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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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DESIGNING VS. LEADING DESIGNERS Doing less design, but when you have to take over, being cautious of not demoralizing team members.
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.
EDUCATING THE VALUE OF UX / ADVOCACYMust prove the value and constantly educate in order to get funding, resources and respect.
DESIGN, BUILD & LAUNCH campaigns (emails, posters, lunch and learns, meetings).
SYSTEM VIEW vs. FEATURE VIEWVacillating between a holistic view and a micro view to ensure cohesion, flow, consistency and overall good experience.
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.
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.
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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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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BIBLIOGRAPHYReferences used in this deck
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TRACEY NOLTE XD Global Community Lead
SLALOM CONSULTING
traceyn@slalom.com
@traceynolte
www.SlalomXD.com
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