Try It. Tweak It. Use It. Share It. Volume 4
Photo by John Barkiple on Unsplash
By Mary Aviles
Recently, I've been musing about simplicity versus complexity. How do we simplify that which is complex without oversimplifying and without jargon? And, when is complexity a better strategy?
Try It.
Listen to Lisa Shalett's interview You Are Where You're Supposed To Be if, like me, your inner voice won't shut up. Ever. It's chock full of nuggets about owning your story and framing your narrative. She talks about the importance of contextualizing your career.
"If you don't proactively provide the framing, you'll miss opportunities."
She also highlights the lesser-known side effects of defining your personal brand, like improving your confidence and enhancing your agility. When you've set your sights on a particular career opportunity, you can better position yourself as a candidate by distilling your work down into specific capabilities and then mapping those against the needs of the prospective position. On a related note, last month, I partnered up with Lady Bondo to discuss Personal Branding with 700 Urban Land Institute members. Referencing Dorie Clark,
“Cultivating your personal brand is the best way to attract a sponsor—professionals with sponsors are 23% more likely than their peers to be promoted.”
Tweak It.
I used to keep track of all the books people recommend on my Pinterest page. Unfortunately, it's really hard to find time to read them all. In order to keep up on the salient points while working my way through my pile, I frequent Four Minute Books. (Side note: Niklas Goeke is a prime example of someone who uses generosity and content creation to narrate his personal brand.) On the top of my reading list is When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink. Along with Daniel Kahneman, market researchers love Daniel Pink. His latest book examines findings gleaned from large scale analysis of public Twitter messages. Apparently, more than 50 percent of people are most alert in the morning--suggesting that's the best time for them to attack their analytical tasks. What's your chronotype? Are you a lark, an owl, or a third bird?
Use It.
I've conducted and/or observed countless hours of qualitative market research including focus groups, one-on-one phone interviews, online digital exercises, and social media listening. And, while this work has often been recorded and transcribed, I've rarely had occasion for peer observation and critique. If you work in any field that requires user/patient/community engagement, listen to this interviewing workshop. What an effective mechanism for learning from yourself and others! Here are the techniques that caught my attention:
Use of an amplification exercise to establish trust and build rapport
Application of a physical, novel Andon cord for participants to "pull" in order to make negative OR positive observations
The person being observed has the opportunity to critique themselves first
Organize actionable learnings into Stop-Keep doing-Start buckets
When interviewing or surveying, if you are seeking to understand and observe, avoid asking for feedback, which signals to participants to assume the role of Evaluator.
"What are your thoughts on this?" can be a lazy question, leaving data on the table. Be more specific if you're trying to gauge reactions to a specific feature, concept, or use of lexicon.
Share It.
I absolutely love this episode of This American Life. It takes about 9 minutes to get going, but in it, Phil Collins, Joe McGinty, and Julia Greenberg help contributor Starlee Kine write a break-up song. The trick, Phil advises, is simplicity:
"It's the simplest thing that actually reaches people...a simple idea, simply sung, and obviously [that] sounds like it's sung with conviction."
I'm particularly interested in that rare combination of words + delivery and how essential it is to nail both.
Many thanks to those of you who have provided feedback and material. Please continue to share your input and any suggestions for improvement. If you implement one of the ideas you found here, I'd be thrilled if you reported back your outcomes!