get lost in time up there.  That’s the magic of finishing a tough climb and looking at the world from a different perspective. It allows us to watch birds from above, soaring in thermal updrafts, removed from the limits of gravity and time.

And that’s why creativity is so important to us; we each have a unique perspective in the world, a unique voice inside that has to be expressed and shared with the world. It’s a process of expression which is so important, and not a product.  Honor that process, be willing to be imperfect, and be courageous.

Creativity needs space and it needs feeding; space to try something new without the constant sharp elbows of our plugged-in world.  And new experiences feed it with fresh ideas and a richness of expression.

How can you get started?  There’s no one way; we each have to find the way that speaks to us.  It could be as simple as putting down your camera and picking up a pen and paper instead.  Sketch what you’re experiencing, don’t photograph it.  The act of expressing yourself on paper allows you to capture that moment in time with your thoughts and feelings.  Your drawing is almost unimportant.

Standing on the blustery north coast of Scotland, I did a quick watercolor sketch in a terrific headwind.  There were a few futile minutes of struggling with the pigment as it as it trickled across the page, driven by the wind.  A sudden gust then caught the edge of my sketchbook and slammed the pages together, creating a wonderful (if sloppy) mirror image of the scene.

Every time I see that sketch, it removes me to that coastline again, and the humor in that absurd experience.  And isn’t that ultimately what creativity is about?  Capturing and sharing our experiences?

Brainstorming; synapses are firing

Synapse party

You know that “Aha!” moment that can happen when you’re having a conversation, and you suddenly really get what the other person is saying? That connection is golden – doesn’t it feels like your brain cells are expanding? It’s a great feeling to understand where they’re coming from.

We all know that it can take work to “get” what someone is trying to say; especially if their opinions or experience are foreign to ours. But being able to share those different perspectives is one of the most powerful tools we can use to build brainstorming teams.

Any time you’re brainstorming, the clearest road to success starts with creating a safe place for people to collaborate. Establish context for the topic you’re working on, if necessary and recognize each team member and the credentials they bring to the table. Share rules of the road, such as mutual respect, willingness to risk throwing your idea out on the table, to hear each other out non-critically and think about the intent beyond our words.

And finally, there are tricks that make for great brainstorming. It’s the obvious things; come prepared, record everyone’s ideas no matter how farfetched, give credit where it’s due (that’s a big one), record results in a clear and powerful way, and follow through. Oh, and most importantly, have fun!

You’ll know you’ve arrived at your creative destination when you can all say, “Aha” !

It has to matter…

Be the bee

Talk about short attention spans!  We all are swarmed by data coming at us from every direction, like a posse of cranky bees; so there’s a good reason why we spend less time following a conversation or reading a blog if it isn’t meaningful.

Which leads to the question – what IS the best way to connect with people and get a dialog going with them?  Well, it really helps to be meaningful.  That sounds like a no-brainer, but guess what; it’s easy to fall into the trap of speaking at people rather than conversing with them.

Secondly, you have to capture people’s attention to engage with them, and that’ll happen naturally if you’re passionate, funny, or distinctive.  And be real; we’re all quirky, with unique perspectives and a voice all our own.  So use it and create a reason for people to want to linger.

No two brains are the same (thank goodness) so no two people learn the same.  What that means is that to get your message across you want to use visuals, text, converse, anything that you can think of to connect with your target audience. 

Just remember… bee real.

Daydreaming out the window: it’s underrated

Do you look out of your window when you’re trying to clear your mind, or focus on remembering something? Most of us do, and there’s a very good reason for that. We are, ultimately, human beings who respond to the things around us. Things like the space we’re working in, natural light from a window, sounds that could sooth us or annoy us, a work space that feels hospitable – or not.

So when we are in the business of designing workspace, or hospitals, or homes, we have a chance to really impact the people who’ll be working, healing or living in that space. After all, isn’t our client ultimately the people who will be living with our design decisions for years to come? Their productivity, health, attitude; all of these are all affected by how we do our job.

Over the years, qualitative and quantitative research has been conducted that demonstrates very clearly that our designs have the power to affect occupant’s state of mind, their health, and their productivity. We’re talking bottom line results, but we’re also talking about important things, like quality of life.

It’s all about balance. If we remember that aesthetics are important, but equally crucial is air quality, comfort, and a sense of place, then we’ll succeed in creating an exceptional built environment that serves its occupants well. We’ve all heard that quote from Churchill, “we shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” it’s so true.

If you want to read more about research into the built environment’s impact on occupant health and productivity, Google the “Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics” at Carnegie Mellon or the “Center for the Built Environment” at UC Berkeley.

Too much of a good thing?

I really liked Seth Godin’s blog about “enormity” – meaning, you can overwhelm people with too much information, and it will shut them down.  He used the example of a charity showing too dire a situation that needs help (too many hungry kids, too much injustice), and the response from their readers would be to shut down, not to contribute.

