Communication skills seem to be key for an architect. Communication with clients, with colleagues, collaborators and consultants, stakeholders, with superiors and with employees. Communication is what wins jobs. Effective communication is such an important skill in this business, it is what it takes to get an idea across, to sell, to bring business, and to collaborate with teammates. Communication is repeatedly focused on as an issue in workplaces when projects don't run smoothly, as the key problem when teams do not gel, and it seems that for architects more than many professions, where work demands such a diverse knowledge base, and interactions with so many different kinds of people, we need communication skills more than ever. And yet speaking is not generally seen as the Architects strength.
In a recent personality profile test at work, it was found that the majority of us the majority of architects are in fact natural introverts. It seems that our natural insinct is to want to communicate something visually and alot of us likely feel more comfortable drawing or modelling to speak, rather than talking.
Myself, I feel that I am a terrible communicator in the workplace. Think of the worst speakers at work, incoherent, shy. I'm at loss on how to improve. I know that I need to just throw myself into the fire and that it comes with practice, but to be honest, when I need to speak in a group setting, my heart races and I feel like a mute, my mind races, regardless if whether I have something positive to contribute.
Even though alot of architects aren't great speakers by nature, many overcome their introvertedness and become some of the most charismatic and confident speakers I've met.
How do you improve communication skills? Is it through bredth of knowledge? Practice? Mental conditioning? Training? Or simply preparedness? Or focus, since alot of the time, communication demands happen out of the blue...
What a well-crafted post, bRink. I may need to think about this topic and come back to it after a while because I have many thoughts about it.
Being a good verbal communicator takes confidence. When you believe that you are the expert, it makes it easier to be assertive. When you know your purpose in the room or meeting, you can speak with authority.
I worked for a consulting firm for three years. After my first year, I received a lower annual review score in "aggressiveness," while many of my other scores in areas like "industry knowledge" and "work ethic" were higher. Note that I was judged on aggressiveness, not assertiveness or quiet determination. For the next two years, I really worked at becoming more aggressive. While not a natural part of my personality, it was difficult at times to be tough. (In the end, I returned to architecture, so I'm not sure what the moral of this story is...)
The principals of that firm used to say that, "just by working here, you can consider yourself at least the 30th most knowledgeable person in the country about [fill in the blank with whichever specialization you were in]." It was empowering to think that clients hired us to give them advice on their projects.
Architects, too, are ones who give advice to clients. The advice falls in many areas from design to building performance to construction materials. Good clients will see and respect our value beyond "the one who prepares drawings to secure building permits."
It is hard to perscribe regimines for improving your verbal communication skills. How much do you speak in meetings? Are you actively engaged or are you just there to take notes? I hope that you have the opportunity to establish a leadership role. If you speak with authority, people WILL listen.
On Judge Mathis, there was a case where the plaintiff claimed that the defendant was so full of himself, but on the other hand he could convince the audience that there were pink elephants in the room. The defendant lost.
My brother and I are both designers (in different fields) who are more introverted than we'd like to be. When having lunch with my parents last week, they mentioned that he was reading a book on this subject by someone named Dale Carnegie. I took note.
The next day, I was shopping for used books and came across two of this guy's books. I'm usually skeptical of this type of stuff, but they were only a couple of dollars each, so I picked them up.
I read through nearly half of the first book (nearly 300 pages in total) in the very first afternoon. I could barely put it down. This guy might be 130 years old (and long dead), but he knows his stuff. I've been making efforts all this week just to engage strangers in conversation, something I don't often do. It feels empowering, and it's not something I'd have learned to do if it weren't for this stupid book.
It's one thing to say "take a leadership role in your next meeting," but these books tell you in very plain language how to get there, without ever feeling like you're overwhelmed. My ability to think on my feet has improved a ton in just a week. I'm actually starting to relax when speaking with strangers.
Sorry for the plug. And some people may say this author's books are bunk, but they're really working for me. Maybe the best $7 I've ever spent.
Old Fogey – its funny you mention that your dad thought you should be a lawyer. I have come across a few forum posters for which I swore would make good Attorneys yet they selected Architecture as their calling.
