Those of you who know me well, know that I am a seamstress. I’ve been sewing for more than 30 years. Mostly apparel, some house wares. I have a passion for fabric, texture, color and buttons.
My latest finished project. Antique buttons found at the Colorado State Button Show. Fabric from Mood Fabric in NYC. Vogue pattern.
Sometimes, when people who don’t sew see something I’ve made, they proclaim how amazing it is that I can create what I create. Is it amazing that an Olympian can perform their sport? Is it amazing that scientists discover new medicines? Is it amazing that Stephen King sells so many novels?
I subscribe to Malcolm Gladwell’s theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master anything. I have well over that in sewing time. Each project offers new challenges:
- Learn more about fit
- Learn more about ease
- Match seams so that you cannot see them
- Create my own unique collar
Ripped a page out of a magazine and created it. Lots of new techniques learned. Shot taken with ShakeIT app on my iPhone.
The same is true of intranet and social technologies. It takes time practicing to get employees to feel like they know what they are doing. They have to have a little faith and a lot of willingness to just try. Sometimes the first and toughest step is just trying that very first time.
I’m working with Melissa Wood on a client project right now that involves getting employees to try new technologies. It’s all SharePoint stuff – now many of you are nodding your heads in unison. With the weight of the everyday work world on their shoulders, it’s tough to get employees to just try.
We’re doing two things that I think will jump start the effort:
- Sitting next to some of the people who need to lead or demonstrate usage to others. They drive – at their own desks – we instruct, point things out, steer them toward discoveries. Have them actually do a few small things.
- Giving small, simple assignments. Each one may take only five minutes. Sometimes, we’ll incent them with a prize. Let’s face it, we all love prizes. Each assignment teaches new skills, even if the individual doesn’t realizing they are learning.
My lesson in fit. Took six months to complete!
Small baby steps are the root of success. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes lots of repetition. But, eventually, most of the people involved will adopt, get active and learn the new way, even embrace it. Some will become your champions and wonder how they ever got anything done before.
There is a long-term cumulative affect here as well. As in my sewing, the user amasses a collection of knowledge, experience and insight about the technology. All of this combines to make them more skilled, fearless and curious. Thirty plus years of sewing has made me far more adventurous than I used to be. I mean what is the worst that could happen? (My mother would ask “how dare you cut into that fabric?”)
Where would we be today if most of us hadn’t ever picked up the telephone for the first time? Where would I be if I hadn’t sat down at my mother’s 20-year-old Singer that first time?
P.S. If you are interested in getting in some practice on intranet/portal governance, join me at Melcrums’ Intranets with Impact in Philly in November.
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