The new buzz word is Engaged

In the corporate environment being "engaged" is the new buzzword and means being an employee who is involved, focused, energize and committed to the work you do.

For an in-house design group this is especially challenging. So much is design-by-committee, the highest paid person's opinion (hippo) often overriding expert design opinion or user research results, and lack of appreciation for the value designers bring to the company.

The studies say having a best friend at work is an important part of feeling committed and engaged. Many conversations in the office (and laughs) have centered around this idea. And once I understood and paid a little more attention to friendship and being a friend, my own outlook improved a bit.

Here are a few more drivers to consider...connect, shape, learn, stretch, achieve, contribute:

Feeling Blah About Work? Don't Blame Your Boss--Get Engaged

I'll have to say appreciation tops my list. Mark Twain said "I can live two months on a good compliment."

I agree.

Well, maybe not two months.

What keeps you engaged in your work? How do you increase engagement in your design team?

e

Ah, to be a maker

 

I've been a Wired magazine subscriber for years.

It's edgy. It's geeky. It's ridiculous. It's offensive.

But every once in a while it's totally inspirational. It kick starts my creative juices in a way that no job, hobby or book can.

Today I finished the magazine that came in the mail just yesterday and felt a jolt of refreshment. The ideas have just started whirling inside my head.

This month's magazine features "How to Make Stuff" and is chock-full of the kind of information one in our latest DIY-crazed society needs to get started...to be a maker.

They list the latest "tools" to be a maker.

No, it's not a sewing machine. That was my first maker phase.
No, it's not a camera and darkroom stuff. That was my next maker phase.
No, it's not children (the hardest maker phase I've attempted).
No, it's not fabric, batting, needle, and thread.
No, it's not paint and brushes along with design software.
No, it's not HTML and java-scripting.

The latest tools I would need:

1. Computer-aided design software. It's a natural next step for me considering the design software I've been using and the year I spent doing 3-D computer modeling in a past life. Any suggestions you CAD aficionados, for the Mac?
2. 3-D printers "unlike mills and lathes, which make parts by removing material from a solid block of stock, 3-D printers make physical objects by adding material a little at a time...melting powdered metal or plastic into durable 3-D parts...or liquid polymer." How cool is that?!
3. Arduino micro-controller. "...you connect input pins (sensors, say or buttons) and output pins (LEDs, motors, sirens, servos, and more.) Then use the free software to write a program that tells the outputs what to do with the input signals." Simple, versatile.
4. Rapid-prototyping services. Hey, just like the service bureaus for designers in the late 80s. Somewhere to upload my designs and have them made of wood, plastic, rubber, or metals.

The wheels are turning!

Okay, wait, maybe I'm just enamored with the IDEA of being a maker.

I credit a certain can-do maker attitude to a certain Algebra teacher in 8th grade, Mrs. Jensen. She told us she was an inventor. We giggled behind our hands at that. Why would an 8th grade Algebra teacher be teaching Algebra to us every day if she was an inventor?!

She would come to class all excited to tell us of this idea or that and again we would giggle. She told us of all the ideas she had first, that someone else had now made real. She constantly encouraged us to think new thoughts and not wait to act on them. (She also had an amazing talent for explaining a math concept in four or five different ways until everyone in the class understood in their own way.)

Looking back I see it as a defining moment in my life...that. has. laid. dormant. for. years.

Maybe it's time to jump start the little spark ignited by a Jr. High math teacher.

Or, maybe I'm just poised to start a new career considering where I am with the current one.

Or, maybe I'm just inhabiting my rich inner life with these new dreams.

Or, maybe just being curious is so satisfying. (I just recently picked a friend's brain regarding his e-Bay store of collectibles, how he goes to auctions, how he manages shipping, and how he's grown his business to almost a full-time pursuit.)

I love self-discovery. I love seeing what makes people tick, makes them (and me) whole, makes one feel well and happy. Somewhere in all these ramblings is the answer to the positive change I seek in my life.

Or, maybe I'll put my brilliant mechanical-engineer brother onto the idea and watch him create a second career! After all he had the same Algebra teacher!

What inspires you? And why aren't you acting on it?!

e

Cool links:
Wired.com
Wired's how-to wiki
Howtomakestuff.com
Instructibles.com
How to make stuff videos

P.S. Related article: 3-D printing using sawdust

Strengths

"You cannot be anything you want to be—but you can be a lot more of who you already are."

"When we're able to put most of our energy into developing our natural talents, extraordinary room for growth exists."

Focusing on strengths rather than "opportunity areas" in the workplace, and as a way of managing or leading, makes so much sense to me. It just feels right.

I've been reading StrengthsFinder 2.0, and Strengths Based Leadership in the last few days.

Their research proves that feeling out. People who do have the opportunity to focus on their strengths every day are six times as likely to be engaged in their jobs and more than three times as likely to report having an excellent quality of life in general, according to the Gallup organization.

"If you focus on people's weaknesses they lose confidence."

When you are not able to use your strengths at work, you are six times less likely to be engaged in your job. You are more likely to dread going to work, to treat others poorly, to achieve less on a daily basis, and to have fewer creative moments.

Not good for a designer, right?

I recommend taking the assessment and having a candid discussion with your employer about where you can begin using your strengths every day.

At the very least it will validate what you've already known and give you permission to stop trying to be more of something you aren't.

These really work...

7 Tips for Messy Times, by Mark Hurst

I haven't accomplished the single To-Do list just yet, but emptying the Inbox every day is essential and possible.

Check out the other suggestions!

Clever Customer Service and Humor

Who's Al?! :-D

Nothing like being clever and making me smile to engender good feelings about your company and your customer service.

Thanks Better World Books.

. . .that the right seed planted at the right time. . .

is all that's needed to inspire a person, then a group, and maybe even an entire organization.

Recently I recommended a book to a design manager as an interesting take on managing a group of creative people in a corporate environment. (See below.) It's not the first book I've passed along to a person with the hopes of making a difference. It's the first I've seen devoured, internalized and even evangelized. It validated my friend's thinking and management style, but, more importantly, inspired him with ideas for the next evolution of his department and provided an approach that may possibly influence an entire organization.

There are a lot of great business ideas and books out there whose authors are hoping for just such a thing—the right timing into the market, and the right circumstances in someone's life for it to "take off".

It's great to see a planted seed, sprout, grow, and take root. That doesn't happen often. And perhaps the fruit will benefit many.

The right idea, in the right hands, at the right time. It's all about the timing.

Quotable

Timing, degree and conviction are the three wise men in this life. ~R. I. Fitzhenry