JANUARY EVENT RECAP | "AN EVENING WITH FUTURIST DAVID ZACH"

I am a skeptic. Yes, when I first saw the title, I asked myself, what in the world is a futurist? While I still think the "Futurist" title is silly and perhaps a bit deceiving, I now understand where David Zach is coming from. A Futurist, is a Past-ist and Present-ist too! David discussed many ideas and topics that affect our immediate existence as much as they shape our future. My biggest takeaway lesson is perhaps a bit self-serving. For many years, I have said that "to know where you're going, you have to know where you've been." David put it a little differently but the point is the same (I think): "To know the future we must look into the past."

We live in a world that's ever-changing, where sometimes change even goes unnoticed, because the next step in that evolution comes along too fast! David reminds us that this is not by any means a new phenomenon. The Renaissance must have been as exciting, scary and exhilarating.

In a world where, as David said, "everything wants to talk," where your refrigerator sends you a message to tell you "you are low on milk," and other wonders of invention that insist on automating our lives, where do we stand? After listening to David, the answer seems clear. Keep thinking ahead, keep challenging our notion of tomorrow and, very importantly, don't do it alone. Don't just "think outside the box, but connect to everyone's box."

David's conversation was inspiring and a challenge to us all, well summarized in his question: "Can we afford not to think BIGGER ideas?"

Pedro Garcia

pgarcia@rdgusa.com

November Event Recap | “Ask For It – Using Negotiations to Get What You Want.”

On November 3, 2016, iaWia collaborated with CREWIowa, Polk County Women Attorneys, and the Nexus Executive Women’s Alliance in hosting a workshop entitled “Ask For It – Using Negotiations to Get What You Want.” Presenter Brooke Benschoter – strategist with The Consultancy and certified Moxie trainer – led an interactive workshop at the Windsor Heights Community Center that allowed participants to explore their own perceived barriers to getting what we want and need in our daily lives due to discomfort with negotiating. 60 participants from all organizations, plus 14 nonmembers, learned that results can be achieved by overcoming fear, clearly articulating needs, and approaching negotiation as solving a problem instead of a win-lose situation. Successful negotiations do not begin as a demand or ultimatum. They start with the question, “Is there an alternative solution that can benefit both of us?”

Midway through the workshop, panelists representing each of the collaborating organizations offered professional insights into negotiations. Pictured here are Janette Larkin from the Des Moines Business Record (Nexus), Siobhan Harman from Kum & Go (CREWIowa), Jeanne Huntsman from The Weidt Group (iaWia),  and Federal Magistrate Helen Adams (Polk County Women Attorneys) along with facilitator Brooke Benschoter. The event concluded with a networking reception. Participants said they appreciated the networking connections as much as the professional training.

Thanks to Jill Boetger, Susanne Roesch and Susan Judkins for representing iaWia in helping to plan the event. Plans for a future collaboration with these professional groups, and possibly others, are already being explored for 2017.

Written by Susan Judkins.

2016 Annual Business Meeting Recap

iaWia recently held our Annual Business Meeting at RDG Planning & Design in Des Moines. Following a summary of 2015-2016 highlights and a look ahead toward another great year, iaWia welcomed special guest Amy Slattery, Kansas City architect and owner of Odimo, to speak about her professional path.  In 2015, after months of struggling with how to make her career fit into her current life, Amy Slattery experienced a death of a loved one and had an awakening. Six months to the day after this awakening she had a business plan and was ready to further her pursuit of her own north, opening her own architecture firm with the goal to help clients navigate through the crazy of design in construction. Amy’s career to that point had certainly been prolific.  Fresh out of school, she began working in Moshe Safdie’s firm on the Kaufmann Museum in Kansas City as a liaison to her then firm BNIM (of Kansas City).  She worked through that project over the course of seven years, growing and advancing in knowledge and title.  Amy founded Women in Design of Kansas City in 2005, and she and her husband Sean grew their family with two children Finn and Anna.  In 2011, Amy was a recipient of the AIA’s National Young Architect’s award.

Wanting to become a better rounded architect and with the thought in the back of her mind that she would one day to start her own firm, she moved to Burns and McDonnell, an engineering firm with architects to learn more about management and business in general.  Throughout her time there, Amy maintained and enhanced her relationships with clients, other architects and contractors, so when it was time to go out on her own with Odimo she already had a list of contacts and references to call upon.

Amy gave an energetic, open and informational account of her journey thus far.  Odimo is currently looking for more staff.  With Amy at the helm I’d be willing to bet that everyone at the iaWia event would agree the sky is the limit for this architecture firm.  Upon asking about tips to encourage more gender balanced attendance at iaWia events, Amy suggested that we stop having a conversation about life/work balance, and instead just talk about our work.

Article submitted by Naura Heiman Godar.

Alternative Career Panel - April Educational Event

Event Summary: “Thinking Outside the Box – Exploring Alternative Careers in Design”

On April 13, 2016, Iowa Women in Architecture (iaWia) gathered a talented group of panelists that have all pushed the boundaries of the traditional role of the design professional to explore alternative career paths within our industry.

