What People Do on Your Site and Why – thnkz to @TheGrok

http://www.bryaneisenberg.com/

In the most general scheme of categorization, we’ve learned that each of the millions of different personalities falls into one of four main groups, which my brother and I labeled in 2001 in our book “Persuasive Online Copywriting” as Driver, Amiable, Expressive, and Analytical, and later renamed them to:

Competitive. Fast-paced decision-making, logically oriented
Spontaneous. Fast-paced decision-making, emotionally oriented
Humanistic. Slow-paced decision-making, emotionally oriented
Methodical. Slow-paced decision-making, logically oriented

It doesn’t really matter what you call them. The thing is, you need to become intimately acquainted with these personalities. They are your website’s visitors. And once you know who they are, you have the inside track on how you shape your design and writing to persuade them most effectively.

At the most fundamental level, all people are motivated by a single, critical question: what’s in it for me (WIIFM)? Their dominant personality types strongly influence how they ask that question, perceive value, and consciously – or more typically, subconsciously – approach a decision-making task.

You can certainly see this behavior when you listen to people during usability tests. In fact, check out this video for people searching for “black diamonds.” Listen to their choice of words, how certain things make them feel, and what moves them forward or causes them to stumble.

Usability pundit Jakob Nielsen shared the results of an eye-tracking study he performed in 2007 on the U.S. Census Bureau’s home page. He uses gaze plots to describe four main types of visitor behavior: “search-dominant,” “navigation-dominant,” “tool-dominant,” and “successful.” If you were to look at these four types of behavior through the lens of the personality types you would naturally see beyond what people gazed at and clicked on, and into why they acted the way they did. It’s a natural preference.

What color is Tuesday? Exploring synesthesia – @cytowic Richard E. Cytowic

How does one experience synesthesia — the neurological trait that combines two or more senses?

Synesthetes may taste the number 9 or attach a color to each day of the week. Richard E. Cytowic explains the fascinating world of entangled senses and why we may all have just a touch of synesthesia.

Lesson by Richard E. Cytowic, animation by TED-Ed.

Top Six Components of a Creative Climate | innovationmanagement.se

Are you thinking about ways to transform your workplace into an environment more conducive to innovation? This article takes a closer look at six components of creative climates that have shown to be significant at facilitating creativity according to new research.

This article will continue investigating creative climates with the goal of identifying the most substantial components that facilitates creativity.

What is a creative climate?

A climate can be seen as various aspects of the psychological atmosphere in a team and the surrounding organizational environment. The climate often conveys expectations about which behaviors and attitudes that are acceptable. In the creativity research field there has been many attempts to conceptualize the idea of a ‘creative’ climate – i.e. such a climate that facilitates outcomes that are creative. Examples of such conceptualizations are the Team Climate Inventory by Anderson & West (1996), the Creative Climate Questionnaire by Ekvall (1996) and the KEYS by Amabile et al. (1996).

Many components of a creative climate have been proposed during the years. Some examples are the degree of individual freedom, psychological safety, support and positive relationships among team members, vision provided by supervisors, creative encouragement, mission clarity, available resources, and even joy (Denti, 2011).

The search for significant components of a creative climate

For this article I want to highlight six components of a creative climate that have been shown to be among the most salient in predicting creative and innovative outcomes. To identify these components, I have scrutinized two recent meta-analytic studies on factors that influence creativity and innovation (Hülsheger, Anderson & Salgado, 2009, and Hunter, Bedell & Mumford, 2007). Meta analytic studies have the best ability to detect effects across multiple settings since they combine the results from a large amount of studies¹. The factors are presented in no particular order… Continuar leyendo «Top Six Components of a Creative Climate | innovationmanagement.se»

Workplace Personality Conflicts: Seek Results Not Revenge | Kate Nasser

See on Scoop.it – Gabriel Catalano human being | #INperfeccion® a way to find new insight & perspectives

Differing views fuel success; tugs-of-war in personality differences stifle it. How well are your teams doing?

Workplace Personality Conflicts: Seek Results Not Revenge
The evil of isolation from distance or differences undermines the true potential of a team. Tugs-of-war over personality styles stifle the very instrument of success — communication. Leaders who realize the power of inspiring and coaching employees through personality conflicts, also realize great results and organizational success.

