Redesigning the UX of Employment

I believe that existing company practices for hiring and “managing” knowledge workers do not support the development of happy, fulfilled and valuable staff. This results in unsustainable businesses with people constantly looking to move on to pastures new. Tonight I speak to this community as Users of Employment and Co-designers for direction in ways to improve the User Experience of Employment.

I grew up in Unboxed Consulting’s garden. In the old days I worked in the PMO. Then I served teams as a Scrum Master and Tester. !I pivoted again, changing focus from the end user of digital products to concentrate on the people who are involved in delighting end users.

I am now 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 would like to practice what we preach and apply lean startup and design thinking techniques to salvage and upscale the seeds of my learnings as our Gardener.

This lightning talk is user research on an idea that I have about the talent that I have been fortunate enough to work with. Tonight I talk about what we are doing at Ubxd. We are constantly trying to make the UX better so coming to LTUX for help from the community seems like the best way to test my hypothesis.

How will I know that my assumptions are

true?

I will know this to be true when 10 out of 50 attendees at the Ladies that UX meetup have told me a story of how organisational structures have left them feeling demotivated and under-valued.

So, based on the assumption that people are our most important asset, I am testing the hypothesis that change in organisational environment is needed for building sustainable organisations.

I know that today’s knowledge worker wants

RESPONSIBILITY.

She wants to feel a level of competence

and that she is trusted.

She has autonomy and the freedom to make

the right choices in her daily challenges.

She wants to experience camaraderie,

and relatedness for reassurance

when embracing opportunities

to make her mark.

She wants to drive her adventure to the achievement

of a sustainable legend.

Her vision and dreams

should be incubated

and she should be supported and feel safe

in her training to develop expertise

relevant to her experience.

Once an expert

in her chosen field

she should have the opportunity to coach and act as a mentor to juniors

in an environment that is equal, collaborative

fun

and playful.

My hypothesis is that to build organisations with strong roots from which great things can grow

we need to tip that wheelbarrow upside down; refresh old ideas about loyalty to authorities,

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.

Introducing the Great Hiring Manifesto Revival

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 A-players’ 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.

What I am doing here tonight is the beginnings of my work

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 techie community and I believe that these practices should be rolled out to all the places where we 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