I have to thank my co-founder at The EX Space, Emma Bridger, for enlightening me. 🙌🏻
Employee Experience by Design, the Kogan Page book Emma penned together with Belinda Gannaway, repurposes the tools and methods of Design Thinking and positive psychology for those of us operating in the employee experience space (within which I’ll include internal communicators, HR practitioners, change specialists and anyone else involved in shaping organisational culture and ways of working).
This awesome book demystifies what can be a rather confusing field and provides simple, step-by-step guidelines any individual or team can follow. Most importantly, it takes it all up a level and applies it specifically to EX – it really is a must-read for anyone operating in this area.
Once I read EX by Design I was, frankly, hooked and could immediately see how it could spark a revolution in how we do approach the ‘design’ of just about anything that creates a great workplace. In fact, it’s one of the big reasons I joined forces with Emma to set up The EX Space – to provide access to the learning, tools and resources needed to do this stuff really well.
Design Thinking originated in the 1960s and has since evolved into a powerful transformative approach that empowers ‘designers’ of all kinds to create solutions that genuinely meet the needs of users. In EX-speak it’s all about adopting a more human-centric approach and really putting people at the heart of what we do.
Like me, you may not think of yourself as a designer, but if you’re creating experiences, processes or content for employees, then that’s exactly what you are.
At its core, Design Thinking is not just a process but a mindset or philosophy that embraces empathy, creativity, and iteration. It places a strong emphasis on understanding the people for whom we’re designing, encouraging practitioners to delve deep into the intricacies of human behaviour, needs, and emotions. This approach enables a shift from a task or solution-focused mindset to one that prioritises the experiences and well-being of individuals.
By adopting Design Thinking principles, employee experience practitioners can revolutionise the way they approach workplace challenges. It encourages a collaborative and iterative process that involves empathising with employees, defining their ‘pain points’, ideating innovative solutions, prototyping, testing and continuously refining based on feedback. This iterative cycle ensures that the final solutions are not only functional but also resonate deeply with the human aspects of the employee experience.
Moreover, Design Thinking advocates for a holistic understanding of the employee journey, recognising that positive experiences extend beyond traditional work tasks to encompass the overall workplace environment, culture, and well-being. This holistic perspective aligns seamlessly with the goals of employee experience practitioners, who seek to unlock engagement to deliver value and create a more sustainable future for the organisation.
It’s powerful stuff, but it can be quite daunting too, which is why we’re so proud of our online Masterclass, The EX Designer. Created and led by Emma, this in-depth course will unlock the secrets of Design Thinking and empower you to design brilliant experiences.
Over the course of six to eight weeks (how long depends on you, it’s largely self-paced) you’ll learn the theory and experiment with a range of practical tools to design experiences which deliver engagement and make a positive difference in the workplace. It’s very hands-on and we encourage you to tackle your own professional challenges as part of the learning, as well as learning from others as part of a global cohort.
You can find out more about the EX Designer Masterclass and sign up over at the EX Space website.
The EX Designer is included as part of our gold-standard ‘EX Professional’ membership package. For the price of a typical one or two day course you get an entire year of access to our professional life support system – all Masterclasses (see also the EX Fundamentals, and EX Architect) as well as on-demand bitesize courses, tools, research, reports, diagnostics, community and much more!
Please don’t, like me, wait decades to discover the power of this approach – sign up to The EX Space now, enrol on The EX Designer and begin your journey to becoming an EX Master.
@Lee
