TicTac Micha

I just ran across this this morning and had to share......talk about product placement!

TicTac Micha

Community rather than Accountability.

Looking at trends for this coming year, one of the big buzzwords that keeps arising over and over is Accountability. In reference to government, business, wall street, education, the notion of a new accountability seems to everywhere. But what exactly does that mean, and in trying to create accountability in our workplaces or lives, we have to assume that there is something that can be "countable." Or that the countable component of someone's work is really where their value is. But in a creative realm, is that possible? Is that counter-productive to creativity?

If you survey designers on their passion for their jobs, I am just guessing here, but I don't believe that the common denominator is the passion for billable hours. Are billable hours necessary, absolutely, but are they a good measure of productivity, creativity, or the contribution to the synergy of an office or team? Not necessarily.

Has the accountability measure of "No Child Left Behind" been beneficial and in the greatest good of students? I venture to guess that most teachers would disagree that it was. If you follow Higher Ed at all, there is a belief that students are less prepared now than ever. So, if there are measures in place to ensure accountability, then why are we not more productive and engaged than ever before?

Maybe it is because the methods for judging accountability are only adding one more layer to mix of what an individual needs to focus on, rather than doing what is right. So, as the pressures of a weakening economy are weighing down on managers, employees, and even volunteers, take a good look at the accountability in your organization and I think you will find two kinds of accountability; internal and external. Let's look at how each drives your organization.

External Accountability: These are the laws and rules within which we need to operate. OSHA regulations, the speed limit,  industry rules and guidelines. They are most frequently set for the protection of the whole and to provide some very basic guidelines to live and work by. The consequences are typically well defined enforcement is fairly uniform. They are the basic structure, the bare minimums within which we live. External doesn't just refer to the maker of the "rules" as within an organization managers may make "rules" which are passed down to employees as well, perhaps considered a threat. While these rules are good and necessary for a society to function and avoid discrimination or abuse, they aren't necessarily the type of accountability that in 2009 our society is yearning for.

Internal Accountability:  This is where I believe businesses need to focus in 2009, and this accountability is one which isn't necessarily "countable" and even more difficult to measure and define, but that which I believe will make all the difference.

This accountability is not one of adhering to the rules for fear of punishment, but a movement to a motivation of ownership and inspiration within the workplace which will thrust companies further ahead than those just looking to "control" their employees.

Do you want employees who drag themselves to work or those who earnestly enjoy being a part of the team? Those who are stealing office supplies from you or the individual who is thinking of new ways to reduced the need for office supplies, or getting the best value for them. Employees looking out for themselves or employees looking out for the team or company? This accountability, I would like to call "Community."

In a Community, there a lot of individuals, each with talents to contribute, and are there willingly and are engaged in their environment and in moving the community as a whole forward. In a community, a truly functional community, individuals are willing to share what they have and what they know because they know their thoughts and things will be respected and reciprocated. A community is a safe environment to speak new ideas and try new things, but not just for self-benefit, for that of the entire community.

It was a community which strove to land a man on the moon and return him safely home, an inspired community. It was a dream, not a threat, a dream that by working together, was achieved.

In the book "Community: the structure of belonging" by Peter Block he lays out three questions which I think would be interesting to address when you bring your team together next.

1. "What is the crossroads where you find yourself at this stage of your life or work or in the project around which we are assembled?" This is the determination of why are we here, why is this meeting being called, what is the situation which needs to be addressed or considered.
2. "What declaration of possibility can you make that has the power to transform the community and inspire you?"  What is your "dream" or bigger vision for the outcome. Don't worry about the "How's" yet.
3. "What do we want to create together that would make a difference?" "What can we create together that we cannot create alone?" These are not necessarily the "how's" but perhaps more of an inventory of the resources of the community and how they might be best combined to create something larger than the individual is capable.

But in order to fully and effectively answer these questions, we have to know our community. Know their interests and passions, what drives them and what their aspirations are. You have to know what tools they have in their garage before you can ask them to contribute them. That happens by having bigger and more meaningful conversations with each other.

