Von Löwen Designs

Learning for pleasure, for its own sake, whether it is learning a foreign language, traveling, reading history or philosophy, or pursuing a hobby, is in short supply today. Many people find that just keeping up with their home lives and doing a minimum of reading about their field, or anything else for that matter, is more than they can handle; but you never can tell how your personal interest learning may one day connect with professional opportunities and your overall effectiveness.

The analogy of the explorer as the quintessential learner can be useful to keep in mind. As we mature from children into adults and learn about constraints, develop an aversion to ‘wrong’ answers, and become comfortable in our field, our curiosity wanes. We no longer ask seemingly absurd questions anymore and sadly begin to lose our playfulness. We go from wanting to know everything to thinking we know it all. But there are some of us that retain our youthful curiosity and inquisitiveness and remain explorers as adults. So there ya’ go. . . maybe there are benefits to struggling with learning how to grow old after all. . .

If you want to develop into a broadband thinker, a final aspect of learning to consider is how to learn, which is a function of both attitude and the specific learning strategies you adopt. The most effective learners seem to have always cultivated an attitude of mindfulness or other active methods of learning. Mindfulness, an old Buddhist concept that has been explored and adopted in a modern educational context by distinguished Harvard psychologist Ellen J. Langer. With over 200 articles and six books on the subject, Dr. Langer makes both valid and profound points for her theory and application in studies involving classroom education, business, and overall health.

Mindfulness essentially means cultivating a flexible, open intellect and is characterized as a general style or mode of functioning through which the individual actively engages in reconstructing the environment through creating new categories or distinctions, thus directing attention to new contextual cues that may be consciously controlled or manipulated as appropriate. The distinctions made can be major or minor; what is important is that they are mindfully drawn.

In contrast, mindlessness is allowing yourself to be trapped in old paradigms, being unreceptive to new information and ideas, and rigidly looking at the world through a single perspective. It can be often illustrated as a distinct, style of cognitive functioning in which the individual processes cues from the environment in a relatively automatic but inflexible manner, without reference to any fresh or unique aspects of these cues—one deals with an already constructed environment.

By default, old categories and previously made distinctions are relied on uncritically, leading to rigid behavior that is rule governed rather than rule guided. It is not that mindlessness necessarily involves the complete absence of understanding, but rather, that information is processed automatically through preformed categories which are, themselves, no longer accessible for conscious consideration.

According to Dr. Langer many individuals spend substantial portions of their waking day in a mindless state. Go figure!

Active Learning:

• Direct experience – This is how most professionals do the bulk of their learning – on the job, day to day, by doing. The best learners, however, go well beyond experiential learning.

• Study – This consists mainly of reading, but extends to formal education, seminars, workshops, and so forth.

• Observation – Although clearly used on the job, observations represents a knowledge acquisition method by itself. How carefully do we really watch the people and things around us?

• Modeling – This approach is used very effectively by many exceptional professionals, who typically identify and emulate successful role models early in their careers. The mentoring process, for example, is based on modeling.

The first key difference in the learning habits of the ordinary versus extraordinary professionals is that the latter spend more total time dedicated to active learning and knowledge procurement. Even though a lower percentage of their time is spent reinforcing their core expertise, for example, they end up spending more absolute time strengthening this core than the average professional spends.

The second difference between the learning habits of narrowband versus broadband thinkers is in terms of where they spend their time. Narrowband learners spend the majority of their time becoming more expert in their chosen subject. Broadband learners also continue to cultivate their expertise, but they work to give it increasingly greater context. They also engage in more ‘random’ learning, which is done for pleasure and interest, but which has the effect of bolstering their intuition and ability to synthesize. Client advisors thus spend perhaps as much as one half of their learning time in the exploratory learning zones and personal interest, whereas typical experts might spend only a small fraction of their time there, a fact that Harry Truman lamented when he commented on the expert who feared learning anything new because “he wouldn’t be an expert anymore.”

Designers who genuinely step into an advisory role for their clients develop into broadband thinkers, in short, they continue to focus on the differences of each and every project to grasp the big picture through both the systematic and casual pursuit of knowledge and understanding. There is a particular aspect of this knowledge acquirement, however, that needs special emphasis – learning about your clients. Doing a competent job and having ‘satisfied’ clients alone will not bring clients back to you year after year, remodel after remodel. Doing outstanding work however, and constantly adding value through the insights you bring and the personal and professional relationship you develop will earn you deep loyalty and undeniable commitment.