They untie this knot and replace the battles and tugs-of-war with a professional people-skills approach. These keaders address:

Who does the adapting? Everyone. When employees approach you with issues of communication style differences, coach all to adapt to reach great results.

Which personality type produces the best results in business? None of them. Business is complex involving people with different occupational views. These people have different personality and communication styles. It is the successful fusion of natural talents that delivers results.

What is the difference between a tug-of-war and a lively disagreement of ideas? Tugs-of-war are not productive. Active discussions of differing views are. Tugs-of-war strive to maintain position to win. Active discussions explore and adapt to achieve a shared success. Teams and organizations succeed when employees adapt to and work with different communication styles not battle over which communication style is right! Strive to be excellent, not right.

The Questions That Transform Continuar leyendo «Workplace Personality Conflicts: Seek Results Not Revenge | Kate Nasser»

The Thinking Mindset vs. The Doing Mindset: Pick One (And Only One)

by Art Markman | http://99u.com

Ilustration: Oscar Ramos Orozco

You’ll find that some days, the ideas come fast and furious. The days when you just want to sit at your desk, stare up at the sky and just let your mind wander.Other days, though, you really want to get moving. You’re antsy and you can’t really focus on any one thought. Instead, you are most efficient if you are getting things done.

It is no coincidence that the motivation to think and the motivation to act seem to strike us at different times. Research by psychologists Arie Kruglanski, Tory Higgins, and their colleagues suggests that we have two complementary motivational systems: the «thinking» system and the «doing» system – and we’re generally only capable of using one at a time.Think about how you best generate new ideas. Often, you «brainstorm» or try to come up with as many ideas as possible. That is called diverging and requires our thinking system. At other times, you need to evaluate those ideas and figure out which ones are best. That is called converging, and it requires the activation of the doing system.

We have a ‘thinking’ system and a ‘doing’ system – and we’re generally only capable of using one at a time.

Managing your mindset can help you optimize your thinking when you are trying to be creative. Here are a few suggestions for influencing your motivational state. These suggestions can be effective either for you as an individual or when you are working in a group.Get some distance.

Physical and mental distance influence the way you think about things. When you are near to something, you think about it specifically, and you focus on the ways that you can interact with it. Being close to your work engages the doing system. When you are far from it, you think about it more conceptually. Distance engages the thinking system.

Your workplace environment is strongly associated with getting things done. In order to engage a thinking mindset, spend time working in another place. Change your environment, and you will change the way you think.

Stand up and move.

The modern workplace revolves around sitting. Most people have a primary workspace that involves a chair in front of a desk or table. This posture is great, because it allows us to work for long periods of time without causing bodily fatigue.

Change your environment, and you will change the way you think.

Additionally, the seated posture does not support many complex actions, so it reinforces the activation of a thinking mindset, especially thanks to years of schooling.

If you need to jumpstart your doing motivation, get moving. Stand up. Walk around your workspace. Put your ideas on sheets of paper and physically separate them in your space. Walk over to each idea and evaluate it separately. By getting up and moving, you shift yourself from a mode of deliberation to one of selection. Continuar leyendo «The Thinking Mindset vs. The Doing Mindset: Pick One (And Only One)»

3 Sure-Fire Ways to Generate New and Great Ideas | via pickthebrain.com

pickthebrain.com

Written by Robert Chen

Do you want new and great ideas?

The kind that makes people

Smile in wonder and possibility after you introduce it
Question why they don’t ask for your opinion more often
Recognize how intelligent, creative and brilliant you really are

If you’re nodding your head, I have a question for you:

What’s the problem?

Why aren’t you coming up with awesome ideas?

Why do you have trouble coming up with even good ideas?

It’s probably because you believe that great ideas are reserved for a lucky few.

I have some good news and bad news for you.

First, the bad (that’s the way I prefer it): To have new and great ideas require work. The belief that an excellent idea just pops into your head in an AHA! moment is wrong. Eureka, like overnight success, takes time.

