New ways of working

If delivering value sooner is the goal, let’s check out how to get that started. Hint : it doesn’t start with you. It’s about involving people, users, customers, colleagues.

It means connecting more with people, not less. It’s being closer to them and understanding more about who they are, what they need, what their problems and challenges are.

Involve is about empathy, understanding things from their perspective and seeing the truth of the situation or problem. How close could you get then Martin Lindstrom in ‘Small Data’ says, ‘there’s a well-known quote that says if you want to understand how animals live, you don’t go to the zoo, you go to the jungle.’

Lindstrom gets very close to gather data; he moves in! Why so close? ‘I look for patterns, parallels, correlations ... imbalances and exaggerations,' he says. 'Typically I focus on the contrasts between people’s day-to-day lives and their unacknowledged or unmet desires, evidence that can be found anywhere.’ A-ha!

Start with empathy and getting closer to your customers. This is a vital part of new ways of working... putting the customer at the centre.

How do you currently involve your customers? How could you involve them more?

Lists are great for shopping. Not great for sensemaking.

Lists are great for shopping. Not great for sensemaking.

When you’re in a meeting, discussing, generating ideas and solutions, planning details of how things might work, you might write down some key points:

* In a list.

* Like this.

* And this.

* Another point like this.

* And more like this.

While it feels efficient capturing what’s happening - sequentially - it’s not so helpful for making sense, now or later. A vertical list of dot points is challenging to retain, build links in, find common themes or show relationships and connections.

Ditch the list; make a map. You zoom out on Google Maps to see where you are: roads, suburbs and towns become visible. The ‘dots’ of towns are connected, not in a list but in a network.

A network map is one of the foundation tools I use to help people build sensemaking skills. It shows relationships, connections, more detailed information. Lines can be different thicknesses; circles different sizes. This communicates something more than any list can. The quality of the map? It doesn't matter. It's that you made a map - that matters.

Managing information overload in a world of too much %$#&* information

The Institute for the Future said cognitive load coping was a 'got to have it' skill for 2020. I've been keynoting at conferences on Day 1 giving delegates these much needed 'cognitive load coping' skills.

Are we ever 'taught' or 'shown' what to do in a situation of information overload? Many people zone out, reach for the comfort of their mobile device, feign understanding (head nodding) or daydream.

Info overload at conferences happens:

🐌 g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y (end of Day 1 you feel zombie-ish)

or

🚀 rapidly (presentation is so fast, laden with charts and stats you lose the threads ... gone).

Part of the 'it's all too much' zone is when we foolishly choose to REWORK information. We store it (take photos of slides at conferences, save PDFs, type notes, screenshot stuff) fully intending to 'look at it later'.

But it's one of the most ineffective and inefficient ways to handle information overload. Rather, get up out of the 'it's all too much zone'. It's worth building the confidence and capability to handle all that information, live ... in the moment so you are indeed 'all over it'.

Know where your thinking is at

With all the information flooding in to our mind - posts, meetings, documents, reports, media ... plus the things we make up in our own mind - knowing where your thinking is at is a powerful form of self-leadership.

Where are you?

⬅️ Are you at HINDSIGHT - the past? This is about stories, sharing what happened and it helps us make sense of now or the future via what has already taken place.

⬇️ Are you at INSIGHT - the now, present? This is where information is coming in ("incoming!!") and we need to interpret it, connect it and integrate it.

➡️ Are you at FORESIGHT - the future, thinking about the next? This is about predictions, projections of what might happen (based on what happened in the past or what's happening now).

None of them, or any of the locations are wrong or right. It's the knowing where you're "at", this is the powerful thing about thinking and sensemaking.

Sensemaking is understanding the deeper meaning of things and how we connect the dots. Are you aware of how you make sense?