Cultivating a User-Centered Culture

Last night at the first MIMA session of 2011 it was Nancy Lyons and Meghan Wilker of Clockwork Active Media Systems talked about a user-centered culture.

Good discussion after a tough start with some technical glitches at the beginning - here were the main takeaways:

1) Define your values - this begins with leadership but involves everyone

2) Align hiring decisions with your values - job skills are table stakes

3) Communicate openly

4) Cultivate a sense of ownership - everybody owns the promises made

5) Find clients that align with your values -don't be afraid to say no

6) Listen - understand what they mean not just what they say

7) Treat the client as the expert - they are

8) Extend your values to your end product - be who you say are and it will be reflected

9) Don't allow "us vs. them" attitudes - be user-centric to the core

10) Communicate - you can't over communicate

It was interesting discussion with some basic premises on how to create a better culture in our organizations based on being focused on the end user. Sometimes we will lose sight of this end goal so this was a great reminder of how we need to think about our work.

Good start to 2011 for MIMA although the crowd was a little down. Must be the good winter keeping people in.

As I was driving away my main takeaway was the importance of building a culture built on trust. What can you do today to impact your company's culture? Think about it and just do it.