Jen Harper - Order Taker to Influencer - lessons learned along the way

Working on a project with complex stakeholders who either don’t see you or don’t understand the value of design? I’ve been there. I’ll share my experiences and lessons I’ve learned that helped me move from constantly butting heads to getting a seat at the leadership table.

Transcript

1. Order Taker to Influencer LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY Women in UX - Succeeding in Design Jen Harper Experience Design Lead, NAB #womeninux #uxaustralia
2. Unpack the behaviours of yourself and your stakeholders Highlight the risks and impacts of stakeholders' decisions Sometimes you need to step back and let them fail – to learn ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY FOCUS OF TODAY
3. Unpack the behaviours of yourself & your stakeholders LESSON 01 ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
4. ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY TASK ORIENTED PEOPLE ORIENTED ACTION STABILITY
5. It will help bring more self- awareness to what motivates you and what ticks you off You can then sit back and identify the similarities and differences in your stakeholders Once you know how they prefer to consume info you can adapt your style to theirs to have a better shot at getting your message across e.g. High 'D' stakeholder – dot points, critical info first, action/s you want from them Who do you have as an ally that can help you get your message across or be your intermediary? e.g. High 'I' stakeholder - do you know anyone else who presents the same way that you can practice with or observe? Do a DiSC profile self- assessment to identify your strengths and weaknesses Tailor your communication style to your stakeholder/s Identify gaps in your network and build new relationships 01 – WHAT DID I LEARN? ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
6. Highlight the risks and impacts of stakeholders' decisions LESSON 02 ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
7. E.g. cost to deliver vs expected benefits – capacity release, revenue gains, cost out etc. E.g. ACCC, APRA, BCOP, DDO, ASIC, anti-fraud and anti- money laundering laws E.g. Organisation imposed policy/ies – customer identification, financial verification processes E.g. Performance scorecard metrics, KPIs, customer promises, brand promises, strategic ambition statements E.g. Using legacy software to deliver a 'quick win' vs aligning to strategic solution architecture E.g. Usability scores, error rates, adoption rates, NPS, employee engagement FINANCIAL REGULATORY & LEGAL POLICY PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE 02 – WHAT IS RISK? ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
8. Do this as part of your initial briefing on a project Be empathetic towards your stakeholder/s – they have a lot of decisions to juggle and UX is not their sole focus Showcase how design can embed risk controls into an experience and not 'tacked on' after the fact Scope cuts that impact the user experience? Log it and playback the impacts/consequences of that decision – e.g. 'If you do X, it will mean Y...' Also capture opportunities identified from research Establish a process to prioritise items in a backlog Educate them on design- thinking and bring them in early to conversations and briefings They want to solve the same problems you do and are often forgotten about or engaged too late Discover what risks your stakeholder/s is accountable for Establish & maintain a design debt and opportunity register Engage your Risk SME early in the design process 02 – WHAT DID I LEARN? ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
9. Sometimes you need to step back and let them fail – to learn LESSON 03 ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
10. You are a part of a team that has been engaged to shape and deliver an outcome You can only control what is inside your sphere of influence Sometimes a stakeholder just has their mind made up and they ain't changing it for anyone As frustrating as that is, don't waste your energy replaying previous actions in your head Get away to clear your head, vent to someone you're comfortable with, go on a holiday... If an outcome does fail, the first thing that stakeholder will think of is you and your recommendations they ignored Getting that 'told you so' moment is glorious and your status as an advisor/leader will only be elevated It's not on your shoulders if it goes wrong – you're not the owner/sponsor You can't influence a decision that has already been made If you did your job right, they'll listen to you next time 03 – WHAT DID I LEARN? ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
11. Do a DiSC profile assessment! Show up and operate as if it was your own business It's not an overnight success story – you gotta hustle and stick it out ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY KEY TAKE-AWAYS
12. Thank You Jen Harper Experience Design Lead, NAB ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY Women in UX - Succeeding in Design #womeninux #uxaustralia