How Hands Connect Us to Ourselves and Others
doubleb
Our hands are amazing things...
They let us experience the world around us through touch. They link our brains to action. They help us "do". We may express feeling or emphasis with our hands when speaking, when writing, or in our art.
Considering this, we might ask: are we using these tools to the full? Let's consider some ways in which the hands and brain work together.
Our hands and our brains
The obvious correlation between hands and brain is exhibited in feats of hand-to-eye coordination. The surgeon trains his hands to apply his medical knowledge with the use of his tools for the prescribed outcome. The greater the connection, the stronger the skill.
But that connection seems to offer more than mechanical adeptness. Maybe it's the old right-brain/left-brain argument that comes into play, but research has shown that many hands-on activities like handwriting, drawing and other tactile pursuits can unlock other emotional and perceptive powers. Perhaps our hands can help us tap into our inner selves. For instance:
- Memory: It's no mystery why students take notes when hearing a lecture. The simple act of engaging this motor skill to capture key insights can heighten our memory of the material being presented.
- Healing:
Both art therapy and journaling are examples of how the use of hand-to-heart expression can provide emotional healing. There is a cathartic release many people undergo when using their hands in these artistic, expressive ways.
- Creativity: The hand-to-mind connection can sometimes unlock our creativity from self-imposed boundaries or fears. Writers use free-form writing exercises to break through writer's block. While artists sometimes keep a doodle or sketch journal to discover fresh ideas or techniques.
Helping hands and the world outside
Hands can also be considered a symbol of collaboration. We use our hands (literally and figuratively) when reaching out to help others. We put intentions and convictions into action when working toward a common goal in collaboration with others with the hope of accomplishing more together than we ever could on our own.
As service organizations, we reach out to others all the time, soliciting business, fostering partnerships, building relationships. We also have internal teams and departments that present opportunities for collaboration and support. How can we enhance our collaboration skills when lending a helping hand? (See this InVision article as my source of inspiration.) Here are a few ideas:
- Facilitation:
When meeting with others regarding a common goal, the team will always benefit from a facilitator. If this is a business meeting with your client, that facilitator is probably you. If the meeting is with your team, it might be you or someone else. But the goals of the meeting and the spirit of collaboration cannot be fully achieved without a clear facilitator guiding the process. Give mindful consideration to the roll of facilitation even when you're offering a helping hand.
- Time:
To improve collaboration, make time for it. You might set aside a special day for an intensive collaboration, brainstorm or special-project session to tackle a specific problem. Or you might choose a few minutes each week or each meeting to allow others to share, offering inspiration or revealing roadblocks. The time you allow in your routine to make room for helping others will be reflected in the actual impact you are able to make in this regard.
- Tools: Improving collaboration in the virtual/digital environment may depend on the right tools, in part because you must build trust without the face-to-face interaction. Tools facilitating online meetings and sharing repositories like Google, Slack can build comradery and team productivity. Whiteboards and other project tools keep the information flowing freely between team members. Try to foster a culture of transparency and respect to build trust, which in turn will enhance a helping culture.
- Consistency:
The goal to being helpful and collaborative must be more than empty speech and shouldn't be short-lived. To really make improvements, make the commitment to build helpfulness into your culture, routine and DNA. Practice it daily and foster it in your team. Value it by giving it recognition and commendation. Delegate, mentor and support the efforts and contributions of others, both within and outside the workforce. Show personal interest in colleagues, peers and clients. With this consistency you will build a loyal tribe who value and respect you and what you offer, regardless if it's paid for or free.
The human hand is unique
Few mammals have appendages like the human hand. Primates can grasp, but they don't have full reason and same emotional connection we have. And, only humans have fingerprints that are unique to each individual.
