Enterprise Design Patterns | Behavioural Patterns
#17: Tangible Presence
“People have to get to know you. They have to feel comfortable with who you are and what you do.”
- Ivan Misner
Related Patterns:
#3: Coalition Building, #5: Co-Created Enterprise Design Charter, #22: Wear Their Shoes, #24: Corporate Politics
You want your co-creators to feel they know you well enough to trust your intentions and actions.
In this context:
You are so busy collecting information and producing creations, you tend to disappear from other people’s view for weeks. The longer you stay invisible to them, the more of an unknown factor you become. They lose track of what you are supposed to do. From being unknown it’s a small step to being seen as untrustworthy. If you stay invisible long enough, even initial supporters will lose their confidence in you and stop supporting you or turn against you in disappointment.
Therefore:
You make sure you reserve enough time to have regular formal and informal interactions with your co-creators. You frequently:
- Walk around to their offices and search for interactions at coffee machines and other social meeting-places;
- Use those conversations to strengthen the personal rapport you have with your co-creators;
- Use posters, diagrams, laminated cards and other visual tools to make sure people regularly come across the results of the work you are doing with them.
Consequently:
Because your co-creators regularly interact with you and the work you do, they feel they know you well enough to trust you, your intentions and your work. They are much more inclined to support you and ask for your advice as an Enterprise Designer.