Planning Your Employee Experience? Adopt an Experience Design Mindset

When you think of a designer, what comes to mind? An artist? A creative genius? A subject matter expert?

In the context of employee experience (and customer experience before it), we can think of a designer as a critical thinker and a collaborative problem solver. In other words, we are ALL designers.

Those of us in employee experience are lucky, because we can borrow from the experience design playbook our customer experience design colleagues have already set in motion. By adopting an experience design mindset and methodology we will ensure that not only are we crafting a stellar employee experience, but that it is mirroring the customer experience, ultimately benefiting both sides of the coin.

The Elements of the Experience Designer’s Mindset

The field of experience design attracts folks from all types of backgrounds. From human resources to UX design, to I/O psychology, to interior design and even elementary education. The beauty of this diverse set of backgrounds is that we’re able to bring different perspectives and skillsets to the table, all while aligning around a common mindset.

The experience designer’s mindset:

People Centric — Always consider the audience that you’re designing for. What are their needs, wants and values? Empathize with them, involve them, consult them.
Craft Clarity — A problem well stated is a problem half solved. Have a clear vision that inspires action.
Bias Toward Action — Learn by doing, not thinking. Research, experiment, prototype, repeat. This will increase your speed to execution and deepen your learning.
Embrace ambiguity — Trust the process. Be comfortable with “not knowing” in order to open your mind to innovative ideas and solutions.
Radical Collaboration — Design and innovation are collaborative efforts. Invite diverse perspectives into the conversation, think holistically and challenge norms.

Experience Design in Action: The Double Diamond Approach

The methodology of experience design is much less about mandating linear steps or a rigid process and more about thoughtfully deploying a flexible kit of tools that are adaptable to changing needs. Experience design involves diverging and converging across two main domains and four process points. First, we must design the right thing and second, we must design the thing right. We do this through the process points of discover, define, develop, deploy.

First, We Design the Right Thing

Discover — This step of the process is all about design strategy and research. During discover we align on a goal for research, including identifying our target audience(s) and defining the main objectives that we are curious to better understand. Next we create key milestones for the project, but do so in a way that leaves the door open to flexibility and experimentation. Finally, we craft an approach, leveraging several research methods in order to develop a holistic understanding of our audience(s) and their human-centered needs. Examples of potential methods to deploy during discover are: in-depth interviews, diary studies, shadowing, contextual inquiry, card sorting, focus groups and desk research.

Define — This step of the process is all about the analysis and synthesis of the research that we’ve done during discover. During define we clarify the human-centered needs that we’ve uncovered by turning research observations and themes into insights. We then visualize these insights into empathy building and experience and relationship mapping frameworks that will help us develop solutions that address the human-centered needs that we’ve uncovered.
Examples of potential methods to deploy during define are: personas, archetypes, user bios, user journey maps, empathy maps, moments that matter and ecosystem maps.

Next, We Design the Thing Right

Develop — This step of the process is all about creating innovative ideas and refining those ideas into prototype solutions that tie directly back to the employee needs we’ve uncovered during define. During develop we have a bias toward action, not just brainstorming ideas. We refine and bring our ideas to life in the form of prototypes and pilots. Failure equals learning, and is an unavoidable step in the innovation process. We also involve our research audience in the innovation process, so we’re co-creating innovative solutions vs. solutioning without their input. Examples of potential methods to deploy during develop are: concept posters, storyboards, journey and service blueprints and physical prototypes.

Deliver — This step of the process is all about learning from end users and incorporating what we learn into our final product or service. We conduct pilots, test prototypes, and seek feedback and refinement from a diverse set of voices. We create plans to market and deploy our product or service and build in measures to track success and mechanisms to continue to gather feedback after deployment. Examples of potential methods to deploy during deliver are: surveys, focus groups, KPI measurement, ongoing feedback via an experience council.

Bringing It All Together

In designing the employee experience, the goal should be to intentionally craft each interaction that an employee has with an organization in a way that they align to and represent the employer brand and the employee value proposition (EVP). The ultimate result is a trusted employer brand, one that is able to attract, engage and retain employees who are drawn to that organization’s EVP.

By employing the experience design mindset and methodology you’ll be able to create these kinds of impactful and intentional experiences for employees. Experiences that address human-centered needs, and acknowledge the individual as both an employee and a human being. Experiences that will lead to positive outcomes for both your employees and your brand in the long-term.

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