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Always was, always will be.

Welcome to this week's useletter

focussing on your future not my past, a newsletter without news.

Do you know how many bagless vacuum cleaner prototypes James Dyson made before he was happy? Do you know how many companies he approached to manufacture his eponymous cleaner? We'll come to the answer of first question later, but I'm all about that second question today. Not because of the answer, but because the number keen to manufacture was zero. Nadda. Not one.

It's inconceivable now that a company would reject Dyson's incredible innovation. That they wouldn't have jumped at the opportunity to have been a part of Dyson's revolution. One that made the Dyson company massively influential and its owner into a billionaire. Sunk costs held many of those companies back. But more significantly, they simply weren't enrolled in Sir James' journey.

Whenever you're trying to engage someone in a new direction, product/service or way of thinking, you need enrol them first. Architects have to do this all the time. Whether it's in a design strategy or option, material choice, embodied ethic, or something else entirely. Whilst noting many clients are already enrolled in your approach - it's why they hired you. But many clients, consultants or consent authorities are not and no matter what you might think and say, they're not to be budged.

So much of the important work we do and our daily work, requires enrolling others. Let's talk about that this week.

I got you

Michael

PS: James Dyson made 5,127 prototypes. It's an interesting story for another time.

Enrolling others

People aren't swayed because you are right. They are going to be swayed because they are right.

It's hard to convince anyone to change their mind unless they've already begun considering the options, approach or ideas behind your position. The things they know and believe to be important or true. It's one reason why no vacuum cleaner company wanted to manufacture bagless machines.

The fundamentals of enrolment

Trust is the foundation of enrolling others. Enrolment is impossible without trust.

Facts aren't the most effective route to enrolment either. They might be useful as part of your argument but a sole reliance on facts is unlikely to succeed. As we might observe in the failure to convince many with a facts based climate crisis argument.

Start where they're at. If you want to sway someone's thinking, first take the time to understand it. What do they believe, why do they think they're right? Get curious, ask questions and properly listening to their answers. Build engagement by finding similarities between your two positions. Proceed from a position of agreement, that's far more likely to succeed.

Empathy is the key in this approach. Taking the time to understand what they believe, know and have experienced. Use this understanding to enrol them in your position.

Community becomes important when enrolment needs to be wider reaching and ambitious. Gather a community to contribute, support and enrol others.

Enrolment is a skill and takes practice.

Keep going.

You got this.

Let's chat

At unmeasured I take the argh out of architectural practice.

Helping architects rethink and find joy in their practice.

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