Designing Digital Experiences: Fostering Connection at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit 2020
Recently we partnered with SIMON to present at the Out & Equal workplace summit, the premier space for the LGBTQIA+ community to address inclusion challenges and share strategies to build presence in the workplace. The 2020 summit was a first as it took place entirely virtually. Like any summit, networking is a fundamental aspect of the experience, so one of the biggest questions we asked ourselves when preparing our session on using Design Thinking to address Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) challenges was “how do you create a community in a virtual space?”
For Skimmers: Virtual fatigue is real, and overcoming it takes less time than you think. Even after the global pandemic ends, the reality is the way we work has shifted. Engaging teams will never happen through unplanned virtual calls. Well designed and facilitated activities will be essential in our new world of digital interaction to connect and engage participants and to unify groups around strategic priorities. They invigorate conversations and inspire authentic interaction, and should be at the core of our virtual interactions.
Design Thinking is less complicated than one may think. It is a theory of innovation in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. It challenges one to consider a problem by first asking questions to help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply human-centered techniques to solve problems creatively and innovatively. It is a technique for a variety of spaces, including designing approaches to address challenges in the DEI space. Using small group breakout conversations, we posed a novel question to a group of designers and asked them to crowdsource the best answer. The process of coming up with a solution to the simple problem “If you had 5 minutes to hide a golden paperclip anywhere in your home, where would you hide it so that a detective with 24 hours to look for it wouldn’t find it?” This question highlighted the fundamental nature of centering the human-experience to our process of finding solutions to challenges. It also served as a fun prompt to introduce the session participants to the central tenets of design thinking and get participants connecting at an accessible level.
Nearly every individual in each group responded to the question, and in doing so, broke down the barrier to engaging in a virtual space. The activity highlighted a fundamental aspect of our session’s objective: how to start the design process by asking questions instead of just coming up with solutions as questions. This approach allows us to de-center our own biases and better understand challenges from the perspective of the end-user or beneficiary.
The more intention we bake into the design of our digital interactions, the more opportunities we foster for connection and engagement. If we approach building connection as a design challenge, we may determine the best questions to empathize with our audience and encourage genuine interactions.