I agree with you that most Architects follow the reactive approach versus the proactive approach and that just drives me to insanity – get with the program, become more assertive and communicate your views. Maybe most are not willing to take that chance because they don't take enough showers:)
I'm actually frequently praised for my communication skills, even said to be a great interview. This praise always suprises me, because in my head, communication is HARD. I'm the person who itches to make phone calls at the edges of lunch time, so that I'll get your voice mail and not actually talk to you. To me, overcoming it boils down to two things: 1) as you suggested, be prepared. I still stumble over my words if I have to pick up the phone unexpectedly, but this gives me a reason to be the initiator of contact: if I initiate contact, then I can direct it, control it, and be prepared for it. 2) Force yourself. You WILL get better with practice. The trouble is that it's a downward sprial; you're shy/quiet/whatever, so you don't want to talk, so you don't get better at it. You need to break the cycle by doing it more.
Good point rationalist – it takes practice and you will only get better by doing it.
OldFogey – great comments; you touched on two industries that I know a lot about. You might be surprised though that the aeronautical industry has changed when it comes to production. Years ago, building then selling was the norm, but the tables have turned. It's now sales then production. Wow, where did you learn about Six Sigma? Its technique is used in many big corporations like Boeing, Motorola and GE, etc., and I am glad you attempted to talk about it at that firm. Did you get them to bite whatsoever? If not, its their loss:)
Thanks for the responses. Alot of great insights in this thread, good advice.
One of the things that everyone will tell you when you are not an assertive speaker, is to simply be assertive, and speak out more. But when you are bad at speaking, like rationalist says, it can be a downward spiral of shyness / quietness... Its not that you cannot speak, literally, but as DCA says, it is about confidence. I wonder if it is a personality problem... Not having the aggressive gene...
Some people just naturally have "scared rabbit" instincts, others have "predatory cat" instincts, others "deer in headlights" instincts...? But I'm starting to think that it's better to practice someplace outside of the office, where the livelihood of yourself and your peers are not at stake... Maybe doing a customer service or sales oriented job on the side or maybe toastmasters?
A family friend of mine is a top consultant in his field (not design related), and I asked him for advice... He told me that at his consulting firm, the way they train all junior consultants, is to bring them to meetings but have them observe but don't say anything. Basically, watch the gurus in action. I guess for a consulting firm, communication IS the business, and so they are very careful about their service, have a very intentional way of training new consultants that builds their value by watching and learning alongside daily practice in action... But my limited experience with architecture firms is that they don't address the communication training part of their business in such a directly open and intentional way the way a law firm or other type of consulting firm does...
How do architecture firms train their employees to speak? Should this be part of an architects continuing education? Or is this something that is a personal thing which should be dealt with by the individual? Should junior designers be seen as junior consultants in training as well as production caddies?
I don't think it is necessarily an employers responsibility to train employees how to speak. However, on the contrary they should be supportive by compensating the employee for classes and/or being flexible with the employees schedule so that s/he may take classes that might otherwise interfere with their work schedule. Joining toastmasters would be one great way to improve upon speaking skills.
Also, I think speaking comes more naturally once you know what you are doing, but this confidence only comes with years of experience.
In undergrad, my classmates hated me for being a know-it-all and speaking before thinking. Now with a little maturity, I take the time to think before I speak and people seem to respect me and ask me for my opinion.
it doesn't hurt that I have no fear of speaking in front of crowds...
damn- shoulda, coulda been a lawyer- then everybody would still hate me!
Maybe doing a customer service or sales oriented job on the side or maybe toastmasters?
You make a good point, bRink. I volunteer at the front desk of an art museum, and it gives me exposure to speaking with all kinds of people from all over the country. In this instance, I can truly say that I am the expert and people come to me because they need an answer (even if many of my questions are, "Where is the bathroom?") It has helped a lot with my self-confidence.
As for toastmasters... I've considered joining a few times, and the local chapter even meets in my office from time to time. However, the concept seems too contrived for my taste. Perhaps others have had good experiences, but I think it is better to practice public speaking in real environments.
When I was a student at the University of Arizona I took a public speaking class. The Woman Professor was great. Come to find out
she was a consultant to the Judical System where she would meet with public defenders. She opened alot of eyes, when she started talking about public speaking and how you are dress to get respect.
