In Your Space
As the faculty advisor of the student Management Association, I tried to encourage management students to regularly check the association’s Web page for new opportunities and upcoming events. Nothing seemed to work until one of the officers made a simple sign with the Web page address and posted it in the computer lab where many of the students work and hang out between classes. The number of hits to the site increased ten-fold!
Keep the new idea visible by placing reminders throughout the organization.
You are an Evangelist(144) or Dedicated Champion(129) trying to introduce a new idea into your organization.
Unless people are reminded, they may forget about the new idea.
People like to be in the know, but many don’t have the time to periodically read articles or information on the Web. Yet, they’ll notice and are likely to discuss things that are posted in places they see often. E. M. Rogers has shown that keeping a new idea visible throughout an organization has a positive impact on the rate at which people adopt it. A gathering place, where a group can come together and talk amongst themselves, is one means for communicating a new idea and showing progress.
Therefore:
Post information about the new idea around your organization—wherever people are likely to see it and discuss it.
Display information so it will be noticed and not forgotten. Materials placed in high traffic areas may be easy for people to see but also easy to forget as they move on. Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, suggests that you make your message “stick” by using bright colors, an usual graphic, or a memorable quote. Provide ways for the viewers to interact in the space by asking for feedback or posing a question that will stimulate discussion. Ask for Help(104). Include announcements about upcoming events. Update the information regularly; otherwise, people will get used to it and not notice it any more.
Consider putting information in a place Paul Taylor explains in the Team Space pattern, a physical space for casual, unplanned interaction, or in Christopher Alexander’s Work Community, a pattern that encourages the formation of small clusters in the workplace. Author Alistair Cockburn, in Agile Software Development, describes an “Information Radiator,” a display of information in a place where passersby can see it. The passersby don’t need to ask questions; the information simply hits them as they go by. He suggests that the information change over time because it will make it worthwhile to look at the display.
Be creative in finding the space. Look for the bulletin board that just seems to accumulate junk flyers and make it more appealing. Also, you can simply post a sign near your office that says, “Ask me about <new idea>.”
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This pattern establishes a place where people can see and discuss the latest information about the new idea. It will stay “in the space” and in the mind of the organization. People who see the space may become intrigued enough to become involved in the change initiative.
But despite your best efforts to make the message noticeable, people can become oblivious to the space if they see it all the time. Try to make it something that people look forward to seeing or consider moving it to a new location once in awhile.
Joe Bergin has applied this pattern to a larger “space.” He is one of the educators who formed the Pedagogical Patterns Project (http://www.pedagogicalpatterns.org/). The team is working on documenting successful teaching practices in the form of patterns. To encourage contributions, Joe has created buttons with witty sayings about the project. Team members and other supporters wear these buttons and provoke interest at conferences and other gatherings.
Ralph and Julie read about something they thought was a big problem in their department—one author called it “SpecGen.” They made signs with the letters “SG” in a red circle-slash and the slogan, “Thank you for not speculating.” The signs were a big hit. Nearly every cubicle had one posted by the end of the day.