DESIGN THINKING & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE: MODULE 1 LESSON 3

Applying Design Thinking to

your Employee Experience:
Part One
Applying Design Thinking to your Employee Experience: Part One | DESIGN THINKING & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE: MODULE 1 LESSON 3
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Hello again. In this lesson, you’ll explore a basic design thinking It is crucial that you first have a good grasp of the model and how it
model that you can use to design engaging employee experiences works before you dive into each phase and apply it to your organization.
that impact your organization. Specifically, you’ll learn the input This model incorporates a variety of design thinking theories and mod-
considerations for the model: the moments that matter versus the els, and it has been built on the principles of design thinking: empa-
moments of impact. You’ll also learn the phases that are critical to thizing with the consumer, understanding the problem, and collaborat-
the design thinking process: empathizing, discovering, designing, ing, learning, and evolving. I’ve adapted the model based on my own
and experience prototyping, building and implementing, and finally, experience so that it can be used specifically for designing employee
listening and measuring to optimize the experience. experiences. To help you get to grips with the model, we will first use
a non-HR example to illustrate the concepts in this lesson before deep
diving into HR examples in the next module.

To do this, I want to introduce you to Stephen, who runs a small Italian

restaurant called Fortissimo. Using your design thinking model, you’ll
help him optimize the dining experience for his customers.

Let’s set Stephen’s restaurant up for success.

