Making people matter in your work
Ever been so heads down working you lose sight of the people you’re building it for and your teammates building it with you? I have worked on the business, operations and tech side, and one important fundamental in my toolbox that has helped our teams’s work go from ordinary to exceptional is my own flavor of human-centered design. We’ve all heard of UX, design thinking, and voice of the customer, and I am sure many experts from those areas would have tons to say about it that is very insightful. This post is for those of us who want to make sure our work is impactful, relevant today and tomorrow, and fun to work on.
Pick someone real and special. I had to plan and curate a conference for very high powered women. I’m a woman, and I know lots of women, so on the surface I had this in the bag. Once I started to sift through the endless choices and try to navigate the many opinions on my far out ideas, I realized that I was framing the experience for a non-specific audience, so therefore the feedback people shared wasn’t driving the refinement I needed. Personas are one way of approaching this design challenge, where you create composite profiles of audience members who represent the person we’re serving. In this instance I decided to be more specific. I printed up pictures of actual attendees I knew I was going to invite, who represented the people I wanted to serve, and got detailed about their likes, dislikes, and needs as it related to the conference experience I want to create. I shared these profiles with my team and then would ask very directly when someone gave feedback: “That sounds like an interesting suggestion... what do you think Mary would say if she were in the room and we were pitching it?” So many times that question would have a person stop focusing on what they wanted to say, and reframe the discussion to what our attendees needed to learn.
Be methodical about listening. When I start working on a project, I try to run a listening tour of sorts, with lots of discussion, surveys, focus groups, and data mines. When I do this, I am methodical about how I collect, document, and analyze what I hear. First, every piece of feedback, verbal or written gets logged in a spreadsheet or database. Then, I break apart each statement based on topic, action needed, and other ways to sort and segment. This then gets booked into a prioritized list which serves as my foundation. Once my boss was at a meeting and was slammed with complaints from executives on a product. He asked me to call the executives to find out what was happening. I did that and then some. I didn’t really know much about it, so I did a survey, and conducted interviews with 100 people. I even ran a query of all general feedback from the last 2 years where this product was mentioned. I catalogued every single comment. In the end I was very clear on what was working and what was broken, and worked with the program teams to prioritize a list of short and long range enhancements. Within 3 months my boss was able to turn around the satisfaction levels for the product, and we were very clear on the roadmap to drive value.
Be an advocate and ally. Are people on your team speaking up? Are they getting credit for their contributions? Are they drowning in work and need a lifeline? I have made a habit of asking these questions every week and reflecting and taking action. I try to recognize team members each week and even block time to make sure I don’t miss the chance to thank people for their impact, and shine a light on them. When I was working on a large scale integration, I was project managing a huge team working across multiple offices globally. Most people I had never met in person, and they reported into other teams. I realized quickly the way I could get the most out of them and deliver the project successfully was to do three things really well. First I made it easy for them to do their jobs. I was organized and clear about expectations. Second, I made it my mission to remove obstacles and blockers that they shared. And finally, I made sure to shine a light on their contributions and impact not just with the team, but with my bosses and their own management team. Recognize people on your team. Let a person know you see them and appreciate them. And if a person is struggling, have their backs. Let them know through your actions how much you value them as a teammate.