Recently, in a think tank group of which I am a member, Jodee Bock introduced us to a technique which I found quite interesting. Each person in the group asked the next member sitting around the table two questions, everyone in the group listened to the questions and asked additional questions and gave feedback as was appropriate. The two questions were:

1. What are you passionate about?
2. What can I (we) do to help you with that?

As each person in the group started to talk about their passions and others in the group gave feedback, in each instance I found something for myself. A tip, attitude, affirmation, or a connection I could share or just support I could give them in their endeavor. I got to know them better, understand what was motivating them and it shed light on my own situation. Insights I wouldn't have had, if I hadn't taken the time to be interested  in the passions of others, and them in mine.

I also have another term for this kind of engagement in the workplace, it is that of Creating Synergy, about finding ways to naturally have those conversations, to build that sense of community, and what some very simple and inexpensive techniques for doing that are. The list is still relatively short, but a start, you can check them out on this site at Creating Synergy.

And, while I know that the economy is weighing on people, and stresses are higher than ever, make an effort to focus on productivity from a standpoint of internal motivators, rather than external. In the lives of our staff, they are already being faced with so many external factors, I believe in helping them develop their internal accountability, their sense of belonging within your work community, that they will be most productive.

A happy and fulfilled employee is one who is contributing their dreams to the team. Good help is hard to find, retaining great help is even harder, the cost of replacing them is costly. Take the time to find out what your employee's or teams passions are, and what you can do to help them in that journey toward community.

Working Smarter

In 2009, I am aspiring to create efficiencies in my life and in my work, and the work that I do for clients. One way to do that is to be utilizing tools that I already have at hand. The tool that I vote as the 2008 most under-utilized tool is that of InDesign Data Merge.

This morning I set out to create a tutorial explaining how efficient the feature could be, and then decided to turn to an existing tutorial for the instruction and utilizing my time in helping you to see where such a tool might be applied.

There are many resources out there, but I really like the example used here because of the incorporation of a photos and tables. While the tutorial is done in CS2 the concept and steps are still applicable. Click here to check it out.

While Word users have long been incorporating Data Merge, designers have resisted. But in 2009, I think now is the time to embrace Data Merge and find new ways to fully utilize it for the benefit of your clients and customers.

Projects that typically can be considered monotonous, time consuming and even painful, can be reduced to a few strokes of the keyboard and clicks of the mouse. Most companies will already have an existing database of employees and using CMS systems like Squarespace (what I use for this site) they make data collection on the web easy to structure and export. Yes, you may need to add in a column to include images, but in the long run, having a complete database will be well worth the extra effort.

Lets say you have the database of your employees, names, photos, contacts, etc. What good is that to me? Well, here are a list of things that you might use that database for within your company or organization.

• Create a office or client directory to be printed, or PDF to be used online or on an intranet
• Generate business cards: If your company is going through changes, such as name change, logo change, or you are just doing a design update. Create the template once, and have InDesign do the work of populating them. Sure, you might have to go in an tweak an entry here and there, but the time it saves in creating them and putting them in position for printing will be well worth it. If you are in a particularly large organization, you could set up a system with HR for all new hires to be included in a database file which each week or bi-weekly gets merged for new cards.
• Stationary: If you have a large organization with several departments, this is a quick and easy way to generate the letterhead and envelopes needed.
• Name Badges: If you are looking for a way to create simple name badges, visitor badges, or badges for an event, you can utilize existing Avery or similar templates to create print ready name badges.

For those of you who have to plan events, Data Merge can help you create a much more personalized experience for those attending and make you look ultra-organized in the process. Here are some thoughts on how to use Data Merge for events:

• Have users register online, create all the necessary fields or have an individual entering data if you feel more comfortable with that.
• From that information, merge and print personalized tickets to be sent to event attendees
• If you enter the direction from which your guests may be travelling into the database, you can provide driving directions on a pre-event postcard.
• When attendees check-in to the event, you can have all of the necessary items available for them, such as; informational binder (name customized on front), name badge, additional tickets, personalized bookmark, personalized thank you for attending, etc.
• Placecards could be created and used for seating assignments.
• You could create a contact directory to be taken home with all of the contact information for others at the event, so lost business cards are not a concern.

The options are endless, but in 2009, consumers are more and more savvy, and I believe are looking for more than ever that feeling of personalization and user experience. By taking some initial steps up front, creating your templates, you will free up time on the back end for attending to other details.

Good Luck and Happy Data Merging!