To Ponder: Client – Centred Environments

I’m often asked how I found the time and space to write Valuable Change.

So here’s the secret: I wrote it (by hand) while sitting in restaurants and cafes across Canberra over the course of a year.

And here’s why it worked.

1) The time was blocked out. The time was to be used for 2 things only: writing and eating.

2) I was out of the office and surrounded by human interaction. This enabled me to break out of the ‘corporate’ linguistic shackles, and let my mind flow in the casual, conversational style of the book.

In other words – I wanted to write the book as if you and I were having a coffee together. So I sat there, having a coffee, and wrote as if I was talking to you.

Interestingly, Robert Cialdini – the author of Influence, found exactly the same thing. He had two spaces for writing: his college office and his home office. In his college office he was surrounded by peer papers and a window that overlooked the campus. At home, he was surrounded by novels and a window that overlooked a café. Similar to myself – Robert found that he subconsciously wrote for the environment he was in. The chapters he wrote at the college were far more academic and dry than the chapters he wrote while at home.

The key takeaway here is that our environment has an impact on the work we produce.

Interestingly, I’ve noticed a common theme across many of my recent client discussions. There’s a drive to embed a greater client-focus across their organisations.

So if that’s you, here’s your ponder for the week:

How can you modify your organisational working environment to better surround your teams with your clients?