steelcase blog

It’s Story Time…

… I loved to hear those words when I was a kid, both at school and at bedtime.  And then all over again when my 4 kids were young.  They were truly memorable moments.  Not only for the opportunity to connect on a personal level, but for the enduring quality of the story itself (of course I did not appreciate this as much as a child, but in looking back I can now say that was the case).  Over the years, I have recalled these stories many times,… often as a point of reference to an adjacent but similar topic/situation.  It’s as if they have created a permanent indexing system to which future memories are linked.  So I began to wonder, what is it about stories and storytelling that make each so special.  I picked up a book called Tell Me a Story by Roger Schank, which led to several interesting discoveries.

Schank goes so far as to say that knowledge itself ‘is’ stories,… specifically he states, “finding a relevant past experience that will help make sense of a new experience is at the core of intelligent behavior.”  We’re bombarded with tons of data all the time,… movies, books, newspapers,… but it is from within us that we retrieve the most important data – our past experiences.  We learn, from new insights, by reconsidering past experiences in light of new information.  So what does this say about stories…?  Stories give context, what Schank calls ‘life’, to past experiences.  The additional information that comes through a story gives our brains the means to cross reference an experience to many locations in memory.  This is probably why I was able to recall these stories from childhood, and many others since; years after I initially heard them.   It reminds me of a quote I once read by Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.”

I should have recognized this much earlier from the work going on in our own research group.  Our standard user-centered innovation process depends on individual researchers sharing stories from field observations with their peers.  It is the recalling of these stories that prompt new insights and design ideas.  The role of storyteller is even one of the ten key personas within the social ecology that fuels innovation per Tom Kelley in his new book, The Ten Faces of Innovation.  As Kelley puts it, “stories celebrate and authenticate an experience.”  Research stories trigger an emotional response, in the one telling and the one listening to the story, as they refer to real people in real situations.  These often bring focus to the essential discovery and resulting insights.  Another very cool result of story telling is that it gives a face to your design objectives,… a hero to innovate for.  What a simple sequence – share an authentic and entertaining user-based story, strike an emotional chord within your design team, and deliver new value to the user, the hero of the story.  That’s innovation.   

Got a story…?

Need for Play…

… when I was growing up play was something I did after my homework was done, and I recall repeating my parent’s rules to my own kids.  Play was positioned as a treat, a reward, for getting the important; the serious stuff done.  But today, much has been written about the fact we had it all wrong,… play is a critical component of serious work, and an ingredient in producing really powerful results.  The basis for much of this writing is the fact that play excites that part of the brain, the right-side and specifically the right frontal lobe, which contributes to an understanding of big picture concepts and ideas.  Just think about it, in which situation are there more variables to bring into contextual alignment in rapid fashion; when solving a math problem, like planning a budget, or in playing a video game like Gears of War…?  Neither has one right answer, so the left brain still needs to do some work.  And even a budget involves some creativity.  But solving for constantly changing situations, discerning patterns and drawing connections, all required in play,… is a much more demanding mental activity.

The outcome of this activity called play, is new thinking.  If you play as a group, in addition to new ideas, you can also get alignment with others.  LEGO has built a service business around the use of play, called SeriousPlay.  Their website defines SeriousPlay as a “radical, innovative experiential process designed to enhance business performance.”  Later they claim the process “deepens group understanding, sharpens insight,… and participants come away with increased confidence, more committed to shared/common goals.”  Wouldn’t that be a treat, if every team meeting ended with such a shared commitment…?  I suggest the magic occurs because play moves people to an emotional level of involvement with others, a much deeper bond than an intellectual understanding gets you.  And the result is a group commitment, that every individual takes personally.

Daniel Pink, the author of Free Agent Nation and his new book A Whole New Mind,… positions ‘play’ as one of the six key ‘high-touch’ senses required for survival in the Conceptual Age, an economy built on the inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities of a very different kind of mind.  A mind with a network of one quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeros) connections, that guides how we think and act.  One bit of history that Pink reflects on, is that up until the mid 20th century most scientists believed the right brain to be inferior and not really needed.  Roger Sperry’s work at Cal Tech turned that belief upside down.  He agreed the right brain was different than the left brain,… but far from being inferior or subordinate to the left brain, the right brain was indeed superior when performing ‘certain’ mental tasks.  The important point is that both sides of the mind are important in guiding/reacting to activities and understanding, they need each other.  But since each side takes a different approach to thinking,… the left more sequential, analytic, literal; the right more simultaneous, synthetic, metaphorical,… Daniel Pink concludes that the changes happening in society will increasingly demand the right brain approach.  I agree with him.