The human hand has the ability to express, discover, connect and give. If I can do at least one of those things each day in both my work and personal life, I venture to say that would be a good day. 👋 🤲 🤟
Thought leadership is a huge part of social media for your b2b brand. And seeing that social media is leading the game over traditional advertising or product marketing, the stakes are ever higher to get it right. Have you fully defined and honed your brand voice? Are you capitalizing on your uniqueness in all of your thought leadership channels? Let’s explore how to define and leverage your unique thought leadership voice to build your street cred – affecting everything from recruitment and attrition to lead generation and your and bottom-line. B2b wins with thought leadership The value of thought leadership is undeniable. 40% of b2b marketers say they’re able to link business wins directly back to specific pieces of thought leadership content. In fact, thought leadership is said to be one of the most effective tools any b2b can wield to demonstrate value, especially in a tough economy. The awareness-building capability of thought leadership can impact the building of new partnerships, acquiring new users and prospects, as well as establishing a corporate reputation that attracts and retains valuable employees. Thought leadership benefits fall into one or more of these categories: Building trust and credibility Differentiating your brand from others Engaging with C-suite prospects, leaders and influencers Winning advocates and early adopters; driving growth Establishing a foundation for marketing content Identifying new industry categories Find your own unique voice With the value opportunity clear, the next step is defining and honing your own unique voice. This takes time and some trial and error. Start with this homework: Know your brand: Be clear on your USP and how you differentiate from others in the market. Have a clear mission and vision (your mission is your what/why that defines what your do; your vision is your inspirational rally cry for the future). Know your audience: Y ou must be clear on who you’re talking too. Thought leadership is about knowing the unique challenges of your users, the industry at larger and your place within it. This requires a deep and tuned-in perspective. Know what matters to your tribe. Tell your story: To capitalize on thought leadership for growth, you must have a clear and relatable story. Weave that origin and vision into every opportunity to draw relevant insights relevant that leverage your point-of-view. Your story must be about the greater “why” while also being personal. Stick to a plan: Thought leadership efforts are not willy-nilly. They should tie into a complete content strategy and within your messaging matrix for your brand. While being flexible enough to jump at media opportunities, don’t lose sight of the three points above, no matter what kind of thought leadership outreach it is. Be actively sharing: Always. Your efforts should be borne out of generosity and a willingness to teach (not to make a profit). Share with purpose and genuine desire; the rest will naturally fall into place. As you earn the respect of those you are helping your leadership will become self-evident and continue to grow in impact. Build street-cred with various tactics As you craft thought leadership opportunities into your content strategy, there are various tactics you can use. Most of them are some combination of current or future-looking trends or strategies, and your unique advice. Think of yourself as the mentor to the rest of the market, and carve out ways to share your wisdom. Present: Define present challenges and give advice for how to overcome them. This might be specific tools, strategies, feature sets or other advice. Remember, you’re a few steps ahead of those that follow you. How can you share what you’ve learned and what has worked for you, to make their journey better? Share research and expertise. Conduct research and share it with the industry. As a leader, you have more access to information or other thought leaders. Leverage your position to gain insight and expertise that others can use int their own practice. Forward-thinking: Identify trends you see in the industry, market or parallel markets that may impact your work. Offer these insights as a forward-thinking perspective. What do they mean? How will these trends inform future decisions? How have you navigated them successfully? Challenge conventional thinking. Being provocative is part of the role of thought leaders and mentors. They challenge us to not just follow the pack, but to forge our own way. How can your insight inspire a new path for someone to follow? If you could do something again, how would you change your course? Provide a roadmap pr a vision for the future . This could be short or long-term. This might be idealism at its finest, paving the way for a provocative shift in the way business is being done. Or it might be a subtle prediction of what new trends we might see down the line in the next year or so. Pull out your magic 8-ball and have at it. You’ve got the tools, now lead With these tips and all your tremendous experience, you’ve got what it takes to build a reputation worthy of imitation. Don’t let imposter syndrome slow you down. We’re all at different points along the professional roadway. Wherever you are, others are still making their way behind you. You can lead and inspire them. So, craft your messaging around your unique brand voice and start building that street-cred. Just remember these three cardinal rules: Be focused, be consistent, and be yourself. _______ If you need help injecting some with thought leadership content ideas or finding your brand voice for your b2b, feel free to reach out . Let’s chat about your brand and how we can make it anything but boring!
We'll review 8 key design principles that are the foundational building blocks for just about any design solution, used alone or combined. They also have parallel interpretations that can be applied to branding and/or content creation. Let’s see how.
If you’re like most B2B CMOS, Directors and VPS you’ve got a lot of demands on your time. Your in-house teams are tasked with lead generation, nurturing, thought leadership, sales enablement, product messaging and channel building…I could go on. It’s a lot!
And oftentimes, KPI demands are getting, well, more demanding, while your teams and budgets are getting slashed. Does less time ever translate into less creativity? Oooh. Bad choice.
Last thing your audience wants from you is boring. So, don’t sacrifice the creativity.
