leadership strategies for overcoming obstacles (obstacle course)

Leadership Obstacle Course

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LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

OBSTACLES


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OBSTACLES CAN BE CHALLENGING

I have faced my fair share of challenges like:

• time, money, resources, process, org structure

• team cohesion, conflicts, drive, performance

• corporate red tape, politics, budget constraints

• lack of understanding of what UX is and does

And, I’ve studied ways to help maneuver around and over some

of these obstacles.

I DO NOT have this mastered…

What are some of your challenges?


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TYPICAL DAYWhat a typical day for me looks like

DAY IN THE LIFE

5:30 AM WAKE, GYM, EAT & GET DRESSED

Starts off pretty good, fresh start, healthy day, until I open email and begin processing…

7:00 AM CHECK MAIL (OPEN HELL’S GATE)


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Sr Leader need help with decks (RFP, etc)

UX is seen as only ‘making things pretty’ and I educate and advocate we really do and value - constantly….

Broken/old corporate systems & processes

Drop everything and come to this meeting?

Focus is disrupted because someone else needs something and I’m ‘supporting’ best I can.

Employee performance, drive, personalities

Keeping people motivated, growing, challenged and encouraged… best part of my day.


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The product direction changed, we forgot to tell you and it doesn’t align to strategy

Executive product design decisions affect strategically planned outcomes …

Office politics may not be this obvious….

Work late to get caught up

Due to being interrupted at the office frequently, I can’t get work done and end up working at home late at night.

Our developers can make changes to the interface

While this seems like a good idea at first, it ends up being a rescue job later…


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Between stimulus and

response there is a space. In

that space is our power to

choose our response. In our

response lies our growth

and freedom.

Viktor Frankl


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S T I M U L U S R E S P O N S EF R E E D O M

to choose

R E AC T R E S P O N D

T H I N K


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• Understand they are RESPONSE-ABLE, don’t

blame genetics or circumstances or conditions

for their behavior.

• Have BOUNDARIES and PRIORITIES so they

are focused on the important vs. urgent tasks.

• Use PROACTIVE LANGUAGE (I can, I prefer, I

will).

• They DON’T REACT to or WORRY about

conditions over which they have little or no

control. Instead they focus their energy on things

they can control.

R E AC T I V E L E A D E R S

P ROAC T I V E L E A D E R S

• They are AFFECTED by external environment (if

the weather is good, they feel good, if the weather

is bad it affects their performance and they blame

the weather).

• Don’t make BOUNDARIES and DON’T PRIORITIZE.

• Believe they are NOT RESPONSIBLE for what

they say and do – they have no choice.

• They DON’T FOCUS on priority items, they do

the urgent, exciting, or fun things first.


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Effective leadership is

putting first things first.

Effective management is

discipline, carrying it out.

Stephen Covey


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Proactive people focus their efforts on their Circle of Influence.

They work on the things they can do something about.

S T E P H E N C O V E Y

HABIT 1 B E P ROAC T I V E


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CONCERN

INFLUENCE

CONTROL

Company

Product

Team

My Actions


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WHAT IS YO U R F O C U S ?


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EMPOWERMENTTRIANGLE

Creator

CoachChallenger

Anxiety based, problem focused, responsibility imbalance

DRAMATRIANGLE RescuerPersecutor

Victim

Passion based, outcome focused, clear boundaries


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RESEARCH

What are some of your top challenges/obstacles?

Jesslyn Beattie, UX Director Universal Mind

Steven Ray, Chief Creative Officer Dialect

Peter Merholz, UX Guru Author

Jeremy Johnson, VP of Customer Experience Projekt 202

Stephen Anderson, Chief Experience Officer BloomBoard

Elisa Miller, Transformation Coach CA Technologies

Brian Sullivan, Director of UX Operations Sabre

Adam Polansky, UX Strategist Bottle Rocket

Tracey Nolte, XD Lead Slalom Consulting

Joe Dyer, Director of Experience Strategy & Insight Projekt 202


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DESIGNING VS. LEADING DESIGNERS Doing less design, but when you have to take over, being cautious of not demoralizing team members.

6 out of 10

MULTI-TASKING / TASK SWITCHING

Frequently having to context switch to ensure priories are handled on time.

4 out of 10

EDUCATING THE VALUE OF UX / ADVOCACYMust prove the value and constantly educate in order to get funding, resources and respect.

9 out 10

SYSTEM VIEW vs. FEATURE VIEWVacillating between a holistic view and a micro view to ensure cohesion, flow, consistency and overall good experience.

5 out of 10

TALENT: RECRUITING, KEEPING PROBLEM FOCUSED & ENGAGED

Finding true UX professionals is hard, but keeping them energized with challenges is really hard. Make sure your team focuses on falling in love with the problem, not solving too fast.

6 out of 10

UX CUT TO SAVE TIME/MONEYDefending quality of experience when time and budget is the priority and teaching that our process is fundamental to saving time and money long-term.

8 out 10

TOP THEMESAfter interviewing 10 UX leaders and executives at this event


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COACHING on the solution vs. taking over.

MULTI-TASKING / TASK SWITCHINGFrequently having to context switch to ensure priories are handled on time.

SCHEDULING BUNDLES of like work to reduce context switching.


DESIGN, BUILD & LAUNCH campaigns (emails, posters, lunch and learns, meetings).


SCHEDULE regular intervals for reflection and ‘get away’ from the deep feature digging and focus on big picture.

TALENT: RECRUITING, KEEPING PROBLEM FOCUSED & ENGAGEDFinding true UX professionals is hard, but keeping them energized with challenges is really hard. Make sure your team focuses on falling in love with the problem, not solving too fast.

EDUCATE RECRUITERS, DEEPLY CONNECT with your team, know what they want to do and guide them - frequent 1 on 1s with creative feedback/coaching.


COMPSE PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS around impacts and outcomes (e.g. saved time x salary = X).

SOLUTIONSHow I’ve approached these challenges


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DON’T CARE … what I think.HONEY BADGER

What do you think are ways to solve some of these obstacles?


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6 out of 10

MULTI-TASKING / TASK SWITCHING

Frequently having to context switch to ensure priories are handled on time.

4 out of 10


9 out 10


5 out of 10

TALENT: RECRUITING, KEEPING PROBLEM FOCUSED & ENGAGED

Finding true UX professionals is hard, but keeping them energized with challenges is really hard. Make sure your team focuses on falling in love with the problem, not solving too fast.

6 out of 10


8 out 10

TOP THEMESAfter interviewing 10 UX leaders and executives at this event


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BIBLIOGRAPHYReferences used in this deck

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TRACEY NOLTE XD Global Community Lead

SLALOM CONSULTING

[email protected]

@traceynolte

www.SlalomXD.com

http://www.slalomxd.com

leadership strategies for overcoming obstacles (obstacle course)

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