The moderator and panelists represented diverse design and engineering career paths:

• Moderator: Heidi Pollmann, Confluence (Landscape Architect, Marketing, Golf Course Design)
• Panelist: Matt Brown, Wellmark BCBS (Architect, Owners Representative/Facilities)
• Panelist: Gary Gaiser, Pella Corporation (Architect, Industry/Manufacturing).
• Panelist: Heidi Hohmann, Iowa State University College of Design (Landscape Architect, Academic, Historic Preservation, National Park Service, Private Practice)
• Panelist: Erin Olson-Douglas, City of Des Moines Office of Economic Development (Architect, Private Practice, Academic, Economic Development/Planning)
• Panelist: Brian Schwartz, Baker Group (Architect, Contractor)

Each participant gave a brief summary of their professional journey including their education and the evolution of their careers (both planned and unplanned) that led each to their current role. They provided general career advice as well as advice to professionals who are considering exploring a non-traditional career path. The following is a summary of the advice and moderated discussion.

General Advice & Advice to Those Considering Alternative Career Paths

• Seek out mentors to help you develop as a person and a designer.
• Keep building your networks.
• Get involved in your professional community (e.g., AIA, CSI) as they have many opportunities for mentorship.
• Take every opportunity to think like a designer in whatever setting you are in.
• Get involved in your civic community. You can often learn more in non-profit roles than in a project.
• Be open to learning from other professionals outside the design world.
• If considering an alternative career path, 1) learn the rules of the alternative professional route, and do your networking within that world; 2) gain credibility through registration/licensure; 3) be aware that some alternative career paths offer fewer opportunities for active design which may lead to “Design Guilt” for some, but you can be creative in seeking out other ways to use your design skills in professional or non-professional opportunities.

Planning your Career

• Look at your natural strengths as you think about what roles you want to do. Capitalize on your strengths.
• Diversify and figure out what you do well.
• Consider graduate school as an investment in your career and an opportunity to think hard about what you want to do with your life.
• It is easy to get bogged down in projects/details which leads you to single-track thinking. In order to navigate your career, be conscious and step out of your comfort zone. Find ways to have moments of clarity in which you can recognize your strengths and where you would like to go with your career. Take time to evaluate if you are doing what fits with your purpose.
• Some parts of your career path may be planned, but some are more serendipitous as recessions, illnesses, personal/professional connections or global events (e.g., 9/11) might change your plans or perspective on your career.
• Look at your career through different lenses to help determine your path. One panelist, Brian Schwartz, shared his three lenses: Focus on his Family, Flexibility, Financial.
• Many panelists noted that financial considerations were not a primary driver of career decisions and work-life balance was more important. However, a base-line financial foundation can allow for a stronger work-life balance such as the ability to afford a nanny.

How do designers’ unique skill sets translate to non-traditional areas?

• Designers have tremendous analytical skills that are very desired by many different types of firms.
• Having a design background can be valuable in leading a team that executes the vision established by other designers/architects.
• Problem-solving
  • Designers are good at defining a problem, creating a sequence to address the problem and redirecting a solution. This process is used by one panelist in his work on the City Council.
  • Visionary Thinking: Design training allows you to help non-designers recognize and solve problems in a visionary way.
  • There are many good answers to the same question. Designers realize we can find another solution if one solution is not working.
• In historic preservation, design training provides a deeper understanding of what design elements are able to be restored and worthy of restoration in ways that may be less apparent to a historian.
• Designers are willing to work in a gray zone and recognize that not everything is black and white. You don’t need to have certainty to make progress.
• Panelist design skills also translated into more specific areas such as guiding their employer’s decisions on website design (look, feel, and user-friendliness), social content/marketing an employer’s strengths and the look/feel of proposals.

What could traditional firms learn from your experiences in non-traditional environments?

• Focus on the people you have and develop their careers.
• Treat people as humans and be sure that they are more important than projects. One panelist noted that being at an employer that offers more holidays off (such as Presidents’ Day), makes a huge difference in cheerfulness/morale.
• Address the studio culture attitude.

Summary submitted by Laura Kessel, 5/1/2016.

Evolving Leadership in the 21st Century Event Summary

On Friday, January 29, approximately 50 Iowa Women in Architecture members and guests gathered at the DART Central Station to listen and engage with Karla Fultz McHenry, of Fultz McHenry Consulting LLC, about Evolving Leadership in the 21st Century. Karla introduced herself as a lifelong advocate for the success of women and girls in the State of Iowa. She has served as a Legislative Liaison for the Iowa Department of Human Services; the Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy for the Iowa Medical Society; and is the President of the Friends of the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women. Karla also provides consulting services to clients leading them through positive outcomes for legislative proposals before the Iowa General Assembly. Karla’s description of her career was also a consolidated version of her three-minute professional elevator speech; which she then directed the group to rehearse themselves at the tables in small groups.

Following the professional elevator speech, Karla requested everyone to present their 3-minute personal elevator speech. The room buzzed with discussion. Karla then asked, “Which was easier to give? The personal or professional speech?” To Karla’s surprise, most responded that the personal speech was easier and Karla reiterated the importance of frequently practicing a professional elevator speech.