Now the good: It is possible for anyone to generate great ideas. Stop thinking that you can’t be creative and realize that you just don’t know how. You have all the resources you need to create awesome ideas and lucky for you, this article will show you how to do it.

Broaden Your Horizons… Continuar leyendo «3 Sure-Fire Ways to Generate New and Great Ideas | via pickthebrain.com»

25 sitios inspirados en el rosa

Existen sitios inspirados en el verde,púrpura, blanco y negro… Cada uno busca la inspiración en un determinado color. El rosa es un color muy bonito, moderno, que refleja un atractivo y rebeldía en los sitios web que muy pocos colores pueden conseguir. Si estás buscando un color atractivo y original para tu diseño, seguramente esta lista de 25 sitios web inspiradosen el rosa te ayudarán:

MailChimp 5.3

odopod

GoodBytes

Stack

Digital Devotion

We Shoot Bottles

LizLance

Solid Giant

Continuar leyendo «25 sitios inspirados en el rosa»

Paul Adams: Future of advertising is ‘many light weight interactions’

Coincidentally, while I was reading Grouped, I found an excellent example of Paul Adams’ theory in practice!My wife asked me recently if I would like to have paneer for the evening snack. It was an unusual choice in a family of South Indian origin, so I asked her when she had learnt to cook paneer. She said ‘Facebook’! Apparently, there was a paneer recipe posted on its Page by Surf Excel Matic, a detergent brand.Let us examine this against ‘light-weighted conversations’ theory:Who did Surf Excel target?At-home-moms with good Facebook presence, who like to cook and take care of the family. Oh, and they’re probably the decision makers for the detergent brand too!

Posted by Venkat | http://blog.recommend.ly

Paul Adams, the Global Brand Experience Manager at Facebook and the author of ‘Grouped’, makes an interesting point about the future of advertising. I stumbled upon a video presentation of his at the fMC recently. That got me interested enough to buy his book, ‘Grouped’ which was a subject of much controversy between him and Google.According to Paul Adams, every marketer should have three things in his new knowledge set to be able to tackle the rapidly evolving customer behaviorin a connected world:

Social behavior : Marketers should understand the ‘Why, What, Who, How’ of communication and how people observe, share and act within their networks
Networks: The social networks are here to stay and marketers need to understand how they work in order to succeed
How people think is affected by their biases, perception, non-conscious brain, past etc, relationships and interactions between people and products

Social behavior : Anatomy of communicationWhat caught my attention was his analysis of social behavior behind online communication, which I took the liberty to rename “Anatomy of communication”. Here’s a graphic representation of what he says: Continuar leyendo «Paul Adams: Future of advertising is ‘many light weight interactions’»

The Process of Creativity

The creative attribute has always been a highly debated and researched component of the human psyche. The “designer” job title seems to be one that calls to the more creative minded among us and according to some, requires the highest level of creative processing. This idea does lend itself to the truth, web designers are called upon to find creative solutions every day. However, we certainly aren’t alone.

Contrary to previous belief, creativity does not limit itself to the “right-brained” artistic types. The ability to find creative and innovative solutions to problems holds value in almost all aspects of life. Even those with highly analytical jobs and hobbies benefit from the ability to approach a complex issue from different perspectives and foresee alternate outcomes. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to suggest that creativity itself is more rooted in a process than random visionary moments.

In one way or another we have all experienced that classic “aha” moment. Be it in our own experience or through those genius minds we love to follow in shows, movies or books, the light bulb moment of mental clarity is an iconic expression. But whether you know it or not you may be reaching those light bulb moments through more of a defined process than you think.

By Jason Gross | http://designinformer.smashingmagazine.com/2011/12/06/the-process-of-creativity/

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Lightbulb
Image credit: Ferdi Rizkiyanto

[Editor’s note: A must-have for professional Web designers and developers: The Printed Smashing Books Bundle is full of practical insight for your daily work. Get the bundle right away!]

The Not-So-Random Spark

Believe it or not, you have probably been practicing the process of creative thinking on purpose for quite a while. Have you ever been instructed to skip a question on an exam that has you stumped and come back to it after you’ve answered the others? Or maybe it’s been something as simple as facing a tough choice with the decision to “sleep on it”. This might seem to imply that our brains continue to work on our hardest problems for us while we sleep or think about something else. Unfortunately it’s not quite that easy.