As I continue to mature from ordinary subject matter expert into more and more of a design advisor’s role, my student mindset will always remain steadfast in my approach. Hopefully, my interests and drive for knowledge, together with a thorough understanding of my client’s perspective and their world, will form a powerful combination that will fuel my ability to be insightful and consistently add value to the relationship.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so before you leave be sure to visit Von Löwen Designs to view an assortment of refreshing examples in kitchen and bath design concepts, refined palette and interior finishes, and sustainable yet chic, green remodeling ideas that may encourage and inspire your next remodel or home improvement project.

“An expert is a fellow who is afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn’t be an expert anymore.” – Harry S. Truman

The typical narrowband expert is a specialist who delivers data and information, they know their skill-set and carefully and obsessively define where their proficiency begins and ends. Whereas the broadband expert, an authority as well, is someone who has a core expertise onto which they layer knowledge of related (and sometimes unrelated) fields. The result is a designer/advisor with technical depth rather than just a technical specialist. Scary words for some I realize, but in my humble opinion, except where there is a temporary shortage of a particular skill – purely technical specialists are interchangeable and easily replaced. The truly valued professional is the one who not only brings functional expertise, but one who seeks improvement, embraces technology and understands the totality of their client’s perspective, including their lifestyle, their neighborhood, family life and even their business life.

The evolution of both railroads and telecommunications provides befitting analogies for the concept of the broadband thinker. In the nineteenth century, there were many track gauges, or widths, used by American railroads, most were very narrow; the relatively wide-gauge track in use today had not yet become the standard. Wide-gauge tracks have many advantages over narrow-gauge ones, being more stable and versatile; the driver can see farther around curves and permits higher train speeds. Similarly, today’s communication technologies far exceed the performance of the narrowband use of dial-up and twisted-pair connections. Could you image conducting business @ 56k over a telephone line?

Designers today need to step out of their comfort zones and adopt a broadband, wide-gauge approach to knowledge and learning; if you do anything less, you really run the risk that your expertise will become an abandoned service and no longer the asset it once was – ending up like one of the many isolated, narrow-gauge and unused railways throughout the mountains that can no longer connect to the nationwide rail system.

Great professionals, and teachers alike, love to learn and become skilled at learning. A prerequisite to becoming a broadband expert is to cultivate a learning attitude. This attitude, and its consequences, can be summed up by the Zen proverb: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” The elements of this powerful message deserve a closer look:

• The student – Great learners think of themselves as perpetual students. Even when teaching, these learners are working to expand their own knowledge. As the great Zen master Shunryu Suzuki wrote, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.

• Readiness – Having a student mindset is not enough, however. You have to be ready to learn, often by unlearning old precepts or concepts that are no longer valid. Most people aren’t ready to accept new ways of looking at old problems. The first response is often, “I tried that and it doesn’t work.” The next reaction is, “Well maybe it might have a little to offer.” Later, they tell you, “It’s true and had already thought about it a long time ago!” Students who are ready lack the ‘not invented here’ attitude; instead they rapidly identify and incorporate new information and ideas.

• The teacher – Most of us think about teachers in a fairly formal sense – university professors, mentors, authors. Avid learners know that teachers come in every shape and form and often are disguised. Our clients are teachers, as are our partners, spouses, and families. The books and magazines we read are teachers, and so are our most difficult experiences. Both our best and worst competitors are teachers. Strangers you meet randomly, perhaps the person you sit down with on your next flight, may just turn out to be your next enlightening experience – who knows?

• Appearance – Ready students are constantly on the lookout for people and experiences they can learn from, and they know these teachers can appear at any time. Remember the movie Forrest Gump?

The knowledge acquisition, tactics and strategies of most top performers seem to be fundamentally different from those pursued by ‘experts,’ both in terms of what they learn and how they learn it. And if there’s one thing I’ve recognized – it’s that all the really great mentors and professionals I’ve ever met all roam far beyond their core expertise, are constantly absorbing new information in a variety of ways, and are open to multiple methods of learning. They also engage in deep, client-centered learning that enhances their ability to be insightful and add true value in the relationship.

Stay tuned for some additional thoughts on becoming more of an explorer in your learning next week.

Hope all is going your way!

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, so before you leave be sure to visit Von Löwen Designs to view an assortment of refreshing examples in kitchen and bath design concepts, refined palette and interior finishes, and sustainable yet chic, green remodeling ideas that may encourage and inspire your next remodel or home improvement project.