{"id":15030,"date":"2016-10-24T17:18:05","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T00:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/?p=15030"},"modified":"2024-06-25T00:08:23","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T07:08:23","slug":"evangelizing-ux-how-design-leaders-win-buy-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/blog\/evangelizing-ux-how-design-leaders-win-buy-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Evangelizing UX: How Design Leaders Win Buy-In"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know that once you became a UX designer, you were joining a religion?<\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t? Well, it is.<\/p>\n

One of your jobs at almost at every stage of your career is to make others adopt your truth. Just like any good clergy, you want others to be force multipliers for UX.<\/p>\n

When a concept as abstract as user experience needs to be explained in order to be supported, it will usually fail, unless you find a shared experience for the truth you want to share. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you what [user experience] is. I can only show you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive into a few useful tactics for spreading the good word.<\/p>\n

Building Your First Flock<\/b><\/h2>\n

As I explained inThe Guide to UX Leadership<\/span><\/a>, an evangelist is only as good as the stretch of their voice.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t be everywhere. If you\u2019re trying to scale across increasingly larger organizations as your career grows, you must build a group of disciples to shepherd their own flocks.<\/p>\n

\"image00\"<\/p>\n

Photo credit:UXPin<\/span><\/a> customer Sumo Logic<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The first step is, obviously, about getting your own flock.<\/p>\n

Of course you can hire for that. But you need two things: purpose and cash. You probably have an abundance of the first and almost none of the second.<\/p>\n

Here are the steps as I\u2019ve experienced them.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Clarity<\/b><\/h2>\n

Anyone influential must understand your purpose as clearly as you do.<\/p>\n

AtHP Enterprise<\/span><\/a>, I tried to place myself next to the following message,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy helping our organization understand what our customers value, the Insights and Strategy team will increase customer satisfaction, reduce churn, and increase sales.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

Most of this messaging occurs in the meetings and 1:1 conversations I have, but it\u2019s also like any political stump speech. Focus on the keywords and use them whenever you can.<\/p>\n

If you read the above the keywords arehelping<\/b>,value<\/b>,strategy<\/b>. And then the ending emphasizes tangible ROI.<\/p>\n

2. Vision<\/b><\/h2>\n

Vision is the story of your desired outcomes.<\/p>\n

What will the organization look like if it achieved your goals? How will customers\u2019 lives be impacted?<\/p>\n

Your story must be dramatic, emotional, engaging. It needs to draw people in. People need to make the story their own while still retaining the core message.<\/p>\n

The story should push boundaries, but not offend sensibilities.<\/p>\n

When trying to build a strategic practice at Rackspace, we needed to gain support. We literally created a video prototype in Keynote of a new story that remained true to company values and it\u2019s value proposition, was based on feasible design, and showed how the strategy would improve the lives of employees and users.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also try a more bite-sized approach. Segment your product into smaller units. Take a very small unit (e.g. a feature) and create a new vision for impact on the organization and customers. Shop it around as support is gained, validate it internally, and maybe even, covertly, externally.<\/p>\n

Keep a record of your successes\u2014and then slowly expand on your successes until you reach the decision makers or the people who influence decision-makers.<\/p>\n

3. Ability<\/b><\/h2>\n

This is where \u201cleader as doer\u201d is so important.<\/p>\n

In most of the organizations, \u201cbias towards action\u201d is a common reframe. But what is action? They want you to \u201cmake something I can see, relate to (and most importantly),use<\/b>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assess where your company lies along the8 stages of UX maturity<\/span><\/a> so that you can start building buy-in with the most influential groups.   <\/span><\/p>\n

A startup is clearly motivated by how \u201cthe possible\u201d drives revenue growth. A large enterprise is concerned more with optimization and extension.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"image02\"<\/p>\n

For example, when I was in a management role over a decade ago at a startup, the executive team was eager to grow towards IPO or acquisition. One of their big liabilities was a system burdened with legacy and tech debt. The company was motivated to refactor the technology stack and better differentiate their core experience.<\/p>\n

Given their rapid timeline, they were most responsive to ideas that were immediately feasible.<\/p>\n

This motivation led me to a two-pronged set of realistic tactics.<\/p>\n