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
   

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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
   

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3. Unpack the behaviours
   of yourself & your
   stakeholders
   LESSON 01
   ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
   

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4. ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
   TASK
   ORIENTED
   PEOPLE
   ORIENTED
   ACTION
   STABILITY
   

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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
   

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6. Highlight the risks and
   impacts of stakeholders'
   decisions
   LESSON 02
   ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
   

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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
   

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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
   

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9. Sometimes you need
   to step back and let
   them fail – to learn
   LESSON 03
   ORDER TAKER TO INFLUENCER – LESSONS LEARNED ALONG THE WAY
   

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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
    

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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
    

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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
    

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