Karla continued by giving her personal speech. She has an amazing husband who she loves dearly; a fantastic son and many great friends who she travels with. She noted that it’s hard to take your professional story out of your personal story, and the same goes for the reverse.

Recognizing the work done by iaWia in their Best Practice Recommendations (BPR) document completed in 2013, Karla led the group in discussing known outcomes of implementation of the BPR. She asked, “Are there examples anyone can give of specific changes made in their firms due to the survey implemented from the BPR?” Anna Jones with Substance Architecture noted that the iaWia survey triggered a revision of their policies and procedures, of their annual review process, and brought the firm together for a retreat to discuss the issues brought up by the survey and BPR.

From this, Karla asked the group to discuss tools that can be used to help support iaWia’s mission and the advancement of best practices. The tools most useful to the group were found to be:

• Have an advocate and mentor to speak to regularly;
• Use rebellion as a tool to instigate change;
• Talk about work-life balance;
• Revise the review process;
• Utilize benchmarking to help support the reason for change;
• And recognize all sides of the story – men, women, entry-level to senior-level.

After discussing the active ways the group can push implementation of the BPR into the various workplaces, Karla moved to focus on the individual. She urged that mindfulness, awareness of surroundings to reduce stress, and being present with yourself are integral to finding focus and reducing anxiety. “Spend 30 minutes every day just thinking about yourself,” she said, “how else are you going to keep yourself sane?” Karla continued explaining that curiosity is important and stillness aids mindfulness which allows you to truly think about yourself.

She continued to discuss that emotional intelligence is an incredible skill which allows you to sense anger, stress, and emotion amongst your team and use this to decide how to best respond. She noted that women tend to have more emotional intuition naturally than men; use this as a tool. Karla explained the toxicity of overthinking which ties up with feelings of worthiness and perfection. Finding yourself and using mindfulness to balance these thoughts is crucial to sustainable success.

Moving beyond yourself, Karla also recommended that you need at least one go-to person. Someone you can talk to, who thinks like you and who you can trust. Along with this, she explained, you must have fun! Humor is important every day.

Find your kind of spirituality, she said. Whether that is religion, community, social compassion, or volunteering. Karla suggests that mentoring is an excellent way to give back and is a practice of trust, giving support, and celebrating success.

Karla wrapped up the session discussing vulnerability. Believe it or not, she explained, her vulnerability is public speaking. Ridiculed by a speech teacher in high school, Karla has spent her life working on being confident through her speaking, mentoring, and coaching.

Her finals words of advice were to, “Let the past be the past and move forward to decide what the next step is; I truly believe one day women will rule the world!”

Summary submitted by Jennifer Ross Buck

Thank you to KJWW for sponsoring cookies and water for this event!

Event Recap - Unintentional Bias Panel Discussion

Thank you to everyone who attended the panel discussion on Tackling Unintentional Bias last Thursday.  With over 60 people in attendance, it was a great opportunity for the panelists to offer insight on the subject. Each panelist has extensive experience with diversity and inclusion throughout their personal lives and professional careers.  Moderator Lorin Ditzler kept the conversation flowing by asking the panel what unintentional bias is and what it looks like; why is in important to tackle biases; and what can we do to tackle those biases.  Each panelist drew from their own experiences to provide in-depth answers.

Some really great take-aways from the panel were the discussions about how bias can be both intentional and unintentional, that bias is not just an “ism” – sexism, racism, ageism, etc. – but could be assumptions or pre-conceived ideas, and how being intentional in the work place could help people to become aware of bias and work to correct it.

Also a big thank you to our panelists and moderator: Rona Berinbois with Wellmark, Lindsay Moser with Principal Financial Group, Renee Thomas with RDG Planning and Design, Thomas Newkirk with Newkirk Zwagerman and moderator, Lorin Ditzler with RDG Planning and Design.

Event Recap: 2015 AIA Spring Meeting

  Thank you to everyone who attended the AIA Spring Conference this year and got the chance to hear E.B. Min's keynote, co-sponsored by iaWia as well as our panel discussion, Best Practices: Firm Survey Tool and How to Use It.

The event kicked off with a lecture by E.B Min from Min|Day where we took a look at some of their projects and design intentions. It was then followed by a series of workshops and panel discussions along with a career fair in which students were able to network with architecture firms. The afternoon keynote was given by Takashi Yanai from Ehrlich Architects in which he talked about the importance of collaboration and the meaning of culture as a key factor in design.

Our workshop, "Best Practices: Firm Survey Tool and How to Use It" led by Anna Jones and Laura Kessel, discussed the launch of the iaWia Best Practices Recommendations since 2013. Firm representatives spoke on how the Best Practices Survey taken by the staff members has provided them with a clear understanding of the firm’s concerns. This helped them to target those issues to further reshape the firm’s working environment including, but not limited to, policies.  The panel consisted of Joshua Baker from Substance Architecture, Jill Goedken from Invision Architecture, and Phil Hodgin from RDG.