Back to play.  Neuroscientists also believe that the right hemisphere plays an essential role in understanding and appreciating humor.  Humor often involves incongruity, the surprise of the punch line.  It causes one to place situations in context, and to create alignment out of differing perspectives, all in real time.  These are the same attributes needed for effective ideation and brainstorming in team sessions; playfulness, expressiveness, storytelling, yes even laughter.  Play as an effective activity in work, business and well-being is growing in importance.  Can we play…?

People and culture…

… two words that naturally go together.  And these past couple of weeks I have experienced a wide variety of each.  I went on a research swing through Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong,… and was amazed at the differences from city to city.  Some were subtle, like the differences in how certain foods are prepared, seasoned and served.  Others were much more significant, like the building architecture; their shape, texture and color.  One thing was common to all, and that was the level of importance the people attached to their rich and historic culture,… and the extent to which they expressed in their everyday lives.

Whether I was on the streets, attending a business meeting, visiting professors at the university, or touring their offices,… I had the overwhelming sense of the priority which they placed on culture.  Everything (I’m sure it wasn’t everything, but it felt like everything) appeared to have a meaning behind it, a purpose tied to some historic reference or ritual.  It was truly amazing, and even helped forget the fact that there was a 24-hour time difference from my life back home.  I found myself naturally curious about the smallest of details,… asking why and what for…?  And was continually impressed by the detailed answers I would receive.

On the plane ride home, in between the 3 movies and several cat naps, I began to wonder if our generalized use of the term ‘corporate culture’ was inadequate in terms of what I experienced in Asia.  I do recognize the value in designing a space that expresses a company’s culture, or better said how a space can encourage and extend a company’s culture,… which is why it is critical to get inside the head of leaders in an organization to understand the characteristics of culture they are trying to express through their facilities.  Do they want it to show stability and confidence, creativity and collaboration, or caring and a sense of invitation.  All drive different solutions.

But that’s not at the same level, the same depth, of what I witnessed in Asia.  What I saw there was bigger than any one company and any one CEO,… it had historical roots that were very, very deep.  While I admit I’ve just scratched the surface on what these are, I do believe it represents a level of user understanding that will be required to design appropriate and meaningful work-related products, applications and settings for the Asian marketplace.  Is it color, is it shape, is it scale or orientation of people to objects, sounds, smells? It could be none of these or all of these.  Suffice it to say, I’m convinced that designing the Asian work experience must include this higher order expression of culture,… and I can only imagine how wonderful the solutions can be if they honor this understanding.

And not just Asia, I’m excited about what this says about the importance of culture in all parts of the world:  Africa, Europe, South America, and here in  North America.  How do individual and team behaviors vary by culture, how does culture effect work process, and can ancestral cultures be seamlessly braided into corporate culture?  Exciting questions, exciting possibilities.  Don’t you think…?

They're just different…

… Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y… and not just in age.  While their brains are pretty much the same (physiologically speaking); I truly believe they are wired completely different.  Growing up on computers, cell phones, MP3 players, and iPods, Gen X and Gen Y can multi-task better than I ever will be able to (give me one thing at a time to work on and I’m happy).

Beyond that they seem to relate to others differently as well.  They’re generally less about connecting with family, and more about connecting with their group of friends; many of which are virtual connections.  Friendships are at the same time extremely personal (some stuff on Facebook can get REALLY personal!), and at the very same time, very impersonal (it’s just not required, and sometimes not preferred, to even be in the same room anymore).

It’s not what we’re used to (by “we’re” I’m referring to Traditionalists and Baby Boomers). But who ever said we had a lock on ‘model behavior’ when it comes to interpersonal relationships? One thing that does scare me is how comfortable the Xer’s, and certainly the Y’s, are with isolating themselves from most everything else around them.  To put it differently, it is interesting how content they are to create a wall, even a barrier, around their own defined world. You can see them on the bus, airplane, or subway with iPod ear buds inserted, video game controllers in hand, and custom ring tones on their cell phone playing… it’s as if no one or nothing else exists (even if you're in the same room!).

