Time and Relative Dimensions in Space

Yesterday.

That’s the most common answer when we ask a client or a prospect when they need something by. Everyone wants to move fast. Not just fast…even faster than that.

It often occurs to me that what we mean by “fast” is different for each person.

That difference is a whole story that we too often leave unexplored.

The Experience of Time

If you think about it, we all have a relative understanding of time rather than an objective and shared understanding of time.

We’ve had clients say that they want to move fast, and what they meant by that was “in six months.” I was prepared to have it done by Monday. Not only does time pass at different speed for each of us, depending upon our age, what we do for a living, and a myriad of other factors, but we also have different benchmarks for what fast and slow even mean.

The Expertise Dimension

One of the variables that shapes our understanding of time, in a professional setting, is experience.

With enough experience, we might see a project timeline from a completely different perspective than someone else with less experience. We might reflect on past projects and how many different variables can make something go faster or slower. Someone with less experience might not even know these variables exist.

For example…

• We know when a client wants to go fast, it’s not a matter of whether or not we can build it in less time (”fast”).
• It’s typically a matter of whether we can get access to all of the accounts we need, or get all of the stakeholders’ schedules aligned for the several meetings we need — to answer all the questions that allow us to deliver it in less time (“faster”).

When they say they want to move fast, they’re often not thinking of all the things that have to align in order to move fast. Yet often times, bringing up questions, concerns, and recommendations is seen as something that slows the process down.

In actuality, it’s the experience of knowing what needs to happen in order to actually move fast.

One would think that is important since, of course, “time is money.”

The Pricing Dimension

If time is money, is more time more money, or less?

It’s a strange paradox in the professional world that things which are more expensive, are usually assumed to have taken more time. We’re so used to asking about someone’s hourly rate when we need their help, that we tend to think about price as a function of the person rather than the value of the problem being solved. We take the price, break it into an hourly rate and compare it against other professions to know if we’re getting a good deal while neglecting to place it in the context of the work being done.

I think a lot about the story of the Boilermaker. You know the one.

An old steam engine breaks down. Everyone tries to fix it, and they can’t, until they find this old Boilermaker who repairs steam engines.

They come in, they look around, listen to the sound it makes, and then pull out a hammer to tap it in just the right spot, then all of a sudden the engine comes alive.

When they send the bill for some large amount, the client balks and demands to know how the boilermaker has the audacity to “charge this much for something that only took a few minutes.” To which the Boilermaker replies, “it didn’t take me a few minutes, it has taken me a lifetime.”

So price, like time, is another relative variable, rather than an objective and shared one.

The Experience of Space

If time and price are relative, can we assume that there are other variables that can change according to context?

I would argue that the very same relative experience we have of time and price applies to how we experience space.

“Come back to the office,” they say demand. “People work better when they are all together.”

And yet, given the significant time and energy wasted on commuting, we can see what a strange assertion this is to make. Even more so when we consider how different people experience their environment.

• What feels like bold creative energy to one person, could be an overwhelming and distracting obstacle for another.
• The demands of the office environment can offer some a sense of belonging while at the same time causing others to feel isolated or uncomfortable.

How might a person’s experience of space impact the speed or accuracy of their work and hence reshape our sense of the value embedded in their price?

How Often Do We Really Mean the Same Thing?

Time, Price, Space, Expertise, are all variables and each is relative to the person experiencing them.

When two people speak about any of these concepts without a shared understanding, miscommunication and unmet expectations are the most likely outcome. Yet, rarely do we stop to define what terms mean to one another, instead operating under the assumption that our relative experience is the one shared by everyone else.

It’s not. But there is something we can do about it.

We can implement a process that bridges the gap between two people’s relative experiences.

We do this by either 1) translating one person’s perspective into the other’s perspective; or 2) finding the points of agreement and overlap.

This doesn’t have to happen by accident.

Follow the Instructions

People don’t come with instructions manuals, but how much easier would it be if they did?

One of the workshops we’ve been doing at both Super Impactful and Super Productive, is the Building a User Guide Workshop.

Instead of leaving anyone to operate under the mistaken assumption that everyone else operates just like them, we give everyone the tools to build their own instruction manual.

• We go through questions about their roles, including what allows them to lean into their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses.
• We talk about communication styles and preferences, so everyone knows the most effective way to convey information to one another.
• We talk about both time and environments, all so we know how people think and feel so we can optimize all of the players on our teams for maximum effectiveness and engagement.

When each member of a team has a User Guide to share with each other, it creates a central resource for finding common understanding. Each person brings their own perspective to the table, so everyone has the tools to negotiate the overlap, or understand how to translate what they’re saying into the other person’s perspective.

In the end, everyone has what they need to thrive because relative misunderstandings become visible instead of buried under assumptions.

When you’re ready, name the time and space, and we’ll be there. Contact us to explore a new dimension for your team.

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