There’s a perfect example of it with a pair of marketing packages that we sent out to the same client about 5 years apart.  We have worked with this client more than 15 years, so we have a great track record to talk about.  The first package, 5 years ago, was more than 150 pages of valid, hard-hitting information, but in hindsight we were overwhelming them with information; clubbing them over the head with our long history together and our wonderfulness. 

This time, (I can’t imagine why), they limited everyone’s response to their solicitation to 30 pages.  You know what?  It was a great discipline.  You had to be mindful of everything that you said, and respectful of their time and attention.  It was definitely harder to prepare the package because every word, every picture counted, but it was such a better document because of that.  Every response to their questions had to be taut and meaningful.

Lesson learned; more is not better… which is why Seth’s blog about “enormity” not working for marketing hit home.

The Green Workplace by Leigh Stringer

Leigh Stringer’s new book, The Green Workplace, is a great read.  She sets context for the issues that we face today, both locally and globally, and provides alternative suggestions for how to reduce our ecological footprint. Everything, from where we chose to live in relation to our workplace, how we chose to accomplish our work via computing technology, and virtual teaming, can have a positive impact.

Liberally sprinkled throughout the book are callouts such as “Finding State and Local Tax Benefits” or “Actions You Can Take Today”; resources and suggestions that offer tangible steps that we can take. There is no single map to successfully improving our work-style and business practices in support of the environment, so she provides analytic tools to help the planning process. Determining candidates for alternative work settings is an important component of planning, as is identifying an organization’s “cultural readiness to adopt alternative work strategies”. These are in my favorite Chapter 10, which focuses on work practices.

This is more than just a compelling read; it’s a ready resource of information - you’ll find yourself reaching for again as you rethink your work environment and daily work practices.

BTW, the notes section alone is encyclopedic in content. Read it; it’ll change the way you think about work!

The silver lining

How is it that some organizations come out of economically challenging times stronger than they were when they went in?  Beyond the obvious planning and strategies; how are they managing to think leaner, reexamine what passes for “standard operating procedure”, and getting more creative in terms of new offerings they can offer their clients.

When times are tough it’s hard to make those decisions to downsize or eliminate business practices that “got you here”, but it’s absolutely essential to think in terms of how you can best move forward into the future.  For those of us in the consulting, design and construction industry, changes are happening at warp speed.  The platforms that we use to operate, the technology and expertise needed, the very resources available to us are evolving more and more rapidly.

It’s not enough to be forward thinking, to make the smart decisions and to invest in preparing for the future; we have to be agile enough to continually adapt to changing circumstances on the ground.   Adapting to our new business realities means that we have to be willing to let go of old practices that maybe aren’t working for us anymore, and replacing them with new ones that offer us a map to the future.

How do you find new ones?  The obvious approach is to look over your landscape.  Seek out a sampling o f your most strategically-focused clients and speak with them.  Ask open-ended questions, keep the conversation honest and most importantly, listen.  Listen for what their concerns are, and for the direction that they see themselves headed in.  You have to conduct enough of these conversations to get beyond anecdotal information and actually identify meaningful trends.

There are two additional types of research that can flesh out your understanding of the landscape.  The first step would be to research industry trends; there are many professional associations, specialty consultants and academic institutions that collect that type of data and share it.  You can find these sources of information by word of mouth, social media, and good old fashioned web research.

Once you’ve done that, expand your focus.  Move up to the 20,000 foot view to research global trends.  This is a critical component of understanding the landscape of the future, and its frequently overlooked or undervalued.  It should help you establish context for any major decision-making opportunities.

Now that you’ve developed a fairly clear understanding of the complex of factors that can potentially impact your future, it’s time to turn your attention inward.  Again, listening is the predominantly important skill.  Conduct internal team-member conversations; identify your existing resources, whether they are “hard” or “soft”, they are equally valuable in planning for your future.  And where there are gaps, get creative to develop new assets to bridge them.  Some investments require more than you want to make in a down economy; those may be the time to modulate and to take an incremental approach.  There may be times when it makes most sense to throw all those chips down and make an investment; those aren’t the decisions to make without seriously understanding all potential repercussions. 

So let’s say that new, dynamic, exciting opportunities were embraced.  Now you’re marching happily down the path to your future.  This is the time, more than ever, to measure and closely follow your results.  Don’t take a step forward without having identified the goals and tools that can help you calibrate what “success” is.  If you’re monitoring your progress constantly and adjusting as needed, then you’re strengthening your position.  Agility is defined more as your forward momentum with some course correction as needed along the way, than your ability to stand still and dodge whatever comes your way.  Because change will always come your way faster than you’ll be able to continually dodge whatever the future may bring.

What are the best tools for succeeding at this?  A culture of transparency, of openness to new ideas and realities, clear communications (which is not easy, given some of the complexities we face) and a passion for always improving will get you there.

And finally, remember that some of the most successful organizations in our business world today have learned that it’s better in some instances to “give it away” than let it become obsolete… that way they’ve managed to position themselves as thought leaders who continually bring new value and vision to the world they work in.