What’s your organisation’s UX?

When we think of User Experience (UX), we often think of someone creating wireframes, interaction designs, information architectures and more for a software product or application. Someone who creates a smooth experience for those who are using that product or navigating that portal.

But what if we extrapolate UX to an organisation level? What if we think of our entire organisation as an experience provider to those who engage with it, directly or indirectly?

After all, an organisation provides experiences to many, many people and entities every single day.

We have our clients, for whom we are building products as per their needs.

We have our candidates, who we are seeking to onboard and work together with.

We have our partners, who provide us critical services without which we can’t function, be it internet, groceries, hiring portals and more.

And of course, we have our team members, who we work with day in, day out.

Since we interact with all these entities everyday, it makes sense to think of, and improve these interaction designs continually 🙂

A UX’er focuses on different user personas and how the experience design can be customised for each persona to give them the best experience.

Similarly, the org can focus on customising and providing the best experience to every person engaging with it, be it a fellow teammate, or a client CxO, or a candidate, or the person who delivers your drinking water cans.

This will help it ensure great UX through all its functions, be it people, delivery, administration or more.

Obviously, the org will need to live by certain fundamental values in order to become a great experience provider. Treating everyone with respect, empathy, responsiveness and a willingness to improve constantly are MUST haves without which the org can never provide great UX 🙂

Beyond that, the organisation can constantly review how it provides experiences, take feedback or improvement suggestions from ‘users’ and implement them.

Yes.. sometimes it may be hard to implement some suggestions. For e.g, what if the organisation receives feedback that it must increase its pay scale and benefits package across the board, but the org just can’t afford to do so?

Well, it can still provide its people with good UX by acknowledging their needs respectfully, being transparent about its own finances, positively assuring them that it is working towards increasing its affordability and showing them the steps it is taking to do so.

The organisation might still lose people, but they will never doubt its integrity while leaving. They’ll leave with respect and that great experience will last with them forever.

Of course, many organisations already do this. That’s how they evolve 🙂

But by considering your organisation as an experience provider first (rather than just a software company), you will see its functions through the same lens that a UX’er sees a product or application. This way, your organisation’s experience design will become your top priority and help it become a great entity.