It’s as if they have no ‘need’ for anything else. For the most part, they are self-assured, self-absorbed, and some of them self-centered.  Who knows, maybe this is better, they certainly have a much broader group of really close friends than Boomers like me had (or they at least keep them close through IMing them throughout the day and night).

The one underlying fear I have is about the comfort they find being in their virtual world. Will it collide head on with the real world of business, which is placing a growing importance on cross-functional integration and team work?  Groups need to organize around a common problem or opportunity, openly share varying perspectives/opinions, and work through the ups and downs of alignment.  The X’s and Y’s have been their own screenwriter and their own director of their virtual bubble; no need for negotiation, compromise or collaboration.  They either let you in, or with one simple keystroke they ‘click’ you out.  How is it going to work when the focus of attention is other than ‘them’?  While I don’t always agree with my fellow workers, I do always listen and consider what they have to say.  Will these generations do this, or will they just turn up the volume on their isolation?  I can’t see where this will be acceptable.  I believe it is incumbent on us Traditionals and Boomers to convince and challenge them to let the business, its issues, and their organizational counterparts, be a part of their entrusted inner world.  If we do, we can leverage the unique skills they bring to the task. Their ability to ‘search’ for content is second nature to them, as well as the option to instantly query their extended virtual network for ideas. They’re media moguls as well. They are able to whip up a movie or a podcast as quickly as we write a Word document.  In the end I’m convinced we’ll find that while they may not appear as friendly on the surface, they have a world of knowledge and a depth of thinking that we didn’t realize was possible.  Embrace the difference.

The human brain…

... is both a wonderful historical record, of what came before and what is happening in the present,… as well as an unlimited canvas of dreams yet to be imagined.  It’s a subject that draws me in emotionally and captivates me intellectually.  While I didn’t come up with the idea, I was easily converted when one of my colleagues hypothesized there is ‘a strong relationship between learning, memory and physical space’.  So we began to do research to prove this out.  We asked questions like, “Could a space, in effect, have a mind?”, and “Could the design of a space enhance the intelligence of the occupants?”, or “Does a space help a group/team resolve issues faster?”

Out of this came some pretty significant findings.  We confirmed the importance of many design principles, one of the most important being ‘information persistence’, critical to team effectiveness.  Information persistence involves making, and most importantly keeping, your content VERY visible (as analog or digital). Recall as a child, the alphabet around the top edge of the room… can you imagine how difficult, if not impossible, to learn if it shifted a bit everyday.  You know it because you see it – over, and over and over again (another term we use is spatial memory).  The same works for a team. I’ve been on them, and so have you.  You reserve one of the few available conference rooms, and after a ten hour session, you grab everything up and pack it away.  Then you wonder why, when you re-convene a few weeks later and try to get back in the flow, it just flat out doesn’t work.  It’s exhausting as you feel yourself rehashing old conversations and redrawing old diagrams.  Just giving a team a space, a clubhouse, a sandbox, that is theirs for the duration of a project… does absolute wonders for their satisfaction, and the speed and quality of their results.  It seemed obvious or intuitive, but unfortunately it’s not done that much because companies tend to skimp on team spaces (also called ‘we’ spaces) across their office campus.

I still wondered ‘why?’ though… why does it work better to have information persist, or stay where it was when originally created?  Then we happened upon a group that was just forming.  A group made up of Neuroscientists, and -- are you ready for this -- Architects.  That’s right, Neuroscientists and Architects sitting at the same table.  What’s this all about, I wondered?  So I checked it out, by flying out to La Jolla, California to meet with John Eberhard FAIA, Dr. Fred Gage from the Salk Institute (a very interesting building on a phenomenal piece of land looking out over the ocean,… there’s a whole story here you should check out), and Alison Whitelaw, AIA.  They were forming a group called The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA).  As we talked my interest grew.  The group had formed because of instincts the architects had about space design, and the science that neuroscientists had about how the brain creates memory (and new brain cells).  It is possible to now measure, through brain scans, the impact of space (hint – it starts in a part of the brain called the hippocampus).  And the most fantastic aspect of this, for me, was that they both were saying that SPACE MATTERS (which is the business we’re in).  We agreed to start working together, shook hands, and started down an entirely new path of discovery.  We have since participated in ANFA informative and probing workshops on healthcare, lab design and others.  Our hope is to prove our original hypothesis that there is indeed a linkage between learning, memory and physical space.  The brain is the key… think about it.