We discussed all aspects of body language when speaking, things to do and things not to do. Some of this to me was old news as I was on a high school debate team in a small school so we were tossed into the arena at a young age. My partner was just a mad man. He always looked like he slept in his clothes the night before and he always wore his White Bell Bottom Pants and a sky blue v-neck sweater. When ever we entered the room where we were going to be debating the other team he would kick into high gear, if the judge wasn't in the room. First he would go to the black board to write our names on the board as it was manditory. He would get there turn around and point blank ask me what my name was as if it was our first time debating together. Then he would go to the lecturn and be sure to place a pencil on it for the other team to pick up and wave around like they were conducting a concert. Then he would go over and introduce himself to the opponents in a real duffus manner, like they were going to become his best friends. Then he would wander over to where I was sitting and he would say damn, I forgot my evidence file, guess we will have to do with what we have. Then he would open my box and see it almost empty and ask me is this all the evidence you have? I would look at him and shrug... He actually had a pocket full of index cards which had enough information on them to win in most debates.
He would always take the first shot at cross examination of the opposing team. He would move up to the front of the room in align
himself with the opponent, then somehow shuffle backwards and have the opponent he was question with their back to the judge before he was done questioning him and most of the time the opponent would have by that time picked up the pencil and well it was all down hill from there. Then I would masterly unfold our positions, with the three or four cards of evidence. Once it was over.....there he was again in the face of the opponents telling them they did a really fine job of presenting their case, and you could just see them wanting to run out of the room as fast as possible.
He went on to TV Journalism and I of course went on to Architecture. We still get together from time to time and laugh about our days of highschool debating.
"Dressing for success" and "body language"... How important are these to speach, and how aware do you think most people and firms are of their body language and appearance? Are architects more or less image conscious than other professionals?
I was at a movie with a friend of mine one day, and my friend got asked for his I.D. by the 16 year old ticket handler at the movie theatre to get into a rated R movie. My friend was 26 years old, about 5 foot 5, but he is asian and just has one of those baby faces... Standing next to me he looks more like my kid brother than a 26 year old grad student.
Different architecture offices have different dress codes, some more casual than others, the office where I work now is pretty casual, people dress comfortably in jeans, or maybe more fashionably but it's not really a suit and tie type of place. Some people might even wear sneakers and a t-shirt. Communicating professionalism would seem to be something different for the architect than for say a lawyer for example. At one extreme, I once interviewed at an architect's office where every object in the office was white, even the row of spotlighted models on display at the reception were all white... And the receptionist and most employees wore black, or at least dressed more fashionably than myself, and I was in a suit and tie for an interview... It was the type of thing that might make some people barf... But you'd have to admit, there was a certain clarity of presentation and care to it. It was a very well thought out reception experience.
How important is appearance and body language in public speaking? Dressing to go to court is one thing, or even for an interview... But how does an architect dress professionally day to day?
Or perhaps thinking of firm dress as a whole, some firms are very conscious about presentation, even in the workplace, the experience of receiving clients and collaborators, whereas others are "hole in the wall" studios, places for creativity but not sales... Should firms be openly conscious and critical about appearances? Specific about dress codes and communication strategies? Since, the office for the architect is basically their storefront, where work is done, presentations made, people are hired, and meetings are held, the front end of business and sales, integral with marketing communications... How image conscious is your firm about its appearances, and are they open about how they sell themselves in all levels of communication?
however, you get better at communication not by reading a book or by taking a course (though those can help) but by working at it every day. pay attention to those around you who communicate well - study what they do - think about what you're going to say before opening your mouth - volunteer to make lunch-and-learn presentations in your firm or at your local chapter - practice, practice, practice.
if you really want to improve your communication skills, you will. but, it doesn't come easy for many of us - it's hard work
Feb 24, 07 10:50 pm ·
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communication skills
Communication skills seem to be key for an architect. Communication with clients, with colleagues, collaborators and consultants, stakeholders, with superiors and with employees. Communication is what wins jobs. Effective communication is such an important skill in this business, it is what it takes to get an idea across, to sell, to bring business, and to collaborate with teammates. Communication is repeatedly focused on as an issue in workplaces when projects don't run smoothly, as the key problem when teams do not gel, and it seems that for architects more than many professions, where work demands such a diverse knowledge base, and interactions with so many different kinds of people, we need communication skills more than ever. And yet speaking is not generally seen as the Architects strength.
