Communicate the vision - UX & change management (5/10)

This is the fifth article in a series on UX design and change management.

The UX story is not the same for everybody. In various places with the organization, UX needs are varied enough to adjust your communication. In the table below, I outline a few of the UX-related needs of the organization. The rows contain three levels in the organization, whereas the columns contain several departments of the organization. UX goals on three levels

Depending on your target audience, you can emphasize specific aspects of your vision (a natural trait of every sales manager!).

Arnie Lund provides an example of a UX communication plan. Such a plan outlines where in the organization UX team members are located, which messaging they’re involved with and in what communication format. In detail, Lund outlines the needs and objectives of various groups, tailors the messaging to them and tries to be inviting to all. It is a very planned and structured approach.

Kotter emphasizes that you don’t communicate the vision by just explaining it (“talking the talk”), but by behaving as such (“walking the walk”). Applied to the UX team: You’re not just preaching UX, you’re it! That’s why I believe UX team members not only deliver “great design” but also are omnipresent, build bridges, and demonstrate in every meeting and project their thoughts and behaviors from the perspective of the customer.

A change agent is conscious of his role and reputation:

• “She made valuable contributions.”
• “He thinks with us, but he also brings in the customers’ needs.”
• “She does speak a different, but pleasurable language.”
• “We have to get him involved, because he creates valuable visualizations of things we talk about all the time.”

Naming the UX team

Lund also suggests giving the team a persuasive name, helping the team and its mission become very visible in the organization.

The visual footprint

To make the results of the UX team as visible as possible, communicate them not only through emailed presentations but put posters on walls in corridors, near the coffee machine and in conference rooms. Change is emotion, so make it visible, tangible and leave your visual footprint as a team.

A visual footprint

As a result of a service design project, we created an A4-booklet which was distributed widely and landed on many desks.

We also created user stories and published them as PDF-documents and video clips. The client printed these stories as a booklet and put them on display in the central meeting area of the department.

To wrap-up, I have tried to make clear that communicating a vision is about addressing the needs of your audience as much as possible. Communication is not only a verbal or visual thing, it is more about acting and doing things. Practicing what you preach. And it is about low-tech; using non-digital ways to spread your ideas, so that people can touch them.