Redesigning the UX of Employment

I believe that company practices for hiring and “managing” knowledge workers do not support the development of happy, fulfilled and valuable staff. What results is unsustainable businesses with people constantly looking to move on. I speak to you as a Community of Users of Employment and Co-designers. I am looking for direction in ways to improve the User Experience of Employment.

Unboxed Consulting’s - the greenhouse that I grew up in. The work that I done ranges from being a Project Management Officer to a Scrum Master and Tester. !I pivoted again, changing my focus from the end user of digital products to concentrate on the people - you - who are involved in delighting end users.

I consider myself to be the “Gardener” at Unboxed - my analogy for cultivating an environment in which talent can thrive and great ideas grow into products that add more colour to life.

I want to practice what we preach and apply lean startup and design thinking techniques to salvage and upscale the seeds of my learnings.

I hope to use this talk as user research on an idea that I have about you - the talent that I have been fortunate enough to work with. I explore some of the stuff we are doing at Ubxd and explain that we are truly agile - wanting to inspect and adapt and make the UX better - so seeking feedback from various communities seems like the best way to test my hypothesis.

Using Lean startup terminology,

ASSUMPTION

People are our most important asset

Hypothesis

Change in

organisational environment

is needed for

building sustainable organisations

How will I know that my assumptions are

true?

I will know this to be true when 5 people from this community have told me a story of how organisational structures have left them feeling demotivated and under-valued. !What I have learned so far:

Today’s knowledge workers want RESPONSIBILITY.

To feel a level of competence

and that they are trusted.

That they have autonomy and the freedom to make

the right choices in their daily challenges.

They want to experience camaraderie,

and relatedness for reassurance

when embarking on new opportunities

to make their mark.

They want to drive

their adventures to the achievement

of a sustainable legend.

their vision and dreams

should be incubated

and they should be supported and feel safe

in their training to develop expertise

relevant to their experience.

Once an expert, they should have the opportunity to coach and act as a mentor to juniors

in an environment that is equal, collaborative

fun

and playful.

To build organisations with strong roots from which great things can grow, my hypothesis is that

we need to tip the organisational wheelbarrow upside down

and refresh old ideas about loyalty to authorities

We need to remove the weeds of misconception that people need to fit into organisations

and realise that organisations need to adjust to the climate in which talent can grow. For that to happen I propose a Manifesto for Hiring

Organisations should create highly collaborative environments where new ideas are allowed to take shape

over protecting silos of domain specific knowledge. To enhance their ability to attract and retain the best talent,

Organisations need to align job roles with their A-players’ growth plans

rather than obsessing over their key strengths.

Organisations should to learn to play and encourage playing with innovative learning methodologies

over controlling learning through formal training. In the emergence of a remarkable generation that is beginning to reshape the world of work,

companies should recognise critical thinking and high EQ

over extensive project experience with high IQ.

They should welcome energy and ability to adjust

over compliance to rules.

I am seeking feedback from you. !I have been lucky enough to work in an organisation that has always adjusted the climate to allow me to grow as an individual. Our organisation is a big player in the community and I believe that these practices should be rolled out to all the places of work. !What I ask of you is to give me 20 mins tonight or in the next couple of weeks for a coffee and a chat to engage in an experiment of implementing these principles in the wider community so that everybody is working in a space that brings out the best in them. !Your response in the next couple of weeks will determine whether

This experiment has passed and should be nurtured further, developed into a “Bridge to Employee Utopia”?

Or failed and should be turfed out

claire@ubxd.com

If you are interested in participating in this experiment, please find me after this, or send me an email to this address.

Thank you.