A Future-State Manager Experience
METHODS & ARTIFACTS
Current state journey map
Future vision workshop
Future vision journey map
Near-term future prioritization
Decision tree workshop
Decision tree workflow
KEY OUTCOMES
Stakeholder Alignment: A clear, collective understanding of the current challenges set the stage for collaborative solutioning
User-Centricity: The prioritization of user goals and needs ensured that solutions generated during the workshop were directly aligned with users’ need, enhancing relevance and impact
Innovative Solutions: The idea generation activity led to a diverse range of innovative solutions, empowering stakeholders with inspiring ideas to address the identified challenges
Actionable Insights: Post-workshop engagement helped connect the ideal future vision to work that can be done in the near term
CHALLENGE
Managers often face significant pain points in managing low-performing employees, primarily due to a lack of clarity regarding the corrective action process and how to seek support from HR when managers need additional guidance. To address this issue, the Experience Team was asked to host a Future State Workshop to align HR stakeholders on an ideal future vision to drive their near- and far-term priorities. I was tasked with leading the planning, facilitation, and synthesis of the workshop with support from a UX Researcher and our Experience Team leadership.
APPROACH
Before ideating on future solutions, we wanted to make sure that our HR stakeholders were aligned on what current state pain points to solve for. The current experience had not been documented based on research, so we began with gathering insights and other knowledge from adjacent research studies to start mapping out our understanding of the journey. To fill in gaps in the journey, we also conducted a brief survey to gain additional, research-backed insights. This resulted in the creation of a quick-turnaround, one-page journey map of the current manager experience to use as input into the workshop via pre-reads and printed materials the day of.
The half-day workshop was planned for 11 in-person participants and 6 virtual participants. The virtual participants had their own virtual moderator and virtual activity boards.
During the workshop, we began with an activity designed to align the group on the problems they were solving for before moving on to potential solutions. The group discussed top pain points based on the current state journey map, which were then translated into the user needs behind those top pain points. These user needs were then prioritized using dot voting, and the top six were selected to use as input for the solutioning activities. We first had them generate as many ideas as possible to meet those user needs and then tasked them with creating end-to-end narratives of their visions for possible futures. At the end of the workshop, they practiced their storytelling skills by presenting their visions - which were all built from ideas generated to meet user needs that are not being met currently.
After the workshop, I analyzed and synthesized all the information collected into a detailed future state blueprint. This blueprint served as a tool for continuing discussions about which ideas to prioritize for implementation, considering cross-product impacts and dependencies. In parallel, I created a one-page future vision journey map to effectively communicate the aligned vision to multiple audiences, including leadership and other product teams.
To further support the team in developing their first MVP (minimum viable product), I hosted a second, shorter workshop to transform their disconnected ideas into a decision tree flow. This flow evolved into an intake form for managers to learn about what next steps they should take.
