Where should you focus as a UX executive?
Wendy Castleman
I help executives increase their teams' influence and impact by coaching, training, and consulting on team dynamics, facilitative leadership, and communication skills.
Being a UX executive can be overwhelming.? When taking on a new role or being promoted into one, executives must simultaneously learn about the employees, the organizational culture, the business priorities, its products, its customers, the team dynamics, and what tools and processes are in place to help their teams succeed.? At the same time, UX executives are human beings with strengths and insecurities to manage (and often a personal life to balance, too).??
I have been reflecting on the many things UX leaders need to consider and created a tool to help them assess where they are and where they need to focus.? The tool is a subjective assessment and is not intended to be comprehensive.? A strong understanding of the types of issues that come into play is required to have a thriving UX team.? Although oriented around UX executives, any UX leader can benefit from reflecting on the assessment items.
The Areas Great UX Leaders Focus On
The following areas are building blocks you need to have as a great UX leader. Review these areas and take the UX Executive Leadership Assessment to determine where to focus.
BELIEF IN YOURSELF AS A LEADER
Great leaders may have humility but are confident they can lead and don’t wait for permission to make decisions and drive change in their area of responsibility.
CLEAR VISION FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION
Great leaders clearly understand where they want the organization to be and the direction it needs to take. This picture of the future is a tangible, unambiguous vision that inspires others to work towards it.
CLEARLY DEFINED STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING YOUR VISION
Great leaders have a strategy for moving from the current reality to that future vision. This strategy should drive the organization but won’t dictate tactics for executing it. For example, it will suggest a direction, not a method.
THE RIGHT LEADERS AND INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS ON YOUR TEAM
Great leaders need the right people on their team to help them execute the strategy and reach the vision. The leadership bench and set of individuals who design and create customer experiences must have the right skills and mindsets to perform well.
CLEARLY DEFINED AND MEASURABLE GOALS FOR ALL, ALIGNED WITH YOUR STRATEGY
Every team member should have clear goals that reinforce behaviors and outcomes that align with your strategy for achieving your vision. These goals should be unambiguous, measurable, and attainable.
EFFECTIVE AND INFLUENTIAL COMMUNICATION WITHIN YOUR TEAM
Great UX leaders have clear, two-way communication with their team members, and team members should effectively communicate with each other. You can influence your team as a leader, but you also have the door open for them to influence you.
EFFECTIVE AND INFLUENTIAL COMMUNICATION WITH PARTNERS
Great UX leaders communicate clearly and frequently with their partners, such as other product leaders, development partners, and finance and HR partners. Ideally, everyone works towards the same outcomes and is open, direct, respectful, and honest to create an effective environment for getting things done.
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MASTERFUL LISTENING SKILLS
Great UX leaders employ masterful listening skills with their teams, partners, leaders, and customers. They tend to inquire before advocating and focus on deeply understanding the other person’s perspective. They listen to words, body language, emotions, and intent. Then, they clarify and reflect to have deep discussions and gain new insights.
ORGANIZATIONAL UX MATURITY
UX maturity models describe the level of maturity an organization has with UX. Your organization may fall somewhere in the middle. Great UX leaders know how mature their organizations are and understand what they must focus on to reach the next level.
PRODUCING GREAT CUSTOMER EXPERIENCES
Ultimately, UX leaders are responsible for creating great customer experiences—experiences consumers love to use. Your team makes things easy, delightful, and beneficial to customers.??
PROCESSES AND TOOLS IN PLACE FOR THE TEAM TO BE EXCELLENT
Great UX leaders aren’t just inspiring. They are fabulous at removing barriers their teams must overcome to create great experiences. One of the areas that Great UX leaders help with is ensuring that the team has the processes and tools in place that allow them to do excellent work.??
OPERATIONAL/PROGRAMMATIC SUPPORT
Larger UX teams need some operational support, often from design ops people. These people focus on creating processes and executing programs supporting the design process (but not the design work itself). Their responsibilities include recruiting customers for research, managing vendor relationships, and coordinating the rollout of new tools and systems. Design Ops may not be a group in smaller teams, but there should be someone who can help with similar issues (rather than having that fall on the shoulders of your designers).??
ROBUST SYSTEMS FOR ONGOING CUSTOMER CONNECTION
Great UX leaders ensure that everyone on their team and across the organization has frequent and meaningful connections with customers. It helps ensure everyone has a personal relationship with the purpose and an accurate picture of who they are helping.? Additionally, regular interaction with customers can make it easier to have deeper empathy, gain insights, co-create, and experiment with customers, all of which are critical for the design process.
DESIGN SYSTEMS AND PLATFORMS FOR REUSABLE DESIGN COMPONENTS
Great UX teams don’t continually reinvent the wheel. They design a wheel, and everyone uses that wheel. Then, when a better wheel comes out, it only needs to be changed once to change it across the system. Leveraging design systems and reusable components is an approach that Great UX leaders lean into to speed up design and ensure consistency in the experience.
TRACKING AND SHARING CUSTOMER IMPACT AND BUSINESS OUTCOMES
Great UX leaders keep their eyes on the impact they are making for the customers and the business. Then, they communicate that information to leaders, partners, and teams to encourage them to focus on what matters most.
?If you could use a thought partner on this, coaching or training, or if you have any questions, please contact [email protected] to discuss how I can support you.