Taking design risks
Here’s what I often run into in my design work:
We get a service design/customer experience project from the client. We do qualitative research, create actionable insights, and reframes. We present to our clients, typically mid-level divisions or customer/communication specialist. And after our presentation, one or several members of the team says:
“This isn’t just for us. You should be telling this to leadership and upper management. And you should have done so months ago. Who’s going to be responsible for sharing this upwards?”
If we designers are doing our jobs right, that is the response we hope for. That means that we have uncovered strategic insights that don’t merely impact the communications strategy, they have significant implications for the business itself.
That’s our part of the puzzle. The other part, of course, is the question about responsibility and communication with senior leadership and management. If there is one weak link in the customer-centric chain, this is it: people closer to the customer understand needs and opportunities but senior management, who dictate actions, sometimes don’t.
Who is responsible for this communication and why doesn’t it happen naturally?
Well, one reason is that no one wants to be the bearer of unwanted news in an organization. Imagine going up to your bosses and saying —
“You know that project you assigned to us? It would have been better (smarter, more strategic, etc.) if we had done this user-research before. And we might want to shift our priorities or focus now that we know what we know.”
I know only a few people in Sweden who would be comfortable with that type of conversation. It feels too risky. You might get pushback. Your boss might turn argumentative or worse dismissive. And you would worry that it might leave some invisible mark on your reputation or work situation.
I understand all of those fears. And I would suggest to everyone that we take inspiration from people who truly take risks. Which requires bravery, dedication, and a commitment to the greater good (other people beside oneself).
Most of us are rooting for the people of Ukraine to push back the Russian invaders. It’s hard for us in the privileged West to imagine what the Ukrainians have to suffer through. And yet it is amazing and inspiring to see people in Russia protest the war, even though they know that they risk losing their jobs, going to prison, physical beatings, or worse.
And then we see this:
Marina Ovsyannikova, a producer at Russia’s state TV Channel One, interrupted a live news bulletin, holding up a sign behind the studio presenter and shouting slogans denouncing the war in Ukraine. She could face up to five years in prison. WOW!
That, my friends, is bravery. That is taking a huge risk.
Hesitant to go to senior management with design research findings to ask them to reassess the organizational strategies? That’s not risk; that’s doing your job!
So, for all you inspired by design, inspired by your customers, and inspired to make positive significant change in your organization, let Marina Ovsyannikova inspire you — nothing you can do at work comes close to the risk that she took on live TV.
When we know what we should be doing, or what we shouldn’t be doing, and still do nothing, then it is really our fault if things aren’t better.
Use your design: take risks, make things better.