In a recent personality profile test at work, it was found that the majority of us the majority of architects are in fact natural introverts. It seems that our natural insinct is to want to communicate something visually and alot of us likely feel more comfortable drawing or modelling to speak, rather than talking.
Myself, I feel that I am a terrible communicator in the workplace. Think of the worst speakers at work, incoherent, shy. I'm at loss on how to improve. I know that I need to just throw myself into the fire and that it comes with practice, but to be honest, when I need to speak in a group setting, my heart races and I feel like a mute, my mind races, regardless if whether I have something positive to contribute.
Even though alot of architects aren't great speakers by nature, many overcome their introvertedness and become some of the most charismatic and confident speakers I've met.
How do you improve communication skills? Is it through bredth of knowledge? Practice? Mental conditioning? Training? Or simply preparedness? Or focus, since alot of the time, communication demands happen out of the blue...
What a well-crafted post, bRink. I may need to think about this topic and come back to it after a while because I have many thoughts about it.
Being a good verbal communicator takes confidence. When you believe that you are the expert, it makes it easier to be assertive. When you know your purpose in the room or meeting, you can speak with authority.
I worked for a consulting firm for three years. After my first year, I received a lower annual review score in "aggressiveness," while many of my other scores in areas like "industry knowledge" and "work ethic" were higher. Note that I was judged on aggressiveness, not assertiveness or quiet determination. For the next two years, I really worked at becoming more aggressive. While not a natural part of my personality, it was difficult at times to be tough. (In the end, I returned to architecture, so I'm not sure what the moral of this story is...)
The principals of that firm used to say that, "just by working here, you can consider yourself at least the 30th most knowledgeable person in the country about [fill in the blank with whichever specialization you were in]." It was empowering to think that clients hired us to give them advice on their projects.
Architects, too, are ones who give advice to clients. The advice falls in many areas from design to building performance to construction materials. Good clients will see and respect our value beyond "the one who prepares drawings to secure building permits."
It is hard to perscribe regimines for improving your verbal communication skills. How much do you speak in meetings? Are you actively engaged or are you just there to take notes? I hope that you have the opportunity to establish a leadership role. If you speak with authority, people WILL listen.
my design director (who neither designs nor directs... wtf?!?)
has a weekly coaching session. could sell gold to a dead guy.
i just need a nice looking lady with an accent to do my marketing...haha....
b
On Judge Mathis, there was a case where the plaintiff claimed that the defendant was so full of himself, but on the other hand he could convince the audience that there were pink elephants in the room. The defendant lost.
\m/
cryzko
Thom Mayne, when doing presentations at our school, would bring two young, attracive, foreign women with him... and he had crazy socks
My brother and I are both designers (in different fields) who are more introverted than we'd like to be. When having lunch with my parents last week, they mentioned that he was reading a book on this subject by someone named Dale Carnegie. I took note.
The next day, I was shopping for used books and came across two of this guy's books. I'm usually skeptical of this type of stuff, but they were only a couple of dollars each, so I picked them up.
I read through nearly half of the first book (nearly 300 pages in total) in the very first afternoon. I could barely put it down. This guy might be 130 years old (and long dead), but he knows his stuff. I've been making efforts all this week just to engage strangers in conversation, something I don't often do. It feels empowering, and it's not something I'd have learned to do if it weren't for this stupid book.
It's one thing to say "take a leadership role in your next meeting," but these books tell you in very plain language how to get there, without ever feeling like you're overwhelmed. My ability to think on my feet has improved a ton in just a week. I'm actually starting to relax when speaking with strangers.
Sorry for the plug. And some people may say this author's books are bunk, but they're really working for me. Maybe the best $7 I've ever spent.
Old Fogey – its funny you mention that your dad thought you should be a lawyer. I have come across a few forum posters for which I swore would make good Attorneys yet they selected Architecture as their calling.