A common mistake in designing employee experiences is neglecting

to focus on the value of the experience for both the employee and the
organization. If you only focus on the employee, you’ll find yourself
fighting to show business leaders the benefit of investing in EX and con-
This lesson is split into two parts. Part one will focus specifically on the stantly having to prove why the experience matters to the organization.
input considerations for the design thinking model, and you’ll use a pri- To counter this, you need to be realistic about which experiences will
oritization matrix to determine the input for your own model. Part two benefit both the organization and the employee and use your limited
will focus on the remainder of the model and conclude with an overview resources accordingly. In reality, there will be some experiences that
of how to apply listening and measuring methods. are “nice to haves.” It’s better to instead shift your focus to areas where
Applying Design Thinking to your Employee Experience: Part One | DESIGN THINKING & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE: MODULE 1 LESSON 3
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you can make a meaningful impact. The first step in the model is to consider adding new ideas to the matrix.
gather input to help you determine your focus and priority by identifying
the moments that matter for the employee and the moments of impact The x-axis represents the value of the experience for the employee
for the organization. from low to high. High-value experiences are meaningful, and you
would consider them moments that matter for the employee. Lower-
To categorize your assumptions about possible valuable experiences value experiences can be seen as foundational or hygiene experiences,
during this step, you’ll use a prioritization matrix. In keeping with our things that have to happen, but they will not necessarily move the dial
design thinking principles, you should not be plotting the experiences for the employee. Even though these experiences might be of lower
on this matrix yourself but should get actual users to provide you value, if they do not occur efficiently or effectively, they can detract
with input. Use a basic survey or focus groups with potential users from the overall employee experience. You’ll need to ensure that these
to gauge their perspectives on different experiences. You might have experiences still go smoothly, but try to do this with a minimal amount
started with a list of experiences you thought were important, but of effort and resources.
Applying Design Thinking to your Employee Experience: Part One | DESIGN THINKING & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE: MODULE 1 LESSON 3
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On the y-axis, you’ll map the value of the experiences for the organiza- In Block C, you’ll plot moments that matter to the employee, but they
tion in terms of low and high value. Again, there will be moments that might not have high value for the organization. I refer to them as sec-
do not enhance the value for the organization, while others will have ond-priority experiences. Experiences within this block should be made
a direct influence on organizational outcomes. These moments are as pleasant as possible but should not take up too many additional
referred to as moments of impact. When you plot the different experi- resources or time to implement. An example here could be something
ences along these two axes, they’ll end up in four different blocks. like long-service awards. It is very important to employees when they
reach that milestone, and even though it’s important for the organization,
In Block A, you’ll plot high-value moments that matter and high-value it’s not necessarily a top priority item. It does not mean this should not
moments of impact. This block will contain the experiences that should be done properly or done with care, but be careful that a process of this
be prioritized as they are important to the employee and provide value nature does not use up too many resources. I’ve been in an organization
to the organization. A good example here is a positive onboarding expe- where this process took HR one week per month to execute effectively,
rience. It is important to the employee as it creates a sense of belonging while there were other opportunities to create more value elsewhere.
and makes them feel welcome. For the organization, it helps employees
become productive faster, leading to higher performance levels. In Block D, you’ll find high-value moments for the organization that are
not necessarily that important to the employee. These are also sec-
In Block B, you’ll place experiences that are a means to an end. They ondary experiences. Again, try to make these experiences as pleasant
might not necessarily enhance the employee experience or add value to as possible but be mindful of the resources allocated. This is the block
the organization, but they are definitely necessary. If not done correctly, where HR most often goes wrong by prioritizing experiences that are
they will detract from the experience. Your focus should be to standard- important to the organization but not necessarily that important to the
ize and execute these experiences as quickly as possible using limited employee. Think about the last team event organized at your office. It
resources. Think about the experience of booking meeting rooms and might have been extremely important for the leader who sponsored it
travel here. It has to be done. The organization does not benefit from opti- and the team that arranged it, yet employees might have been just as
mizing this experience, and it is not highly rated as a moment that matters happy with an event that was less extravagant, took up less time, and
for the employee. However, if you get this wrong, if the experience is frus- had the same impact.
trating and the tools are clunky, it can lead to great dissatisfaction. So, you
have to make sure that your process is effective and efficient. This matrix helps you think about which experiences you want to
Applying Design Thinking to your Employee Experience: Part One | DESIGN THINKING & EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE: MODULE 1 LESSON 3
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prioritize. In a perfect world, you would like to bring all your experi- Next, he decides to focus on the high-priority experiences, specifi-
ences into scope, but realistically, you’ll need to prioritize where to cally looking at ambience, value for money, the reasons for dining at
start and how to allocate your resources. This matrix guides you to start Fortissimo, and service. The secondary experiences, such as the acces-
with Block B to neutralize your foundational experiences as quickly as sibility of the restaurant, the booking process, and upselling diners are
possible before moving on to the high-priority experiences in Block A. I still important, but since he has a short amount of time to design a bet-
know this sounds counterintuitive, but if you do not get the foundations ter customer experience, for now, he’s going to only focus on Block A.
in place, the high-priority experiences won’t matter to employees. I was
in an organization that focused only on high-priority experiences, such And that brings us to the end of this lesson. You’ve explored a basic
as onboarding and rewards, but neglected to implement some basics, design thinking model that you can use to design engaging employee
such as proper bathrooms and healthy food. Nobody cares about experiences that also impact your organization. Specifically, you’ve
the onboarding experience if they have to use a terrible changeroom learned the input considerations for the model: moments that matter
every day. It detracts from the overall perception of who you are as an versus moments of impact. You’ve also learned the phases that are
employer. Once you have dealt with Blocks B and A, you should try to critical to the design thinking process. In part two of this lesson, we’ll
balance the priorities within Blocks C and D. move on to the throughput phase of the model, but first, let’s put what
you have learned thus far into practice. Download the prioritization
Let’s return to Stephen, our restaurant owner. He brainstorms with his matrix in the resource section below and follow the instructions. Good
team to better understand the current experiences of their diners. He luck, and see you in part two.
also has some of his existing customers rate their experiences in terms
of importance in a survey. He then has his two business partners do the
same, evaluating the significance of these experiences from a busi-
ness value point of view. He can clearly see his priorities by plotting the
results on the matrix.

Stephen decides to first ensure that the foundational experiences are in

place regarding cleanliness, health and safety, and the various payment
methods that diners want at Fortissimo.