How To Increase Your Leader UX

What’s your Leader UX? User experience (UX) is now top priority in product and e-commerce design. Leaders need to prioritize their own Leader UX too. Here’s how. 

As technology increases and products become more complex, that same complexity will scare away customers unless they can easily figure out how to use it.

User experience is, the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving the usability, accessibility, and pleasure provided in the interaction between the user and the product, according to Wikipedia.

A leader’s interaction with other people also produces a UX, and Leader UX.

Think about the products or software you love, and hate. Chances are you feel that way because of the product’s UX. Great UX with products begins by considering the customer, their needs, and their perspective. Bad UX starts with trying to make your product appealing to customers.

Here’s what that looks like:

Apple’s iTunes software was created to give users the ability to listen to music through their computers instead of with CDs. Today, it’s become the most frustrating app I own. I can’t find my music library without navigating and rejecting an Apple Music trial subscription 3 or 4 times! Apple took iTunes-the-music-player and turned it into iTunes-the-music-store.

UX is about the User, not the product or the company. Companies make this mistake. And so do leaders.

Why A Leader UX Is Important

Your Leader UX is how a person feels and thinks after interacting with you.

What happens with great UX? Think about the products or software you love. For me, that’s the iPad, Silver Car, Netflix, and Tripit. Done well, UX design will produce these 4 responses in the User:

  • Delight – The User is happy with and delighted by the interaction.
  • Trust – As the experience continues to be delightful, trust is formed.
  • Flow – Continued engagement flows with little effort.
  • Connection – A meaningful bond is built.

Leaders can generate these same 4 responses if they pay attention to their own Leader UX. 

How To Increase Your Leader UX

Consider who your User is. It’s anyone who interacts with you. This could be a member of your team, customers, your boss, or your spouse and kids.

Follow UX design standards to increase your Leader UX with the people interacting with you.

  1. Be simple. Many leaders think of themselves as multi-layered and complex. That’s fine, but don’t be complicated. Be simple without being simplistic. Simplicity shows up as focus. Clear objectives, priorities, and standards allow Users to move forward. Unfocused leaders send conflicting messages, change direction, and then micromanage when the work isn’t done to their satisfaction.
  2. Be clear. Users want to understand you. Clarity often comes more by listening than by talking. When we listen to Users we discover what they understand, and don’t. Rather than questioning their intelligence, we listen in order to redesign our message in ways Users will more easily understand.
  3. Be empathic. Users do not think like you, act like you, nor know what you know. Empathy is putting yourself in the situation the User experiences and feeling what they feel. Usually, we don’t know what Users think and feel. Don’t guess, ask them! Ask clarifying questions to learn more about what Users think and feel regarding their interactions with you.
  4. Be predictable. When I switch from Skype on my iPhone to Skype on my computer, things look familiar. A Leader’s UX needs to be predictable to Users. They should know how to navigate their interactions with you without getting lost or baffled by something unpredictable.

To understand your Leader UX, you have to do a little research to find out what happens when someone interacts with you. Are they able navigate the conversation and get what they need? Was the interaction frustrating because it didn’t meet their expectations? Was it a pleasant experience?

Your Leader UX, how a person feels and thinks after interacting with you, will determine not only their thoughts and emotions, but your results.

Question: What possibilities would increased Leader UX open for you? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

    Keith is President of Creative Results Management. He helps busy leaders multiply their impact. Keith is the author of several books including The COACH Model for Christian Leaders.

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