I agree with you that most Architects follow the reactive approach versus the proactive approach and that just drives me to insanity – get with the program, become more assertive and communicate your views. Maybe most are not willing to take that chance because they don't take enough showers:)
Me and my colleague chums have a secret yawn language at work.
very useful during reviews.
mdler, yellow socks?
I'm actually frequently praised for my communication skills, even said to be a great interview. This praise always suprises me, because in my head, communication is HARD. I'm the person who itches to make phone calls at the edges of lunch time, so that I'll get your voice mail and not actually talk to you. To me, overcoming it boils down to two things: 1) as you suggested, be prepared. I still stumble over my words if I have to pick up the phone unexpectedly, but this gives me a reason to be the initiator of contact: if I initiate contact, then I can direct it, control it, and be prepared for it. 2) Force yourself. You WILL get better with practice. The trouble is that it's a downward sprial; you're shy/quiet/whatever, so you don't want to talk, so you don't get better at it. You need to break the cycle by doing it more.
Good point rationalist – it takes practice and you will only get better by doing it.
OldFogey – great comments; you touched on two industries that I know a lot about. You might be surprised though that the aeronautical industry has changed when it comes to production. Years ago, building then selling was the norm, but the tables have turned. It's now sales then production. Wow, where did you learn about Six Sigma? Its technique is used in many big corporations like Boeing, Motorola and GE, etc., and I am glad you attempted to talk about it at that firm. Did you get them to bite whatsoever? If not, its their loss:)
Thanks for the responses. Alot of great insights in this thread, good advice.
One of the things that everyone will tell you when you are not an assertive speaker, is to simply be assertive, and speak out more. But when you are bad at speaking, like rationalist says, it can be a downward spiral of shyness / quietness... Its not that you cannot speak, literally, but as DCA says, it is about confidence. I wonder if it is a personality problem... Not having the aggressive gene...
Some people just naturally have "scared rabbit" instincts, others have "predatory cat" instincts, others "deer in headlights" instincts...? But I'm starting to think that it's better to practice someplace outside of the office, where the livelihood of yourself and your peers are not at stake... Maybe doing a customer service or sales oriented job on the side or maybe toastmasters?
A family friend of mine is a top consultant in his field (not design related), and I asked him for advice... He told me that at his consulting firm, the way they train all junior consultants, is to bring them to meetings but have them observe but don't say anything. Basically, watch the gurus in action. I guess for a consulting firm, communication IS the business, and so they are very careful about their service, have a very intentional way of training new consultants that builds their value by watching and learning alongside daily practice in action... But my limited experience with architecture firms is that they don't address the communication training part of their business in such a directly open and intentional way the way a law firm or other type of consulting firm does...
How do architecture firms train their employees to speak? Should this be part of an architects continuing education? Or is this something that is a personal thing which should be dealt with by the individual? Should junior designers be seen as junior consultants in training as well as production caddies?
I don't think it is necessarily an employers responsibility to train employees how to speak. However, on the contrary they should be supportive by compensating the employee for classes and/or being flexible with the employees schedule so that s/he may take classes that might otherwise interfere with their work schedule. Joining toastmasters would be one great way to improve upon speaking skills.
Also, I think speaking comes more naturally once you know what you are doing, but this confidence only comes with years of experience.
old fogey,
i'm pretty sure i've got a friend in said firm, and it sounds like things haven't changed, might have gotten worse, actually.
In undergrad, my classmates hated me for being a know-it-all and speaking before thinking. Now with a little maturity, I take the time to think before I speak and people seem to respect me and ask me for my opinion.
it doesn't hurt that I have no fear of speaking in front of crowds...
damn- shoulda, coulda been a lawyer- then everybody would still hate me!
Dont talk , just kiss !
You make a good point, bRink. I volunteer at the front desk of an art museum, and it gives me exposure to speaking with all kinds of people from all over the country. In this instance, I can truly say that I am the expert and people come to me because they need an answer (even if many of my questions are, "Where is the bathroom?") It has helped a lot with my self-confidence.
As for toastmasters... I've considered joining a few times, and the local chapter even meets in my office from time to time. However, the concept seems too contrived for my taste. Perhaps others have had good experiences, but I think it is better to practice public speaking in real environments.