Even if by accident, when you let go of a problem that you can’t solve you are actively engaging in mental incubation. As it turns out, leaving a complex issue to its own devices doesn’t generate a resolution out of passive thought processes so much as an active new approach. This different approach allows our minds to set aside failed solutions and misconceptions that we generated on our first pass. We aren’t suddenly finding a new solution so much as we are allowing ourselves to shed our fixation on all of the things we thought of before that didn’t work. As we move on with our day or the next task, those bits of information that we forget may be replaced with different pieces to the puzzle. These pieces are pulled from other tasks or mental processes and applied to the equation we couldn’t solve earlier. When something from a current and not necessarily related task locks in with the problem we couldn’t figure out earlier the light switch flips on.

Stop Watch
Down time can be a powerful tool in the creative process.

For designers we should be able to put this into context fairly easily. Certainly there are those among us who have been plagued with the eternal judgment of the typography, layout, and color choices that we see around us everywhere. Even the task of e-mail a client back and explaining why we shouldn’t make their logo bigger sparks thoughts of alignment, positioning and weight. In processing the things that we do or don’t like we constantly build our mental database of micro-ideas that we apply to our designs.

This seems a little less fun than random strokes of genius but it does give us the power to craft our own epiphanies instead of letting them fall upon us. It is because of this, that a lot of designers find success moving between tasks on a single project or shifting to an entirely new project when they feel their creative juices waning.

At the head of all of this it is important to remember that a lot of designers depend on their skill set to make a living. So trying to implement time to let your mind rest doesn’t coincide well with meeting deadlines and “thinking time” doesn’t look great on a project invoice. Like so many things, practice makes perfect in this area and you can go ahead and plan on getting it wrong the first time around. As you become more comfortable with your own working and thinking pace it will allow you to better predict the timeline of a project that includes the mental brakes you need to find creative answers. Continuar leyendo «The Process of Creativity»

15 Cool Ways To Boost Your Creativity

Feeling burnt out or lacking creative ideas?

This article is especially for all you writers, artists, business owners or anyone looking for some new ways to get their creativity flowing.

Here are 15 ways to give your creativity a jump start:

Write Your Ideas Down

Get into the habit of writing your ideas down as soon as you get them. This way you train your brain to keep coming up with ideas, and as soon as you get them you write them down.

When they are written down you don’t have to worry about remembering them and this allows more room for new ideas to form in your mind.

Relax

Good ideas and creativity usually do not appear under stress. When you are relaxed and rejuvenated, creative ideas usually come rather naturally.

Take a walk on the beach, take a nap, go and play some sport or do whatever it is that relaxes you so that your brain can be more creative when you get back to work.

Have No Expectations

Similar to living with no stress, but specifically no stress from the outcome.

When you create with love and passion and no expectation of the outcome, the chances are much greater that you will create something remarkable!

Written by Diggy
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/15-cool-ways-to-boost-your-creativity/

Feeling burnt out or lacking creative ideas?

This article is especially for all you writers, artists, business owners or anyone looking for some new ways to get their creativity flowing.

Here are 15 ways to give your creativity a jump start:

Write Your Ideas Down

Get into the habit of writing your ideas down as soon as you get them. This way you train your brain to keep coming up with ideas, and as soon as you get them you write them down.

When they are written down you don’t have to worry about remembering them and this allows more room for new ideas to form in your mind.

Relax

Good ideas and creativity usually do not appear under stress. When you are relaxed and rejuvenated, creative ideas usually come rather naturally.

Take a walk on the beach, take a nap, go and play some sport or do whatever it is that relaxes you so that your brain can be more creative when you get back to work.

Have No Expectations

Similar to living with no stress, but specifically no stress from the outcome.

When you create with love and passion and no expectation of the outcome, the chances are much greater that you will create something remarkable! Continuar leyendo «15 Cool Ways To Boost Your Creativity»

Human Behavior Theories That Can be Applied to Web Design

Humans are logical creatures, and as surprising as this might be, when we visit a website our minds make a series of decisions that affect the actions we take. The ability to reason enables us to form judgments, reach conclusions and make decisions. If, on the web, we weren’t able to think on the spot and then take action, we would trap ourselves in crippling situations of mindless clicking.

