Presented by Whitney Hess.

What does it take to be integral?

Most Common Skills in Need of Developing

  • Designers and Developers generally have four areas to work on: Presence, Empathy, Adaptability, and Influence

Presence

Those struggling with presence:

  • get distracted easily.
  • treat people abrasively without realizing it.
  • feel imbalance int heir work life, health, and family
  • have overactive mental chatter.
  • find themselves easily irritated
  • feel unexplained aches and pains.

Developing your presence:

  • Write “morning pages” when you first wake up. (mind)
  • Observe your thoughts and recognize that your are not your thoughts. (heart)
  • Pause and breathe. (body)

Empathy

The ability to feel another person’s feelings and experiences.

Those struggling with empathy:

  • assume they know how the other person feels.
  • have a hard time “reading” people.
  • wait for their turn to talk, planning their response.
  • believe everyone thinks like they do.
  • are often surprised by what someone has said or done.

Developing your empathy:

  • Assess your level of listening. (mind)
  • Watch for cues. (heart)
  • Read more literary fiction. (body)

Adaptability

Those struggling with adaptability:

  • find it hard to juggle demands
  • slow to see things from another perspective
  • get frustrated by change, even when positive
  • find changing priorities stressful

Adaptability is flexibility (attitude) and versatility (aptitude).

Developing your adaptability:

  • Brainstorm alternatives (mind)
  • Observe your reactions to change (heart)
  • Throw away old work (body)

Influence

Those struggling with influence:

  • deliver same argument or presentation regardless of audience.
  • rely on their position of authority, or are resigned to not having any.
  • take little notice of audience’s needs or interests.
  • find it hard to communicate a common vision that involves others.

Dr. Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Developing your influence:

  • Consider your available strategies. (mind)
  • Observe an influencer. (heart)
  • Be a helper and accept “thank you.” (body)