When I was a student at the University of Arizona I took a public speaking class. The Woman Professor was great. Come to find out
she was a consultant to the Judical System where she would meet with public defenders. She opened alot of eyes, when she started talking about public speaking and how you are dress to get respect.
We discussed all aspects of body language when speaking, things to do and things not to do. Some of this to me was old news as I was on a high school debate team in a small school so we were tossed into the arena at a young age. My partner was just a mad man. He always looked like he slept in his clothes the night before and he always wore his White Bell Bottom Pants and a sky blue v-neck sweater. When ever we entered the room where we were going to be debating the other team he would kick into high gear, if the judge wasn't in the room. First he would go to the black board to write our names on the board as it was manditory. He would get there turn around and point blank ask me what my name was as if it was our first time debating together. Then he would go to the lecturn and be sure to place a pencil on it for the other team to pick up and wave around like they were conducting a concert. Then he would go over and introduce himself to the opponents in a real duffus manner, like they were going to become his best friends. Then he would wander over to where I was sitting and he would say damn, I forgot my evidence file, guess we will have to do with what we have. Then he would open my box and see it almost empty and ask me is this all the evidence you have? I would look at him and shrug... He actually had a pocket full of index cards which had enough information on them to win in most debates.
He would always take the first shot at cross examination of the opposing team. He would move up to the front of the room in align
himself with the opponent, then somehow shuffle backwards and have the opponent he was question with their back to the judge before he was done questioning him and most of the time the opponent would have by that time picked up the pencil and well it was all down hill from there. Then I would masterly unfold our positions, with the three or four cards of evidence. Once it was over.....there he was again in the face of the opponents telling them they did a really fine job of presenting their case, and you could just see them wanting to run out of the room as fast as possible.
He went on to TV Journalism and I of course went on to Architecture. We still get together from time to time and laugh about our days of highschool debating.
snooker, thats a very interesting story.
"Dressing for success" and "body language"... How important are these to speach, and how aware do you think most people and firms are of their body language and appearance? Are architects more or less image conscious than other professionals?
I was at a movie with a friend of mine one day, and my friend got asked for his I.D. by the 16 year old ticket handler at the movie theatre to get into a rated R movie. My friend was 26 years old, about 5 foot 5, but he is asian and just has one of those baby faces... Standing next to me he looks more like my kid brother than a 26 year old grad student.
Different architecture offices have different dress codes, some more casual than others, the office where I work now is pretty casual, people dress comfortably in jeans, or maybe more fashionably but it's not really a suit and tie type of place. Some people might even wear sneakers and a t-shirt. Communicating professionalism would seem to be something different for the architect than for say a lawyer for example. At one extreme, I once interviewed at an architect's office where every object in the office was white, even the row of spotlighted models on display at the reception were all white... And the receptionist and most employees wore black, or at least dressed more fashionably than myself, and I was in a suit and tie for an interview... It was the type of thing that might make some people barf... But you'd have to admit, there was a certain clarity of presentation and care to it. It was a very well thought out reception experience.
How important is appearance and body language in public speaking? Dressing to go to court is one thing, or even for an interview... But how does an architect dress professionally day to day?
Or perhaps thinking of firm dress as a whole, some firms are very conscious about presentation, even in the workplace, the experience of receiving clients and collaborators, whereas others are "hole in the wall" studios, places for creativity but not sales... Should firms be openly conscious and critical about appearances? Specific about dress codes and communication strategies? Since, the office for the architect is basically their storefront, where work is done, presentations made, people are hired, and meetings are held, the front end of business and sales, integral with marketing communications... How image conscious is your firm about its appearances, and are they open about how they sell themselves in all levels of communication?
this is a really helpful book on this subject: Architect's Essentials of Presentation Skills
however, you get better at communication not by reading a book or by taking a course (though those can help) but by working at it every day. pay attention to those around you who communicate well - study what they do - think about what you're going to say before opening your mouth - volunteer to make lunch-and-learn presentations in your firm or at your local chapter - practice, practice, practice.
if you really want to improve your communication skills, you will. but, it doesn't come easy for many of us - it's hard work
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