The Benefits of a Strategic UX Upgrade

Imagine a large organization — an automotive manufacturer — undergoing a critical business transformation. Over the next 10 years, let us say they need to switch from their traditional market of gas-powered cars and trucks to building, selling, and servicing electric vehicles.

This transformation will change practically everything about this automotive business. Every job, function, and aspect of the work will need to adapt. It’s a big deal.

Forming a strategic task force

The CEO decided that the organization would undergo this transformation. However, this CEO is only one person, and they can’t do this alone.

Instead, they will assemble a task force of leaders from across the organization to formulate and execute a transformation strategy. That task force will consist of leads from…

• Sales
• Marketing
• Manufacturing
• Product
• Engineering
• Finance
• Human resources
• Supply chain management
• Vehicle service
• Dealer relations
• Support

In other words, experts from every major functional area will be a part of this task force and develop the organization’s 10-year strategy.

The CEO will regularly consult these task force members, seeking their wisdom and experience. In response, the task force members will apply their expertise to address each challenge the company encounters. 

This cross-disciplinary team will collaborate throughout the transformation. The CEO knows that’s required to be successful.

Who will the CEO exclude from the strategic task force?

However, there’s a respected team that the CEO won’t ask to join for the task force. They won’t consult this team at all during this transformation.

That’s the janitorial staff.

Everyone recognizes that the janitorial staff’s work is valuable. You can’t work effectively if your facilities aren’t clean. After all, the manufacturer must have spotless factories, offices, and dealerships.

While custodial work is essential to the daily success of the business, it’s not seen as strategically vital. In this transformation from gas to electric vehicles, the CEO and the task force don’t feel they need input or expertise from the janitorial team’s leadership.

The CEO and task force won’t consult with everyone. They will exclude teams like the janitorial team.

Only strategically vital folks get invited to the task force. Which brings me to the burning question:

Is the UX team strategically vital?

Would the CEO recruit the UX team for the task force?

Do the CEO and task force members view the UX team the same way they perceive the janitorial team? Or, might they feel the UX team’s input and expertise are necessary for the transformation to succeed? Will the executives believe the UX team could contribute valuably to the transformation’s success?

You could argue that, of course, the CEO should include the UX team. After all, there will be plenty of opportunities for great user experiences to contribute to the automobile company’s success.

For example, their future vehicles will incorporate plenty of new technologies. Additionally, new sales systems, vehicle service delivery systems, parts ordering systems, and technician training systems will be implemented, among others. Every new technology and system should provide high-quality user experiences.

When built effectively, these new systems and technologies can be innovative and competitive. They could make the automotive manufacturer a leader in the industry. They would boost sales and increase profits. All of these will be ideal outcomes.

This gas-to-electric transformation will touch every part of the organization. New engineering, new concepts, new innovations, new services. All to improve what exists today.

And it’s not just technology. Every process, practice, procedure, and policy will be revamped. All of these must be thoughtfully designed to improve the experiences of their customers, users, and employees.

Yet, it’s unlikely that any task force member will consider improving these experiences if the UX team isn’t present. The task force members — from sales, manufacturing, supply chain management, dealer relations, and other areas — will be too heads-down in the implementation details to consider how the new technologies, systems, and processes must be human-centered. The UX team must be a part of the task force to drive those changes; otherwise, they won’t happen.

Most UX teams wouldn’t get invited — they’re too tactical

Most UX teams that exist today would be seen as similar to the janitorial team. These UX teams excel at cleaning up messes and executing projects effectively. But they aren’t seen as strategic. Their work is tactical.

Sure, the sales team could, for example, ask for help redesigning the sales system. However, the sales team’s stakeholders would likely determine, before making the request, what the new system would do and how its implementation would improve the sales team’s workflow. 

The UX team wouldn’t be consulted until someone else defined the requirements and set the deadlines. That’s typically how tactical UX teams work, even when they insist on being brought in sooner.

Tactical UX teams often establish themselves as internal agencies or service bureaus. They wait until stakeholders from other departments have a project for them to work on. They abdicate any responsibility for thinking through the strategic changes to others. 

This tactical approach to UX makes it unlikely that they’ll be invited to provide strategic guidance for a project like the automotive manufacturer’s transformation. These teams are too “in the weeds” and can’t deliver the perspective that the senior management requires. 

They’re not leaders. They’re followers.

Strategic UX teams play in the big league

Strategic UX teams work differently. They act as leaders.

These teams don’t wait to be asked to work on a project. They immerse themselves in the organization’s top-priority objectives — such as a significant transformation project — and ask, how would great user experiences make those objectives successful?

In the case of the automotive manufacturer’s transformation, the strategic UX team would study the experiences of people such as vehicle owners, drivers, passengers, salespeople, factory workers, supply chain managers, and service technicians — anyone whose life the transformation will impact. 

They’d obsess over these people’s day-to-day experiences, building up an encyclopedic understanding of where to make significant improvements. After all, if the transformation won’t make life better for everyone, why invest in it?

Strategic UX teams research what it’s currently like to be each of these people. 

• Why do some people have great experiences while others have exceptionally poor ones? 
• Where are today’s products and services disappointing customers? 
• Where is the organization failing to meet its users’ needs? 
• Where does it take too much effort to complete tasks that should be simple?

By the time the CEO starts forming the task force, the strategic UX team will have already compiled deep knowledge about these people and their experiences. They’ll have disseminated this information throughout the organization, so everyone will already be considering how the transformation will lead to improved experiences, which, in turn, will deliver better outcomes.

Strategic UX teams use what they learn from this research to craft long-term, compelling visions of how the transformation will improve each person’s life. The visions demonstrate how the organization’s changes will strive to exceed customers’ expectations, anticipate users’ needs, and eliminate unnecessary burdens. They promote this vision across the organization, inspiring each major functional area’s teams to integrate and prioritize the vision’s aspirational outcomes into their own goals and objectives.

The strategic UX teams also establish the organization’s top-level metrics, tracking the improvements each team deploys during the transformation. They’ll tie each improvement directly to people’s experiences and connect it to critical business objectives. The task force and senior executives will follow these metrics to track the organization’s progress and success at every stage. They will also directly tie the metrics to essential cost savings due to improved experiences. 

Promoting a research-informed vision and vital UX metrics are what make the strategic UX team valuable to the task force. Because the team can demonstrate how improved experiences lead to achieving the transformation’s business objectives, it’s clear how they’ll contribute to the entire organization’s success.

Upgrading your UX team into a strategic player

It’s likely your organization is currently undergoing a strategic transformation, or will soon. After all, the executive team always has changes they’d like to see. They’re rarely satisfied with the status quo.

Will your CEO and executive team consult your UX team for strategic input on your current transformation? Or will they think of your team like a janitorial team — a tactical contributor they expect will adapt to whatever changes other leaders put into play?

Unfortunately, even the best-performing tactical teams struggle with transitioning to a strategic UX approach. What makes a tactical team great doesn’t work for strategic teams. Instead, tactical UX team members must upgrade to strategic capabilities, methods, and perspectives. 

Acquiring more comprehensive leadership, research, visioning, and measurement skills and techniques dramatically enhances a UX team’s value to their organization. Executives immediately recognize the increase in value and will want to integrate it into their strategic planning and execution immediately.

Is your team ready to play a strategic role in your organization’s next transformation? Or, does it need an upgrade?