Behavioral psychology is an advancing field, and we web ninjas need to understand something about psychology in order to make usable websites. If we understand human needs and emotions — how we interpret what we see and how we choose to act — then we will better understand our site users. We’ll be able to choose and create meaningful layouts, typography and colors.

This article is no substitute for a degree in psychology (so don’t give yourself an honorary Ph.D. after reading this). Also, the items mentioned here don’t account for every circumstance, because no two people are the same. Yet by understanding the theories outlined below (there are no hard facts in psychology, just theories), you can better understand how your design work will be perceived and used.

by Alexander Dawson
http://sixrevisions.com/usabilityaccessibility/human-behavior-theories-that-can-be-applied-to-web-design/

This article is no substitute for a degree in psychology (so don’t give yourself an honorary Ph.D. after reading this). Also, the items mentioned here don’t account for every circumstance, because no two people are the same. Yet by understanding the theories outlined below (there are no hard facts in psychology, just theories), you can better understand how your design work will be perceived and used. Continuar leyendo «Human Behavior Theories That Can be Applied to Web Design»

Simple Yet Effective Brainstorming Tips for Freelancers

Great ideas are born in everyone’s mind, it takes careful planning and powerful execution to turn them into reality. Here brainstorming enters, it is the process by which you squeeze out all ideas you can think of and from there you piece them together to come up with a plan.

The human mind is so strong that it can conceive even the seemingly impossible. No software has ever come close to the mind’s processing of creative ideas, its complexity, and fluidity. Besides, all of the wonderful structures we see both in the cyber world and the tangible world are a product human imagination and careful execution. Now let us talk about brainstorming in-depth and build things that will wow the audience.

By Rean John Uehara | http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/effective-brainstorming-tips/

Mentally Hijacked: How to Recognize Constructive and Destructive Emotions

Emotions are a natural and basic part of life. They signal how we feel about a certain situation or occurrence, so we can take the necessary action to deal with the situation. Emotions in this sense aren’t positive or negative, but are more along the lines of constructive or destructive, depending on how they are utilized. Emotions can become destructive and cause serious distress when they become overwhelming and take over how we act, what we say, and what we do. This emotional high-jacking is where many problems emerge.

The high-road and low-road

Taking a closer look at the human brain and how it relates to emotions, we can examine two overall parts of the brain; the high-road and low-road. Both parts communicate with each other and help us navigate through the world. The low-road is the primitive part of the brain, where our emotions immediately come from, and signals when we feel sad, mad, or fearful. This can be helpful when it’s necessary to act quickly for our safety, or to remind us how we felt in a previous similar situation.

But, this low-road route is where emotional high-jacking occurs. It can lead to rash decision making, not thinking before acting, and ultimately hurting ourselves or others.

Your low-road sends the immediate signal of an emotion, and the high-road then assesses the situation to see what needs to be done to deal with the threat. The high-road is there so we can think about things before acting, and find the best options to solve our problem.

Written by Joe Wilner
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/mentally-hijacked-how-to-recognize-constructive-and-destructive-emotions/

The high-road and low-road

But, this low-road route is where emotional high-jacking occurs. It can lead to rash decision making, not thinking before acting, and ultimately hurting ourselves or others.

If you’ve ever been emotional distraught, you know it can be tough to think straight.

Using emotions advantageously comes from thinking before acting, and can help to prevent causing harm to yourself and others. Continuar leyendo «Mentally Hijacked: How to Recognize Constructive and Destructive Emotions»

Micro vs Macro: Using “Success Factors” To Manage Your Team

So what’s the secret to great MACRO management? Defining and then reinforcing “success factors.”

“Success factors” are the specific attributes for each person to be successful in his/her job. For example, a great “Office Manager” is (1) extremely organized, (2) has a great attention to detail, (3) understands the operations of the business, and (4) is comfortable working with different personalities. These four attributes are success factors.

A great MACRO manager states these success factors up front to someone hired for such a job. And then, over time, would consistently reinforce them – and support their development – going forward.

