The Top 3 Ways to Build Credibility as a Designer in Your Organisation

[00:00:00] The top three ways to build credibility as a designer in your organization. [00:00:05] Starting a new role is exciting, but if you're a designer or even a consultant [00:00:10] walking into a new organization that really does not understand what you do, [00:00:15] and those first few months or weeks are make or break, I wanna give you [00:00:20] three things that I believe will help you build credibility fast.[00:00:25] [00:00:25] Now, welcome to This is HCD. I am Gerry Scullion, and this is your daily dose [00:00:30] of human-centered design in action. So number one. [00:00:35] Solve someone else's problem first. And this is the most reliable [00:00:40] way really to build trust and as one that most designers in [00:00:45] my experience, skip. When you join a new organization, the temptation is to [00:00:50] start with your own agenda, set up with a research phase, or maybe completing [00:00:55] some journey maps, propose a design system, whatever it is, something that might have worked in your [00:01:00] previous role. [00:01:01] But really we, what we wanna try and do. Are focusing on [00:01:05] something different, and all of those other things are good things, but just don't do them just yet. Instead, [00:01:10] find the person in operations or product or frontline delivery who is [00:01:15] struggling with something specific. Learn what they care about and understand their [00:01:20] pain point. [00:01:20] Then use your skills as a service designer or a human-centered designer and [00:01:25] help them fix it. Not in a big formal way. Just be useful. [00:01:30] What are you doing to showing to people that design really what it looks like in practice, [00:01:35] um, before they can really understand the theory. You're building relationships that matter [00:01:40] enormously later on. [00:01:41] It's a really valuable skill. Number two, speak [00:01:45] their language before you teach them the design language. And every organization has its [00:01:50] own vocabulary. It's your own way of talking about success, risk, and value. [00:01:55] And if you walk in using design jargon, which you know are brilliant at, you're creating a [00:02:00] distance, not connection. [00:02:02] So listen first, how do they measure success [00:02:05] in their place? What are the metrics that matter? What words do they use when they talk [00:02:10] about customers or users? Adapt your language to really, truly [00:02:15] fit their world. But this is not about dumbing down what we do, it's about making it [00:02:20] accessible. You can introduce your terminology later once people trust you enough to [00:02:25] learn it. [00:02:26] And number three, document your wins. No matter [00:02:30] how small this is so easy to forget, and I see it many times when I'm [00:02:35] coaching organizations, but it's critical. Every small improvement that you contribute to [00:02:40] write it down. Keep a log note, what the problem was, what you did, and what you changed, [00:02:45] and what was the result. [00:02:46] You really need this when the conversation [00:02:50] eventually turns to, should we invest more in design? You do not want to be [00:02:55] scrambling for examples. You want clear evidence-based trail of impact that [00:03:00] lives inside this organization, not borrowed from a case study somewhere else. You really wanna [00:03:05] lean into this. [00:03:06] Credibility folks is not built on a single [00:03:10] presentation. It is built through a steady drumbeat of small, visible contributions that [00:03:15] really make people think we should really involve designers more [00:03:20] often. Now this connects to a bigger theme that I explore in my [00:03:25] newsletter, the Design Compass about what actually works when you're trying to get buy-in for design.[00:03:30] [00:03:30] There's a link in the show notes, but that's it for today. And if you found this useful, share [00:03:35] it with someone who needs to hear it. If you're not subscribed to the newsletter that just pop on over [00:03:40] to www dot, this is hate cd.com. You'll see our brand Spank a [00:03:45] new website. I'll talk to you tomorrow.