“Why I ‘Zoom in to Zoom Out’ When Considering Workplace Experience of Customers and Users”

Kristen Ludwig is taking a different approach to customer experience design, advocating for technology customers and end-users of all abilities to have representation in business decisions and are fully supported in their work.

How often do you consider other people's needs when making decisions in your professional role? Not their opinions, but their needs?

If it's not something you naturally factor into business decisions today, I think what my guest will be sharing today might be helpful.

Kristen Ludwig is a Service Designer on Zebra's Product and Solutions Innovation & Design team, but her role isn't centered on product design - meaning button or screen functionality. She's looking at accessibility and trying to understand how we can accommodate people of all abilities throughout the entire customer and user experience.

I find this quite interesting considering a lot of discussions around inclusion out in the public domain are in the context of making sure people's opinions are heard. And discussions around accessibility and accommodating people of all abilities tend to be very focused on executive function and tactile needs in the product development world. Yet, there's barely a whisper in most companies about how to capture and action the insights and personal stories shared by people about the challenges they face at work.

So, I asked her:

• How can we understand what people really need?
• How can we better listen and take action when people do speak up and tell us what they need?
• How do we help others understand the importance of these types of conversations and convince them to ask people what they need?

This is what she said…

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After hearing Kristen's experience and ideas, are there changes you feel you could drive in your own organization to help ensure everyone's requirements are understood and accommodated from an accessibility or other user experience perspective? How can you think beyond product accessibility to ensure people of all abilities have the tools and support they need to do their jobs?

I know it may not come naturally to people to think of others' needs when making every business decision. There are pressures being placed by your boss, customers, partners, investors, board directors, and others, and sometimes it can be easy to forget who you're really in business to help. Yet, you're only going to be successful in your business endeavors if you understand who it is that stands to gain the most from whatever you're thinking about building or whatever service you're thinking about offering. So, unless you're operating with a truly inclusive mindset all day, every day, you might find it challenging to meet expectations. Would you agree?

We'd love to hear your thoughts. Drop us a note on LinkedIn:

• Laura
• Kristen

Incredibly passionate about people, culture and well-being, and a keen advocate for all things related to equality, diversity and inclusion, Laura is a Senior Advisor for Global & Inclusion & Diversity at Zebra, focused on fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging, where all employees can be their authentic selves. She supports Zebra's Inclusion Networks and culture-shaping efforts, including increasing the focus on expanding allyship across the organization.

Prior to this, Laura has worked on multiple cross organizational strategic projects related to Sales Enablement, Channel & Distribution Marketing, and Channel Communications, both in region and globally during her five years with Zebra .