Everyone on your team should know (and agree) on the “success factors” for their role. When you check in periodically with folks on your team, you should restate the success factors and discuss what each person is doing to develop them over time. Industry conferences, workshops, and continuing education all lend themselves to addressing one’s success factors.

Rather than obsess over day-to-day performance, consider your team’s success factors on a consistent basis. By doing so, you will develop one of your own success factors – your capacity to MACRO manage!
—

by Scott Belsky
http://the99percent.com/tips/6894/micro-vs-macro-using-success-factors-to-manage-your-team

Every creative leader faces the challenge of building and managing a team. Finding the right folks is half the battle. After you find them, it is your responsibility to manage the team. Great management happens on both a
“micro” level and a “macro” level. Micro-management – not the notoriously negative “micromanagement,” but rather what I call the MICRO aspect of management – is all about the day-to-day management that keeps the team on track.

A great MICRO manager asks questions like:

What are the deadlines for a particular project?
How do we measure progress (and are we making progress)?
Is there sufficient feedback exchange?
How do we promote more accountability within the team?

But what about the MACRO part of management? Beyond your day-to-day role as a manager, you must also consider each person‘s career trajectory. Continuar leyendo «Micro vs Macro: Using “Success Factors” To Manage Your Team»

Intelligence Management: un enfoque de Gestión

Intelligence Management es un término que podríamos traducir literalmente como “gestión inteligente” y que hace referencia al modo de gestionar una organización o una problemática basado en el análisis de la información y la “gestión del conocimiento” para obtener el mejor resultado.

No se trata de una metodología en concreto aunque utiliza una metodología, y tampoco se trata de una aplicación informática aunque utiliza herramientas informáticas. Podríamos decir que Intelligence Management es un “enfoque” en el modelo de gestionar, dado que:

* “pone el foco” en determinados aspectos cruciales de la gestión como son el Core Business (modelo de negocio),
* las Best Practices (mejores prácticas),
* las variables y procedimientos clave,
* la sistematización de la información
* y los procesos de toma de decisiones.

Con todo ello lo que se pretende es sistematizar un modelo de gestión que permita optimizar el desempeño corporativo de la organización o de las áreas de gestión en las que se aplica.

Intelligence Management

Por hacer una breve reseña, los orígenes de Intelligence Management los encontramos en la década de los cincuenta y sesenta, cuando el Instituto Carnegie de Tecnología desarrolla unos estudios teóricos sobre la toma de decisiones en las organizaciones que fueron tomados como base por el Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts para desarrollar unos sistemas informáticos bajo el concepto Decisión Support System (DSS) y que como su nombre indica tenían por objeto ayudar en el proceso de toma de decisiones.

Fue a partir de 1989 cuando Howard Dresner de Gartner Group popularizó el concepto de Business Intelligence, como un paraguas bajo el cual tenían cabida una serie de conceptos y métodos a implementar en las organizaciones orientados a lograr una toma de decisiones más eficientes soportadas sobre una aplicación informática tipo DSS. Desde entonces a nuestros días, han sido numerosas las acepciones que bajo el término “Intelligence” han aparecido, si bien con el propósito de identificar una u otra solución en particular bien fuera metodológica o informática: Business Intelligence, Customer Intelligence Management System, Intelligence Competitive, Corporate Intelligence, Market Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence, etc.

Como decimos, Intelligence Management es un enfoque de gestión orientado a obtener un alto rendimiento de la gestión a nivel corporativo, para lo cual se sistematiza un modelo de gestión que se focaliza en los distintos aspectos de la gestión que son cruciales.
Core Business…

por Alberto Roca Vanaclocha
http://www.marketingcomunidad.com/intelligence-management-un-enfoque-de-gestion.html

“pone el foco” en determinados aspectos cruciales de la gestión como son el Core Business (modelo de negocio),
las Best Practices (mejores prácticas),
las variables y procedimientos clave,
la sistematización de la información
y los procesos de toma de decisiones.

Con todo ello lo que se pretende es sistematizar un modelo de gestión que permita optimizar el desempeño corporativo de la organización o de las áreas de gestión en las que se aplica.