Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Pitching Design to Leadership

[00:00:00] Hey folks, and welcome to another episode of This Is Eight City, A new

[00:00:05] format, a daily. Catch up for everything that's going on in the world

[00:00:10] of human-centered design. I'm not gonna mess around. My name's Jerry Scion. Let's get straight into it.

[00:00:15] Today, I want to talk to you about three mistakes that I see designers making

[00:00:20] over and over again, and they're trying to pitch design to leadership.

[00:00:25]

[00:00:25] And look, I have made all of these three mistakes myself, so there's

[00:00:30] absolutely no judgment here. It's just hard won lessons. So mistake number

[00:00:35] one. Leading with the method instead of the problem. Okay? This is a big

[00:00:40] one. When you walk into a room and start talking about user research or

[00:00:45] co-design workshops or journey mapping, whatever it is, and the people on the other side of the

[00:00:50] table here delay.

[00:00:51] Cost and complexity. They don't have that

[00:00:55] framework for understanding and why those things matter. We do, but they don't.

[00:01:00] So what they do have is a burning problem that they need to get

[00:01:05] solved. So doing this, if we can flip it and lead with their

[00:01:10] problem, lead with the thing that is costing them money, time, or

[00:01:15] reputation right now, then the only.

[00:01:16] Thing to talk about is how you plan to solve it.

[00:01:20] This method really, or the method is the how. We need to focus more on the how

[00:01:25] and they need to hear the what and the why first. So

[00:01:30] mistake number two, asking for permission instead of proving the

[00:01:35] value. Now, I used to do this. All the time. I put together a proposal,

[00:01:40] ask for budget, ask for time, ask for head count, whatever it was,

[00:01:45] and I'd politely be told, uh, not right now.

[00:01:48] I remember a really

[00:01:50] funny instance, in fact, working with a. With a client and um, they really wanted to

[00:01:55] help. But the system said no. And when I came into work the next day, they'd actually printed out the

[00:02:00] double diamond method and were using scissors to chop it up, to try to figure out a way how it could

[00:02:05] get research wrapped into the process.

[00:02:07] It was quite funny, but anyway, maybe you had to be there.

[00:02:10] The problem is. You are always asking to invest in something that they have

[00:02:15] never seen work inside their organization. If you wanna look for an episode where we speak

[00:02:20] about this. Oh, for mov. Uh, last year, myself, we covered this off

[00:02:25] really nicely, where we talk about actually, you know, we've, we're asking these

[00:02:30] executives to trust in something or someone.

[00:02:33] And they may have like

[00:02:35] many, many years working with top consultancies and asking them to invest into

[00:02:40] design, uh, and someone that they don't really know is in their world. It's a risk. So what

[00:02:45] works better is a stealth project approach. And Mark stick torn, he coined

[00:02:50] this phrase, what I believe anyway, coined it a stealth project approach, and it's finding a small, real

[00:02:55] problem and fix it using design methods to not ask for permission.

[00:03:00]

[00:03:00] Do not make it. Big thing, just quietly solve it and let the results speak

[00:03:05] for itself. Get busy doing the work, and once you have that track, track

[00:03:10] record of really tangible results, the conversation about investment becomes completely

[00:03:15] different. You're not pitching theory anymore, you are pointing at.

[00:03:19]

[00:03:20] Evidence now, mistake number three, trying to convert everyone at

[00:03:25] once. You do not need a whole organization to believe in design. I see this time and time again when

[00:03:30] I'm speaking to clients about training. You know, really there's very low ROI for training.

[00:03:35] Hundreds and hundreds of people really focusing on, you know, really who is gonna be

[00:03:40] doing the work is the best way to start this off.

[00:03:42] So you need two or three people in the right

[00:03:45] positions, and they are your allies. And we need to make sure that they're supported.

[00:03:50] So find those people who are already frustrated with how things are done, work with

[00:03:55] them, build momentum into pockets. Culture change does not happen through a single

[00:04:00] presentation to the leadership team.

[00:04:01] It happens through a series of small, visible wins that

[00:04:05] really aim to make people curious. So to recap,

[00:04:10] stop leading with methods. Stop asking for permission before you have proof,

[00:04:15] and stop trying to win over everyone at the same time, focus your

[00:04:20] energy where it will actually make a difference. So if this resonated, check out our

[00:04:25] newsletter this week where we go into the depth of what are the deeper into the five

[00:04:30] walls that you'll hit when selling design internally.

[00:04:32] The link is in the show notes, and that's it

[00:04:35] for today. I hope you find it useful. Share it with someone who needs to hear it, and if you've not

[00:04:40] subscribed to our newsletter or checked out the brand new, this is hate cd.com. Go

[00:04:45] across and I'll hopefully I'll talk to you

[00:04:50] tomorrow.