Hey teams! You said you wanted those insights but you forgot to use them (Part 2)
Part 1 established the intersection of the Competing Values Framework and UX communication strategy. In this post, we explore all four culture types and lay down some specifics. And Taylor Swift...
By now I hope we are feeling slightly more confident that the problem is not in the quality of the insights or the rigor of our work but maybe in the culture-communication fit. We must treat UX insights as a product, our stakeholders as the users, and the organisational culture as the context.
In this post, I’d like to take you on a journey of the four distinct organisational cultures and some tailor-made strategies to ensure your user insights are not ignored or forgotten.
What happens when one applies out-of-box strategies?
Once upon a time, I transitioned from an ADHOCRACY-style B2B tech startup to a MARKET-oriented e-commerce company. That shift taught me a lesson on the importance of understanding organisational culture before trying to play in it.
Eager to make a strong impression, I ran out of the gate with a high-impact research project that was a proven success in my previous job. Despite the new company's customer-centric focus, which I presumed was fertile ground for all kinds of research, my approach fell flat.
I failed to consider how this different organisational culture would affect the reception and implementation of my work.
Cameron and Quinn's Competing Values Framework (2011) helps illustrate why my project didn't translate well.
Market cultures, while externally focused like adhocracies, tend to be more control-oriented and less flexible, unlike adhocracies.
They value competitiveness and productivity over innovation.
So how might aligning culture with insights adoption look like? Let’s explore CLAN, ADCHOCRACY, MARKET, and HIERARCHY culture contexts.
Clan culture
As specified by the OCAI online site, the working environment is typically friendly in a CLAN culture. The organisation is held together by loyalty and tradition. It promotes teamwork, participation, and consensus.
Insights adoption could look like
Team workshops for presenting user insights and facilitating collaborative decision-making.
Participatory methods like team affinity mapping or journey mapping exercises to involve everyone in processing the insights.
Cross-functional ‘insights circles’ to immerse in user learnings, ‘User impact prioritisation’ to decide on path forward, and ‘User immersion’ hours for company-wide activities.
Communication strategy
Over-index on collaborative and inclusive communication styles. In the What-So What-Now What framing (Behzod Sirjani), clan cultures typically do well with collaborative ownership in the So What and Now What process.
Decision making
Decisions might take time as they are consensus-driven and collaborative.
Involve extensive group discussions and input from all levels.
Emphasise building agreement and buy-in from team members. The earlier in the process, the better.
Criteria of success
Some signals that indicate a successful approach include,
Cohesion over confusion
Eagerness over pushback
Inclusion of UX function over exclusion in rituals
Adhocracy culture
In this culture, employees take risks because leaders are seen as innovators and risk-takers. Experiments and innovation are a way of bonding. The organisation promotes individual initiative and freedom.
Insights adoption could look like
Futures thinking styled presentation to highlight innovation
‘Insights to Innovation’ hackathons
Interactive data visualisations connected to user stories
Communication strategy
User insights that accelerate innovation and experimentation have the potential to succeed in adhocracies. Enable teams to imagine outcomes through visual and interactive formats. Inspiration is the key goal of create-culture communication.
Decision making
Ensure that insights aid:
Rapid and flexible decision-making processes
Informed risk-taking and experimentation
Rapid prototyping sessions or insights-informed hackathons. These might work well in adhocracies.
Criteria of success
Keep track of the following signals to measure successful insights adoption:
New ideas or innovations sparked by user insights-driven ‘events’.
Creative problem-solving approaches
Growth of ‘unique’ solutions
Market culture
This is a results-based workplace that emphasizes targets, deadlines, and getting things done. Market dominance, achieving your goals, and financial metrics are the definitions of success. Competitive prices and market leadership are also important.
Insights adoption could look like
Voice of customer newsletter or program
Insights ROI tracker
Insights to metrics map visualisations
Insights segment in the quarterly business reviews and planning communications
Communication strategy
Use narratives that closely link user insights to business metrics and competitive advantage. The more impact on ROI(return on impact) and market share, the better the chances of insights adoption.
TIP - When feasible, time indepth analyses with business reporting cycles.
Decision making
Bring insights into prioritisation discussion decisions.
If insights are categorised by their impact on market conditions, competitive landscape, and such, the shared vocabulary will go a long way towards adoption.
Criteria of success
The classical business+customer metrics nesting is a good measure of correlation between impact of insights and business outcomes. Conversion rates, customer success criteria, and improved UX ROI are the ones to watch for.
Hierarchy culture
Hierarchies are formalised and structured workplaces. Formal rules and policies keep the organisation together. Stability and results, efficiency and smooth execution of tasks are long-term goals.
Insights adoption could look like
User insights report to address all decision hierarchies.
"Insights Compliance Checklist" to ensure all decisions align with user needs and company policies.
Communication strategy
If there is one place where a standard “user insights report’ with executive summaries might succeed, it is in a hierarchy. A formalised insights library (the basic function of a repository) will ensure reports and findings are structured, tailored to the different hierarchical levels, and available for efficient and long-term use.
Decision making
Insights should speak the language of the leadership to aid decisions
Emphasise impact on compliance and risk mitigation
Criteria of success
User insights programs can be considered successful if they influence the following signals:
Efficiency and productivity metrics
Quality control and error reduction
Reference to insights in company-wide all hands, growth and planning meetings.
Insights adoption “follow the leader”
In hindsight
If I could start over in the MARKET culture company, I would have:
Assessed the cultural landscape
Tailored communication to emphasise competitive advantage
Focused on incremental outputs to enable low-risk improvements
Collaborated with stakeholders earlier and often in the decision process
The next time you uncover a critical user insight,
Ask yourself not just 'What does this mean for our users?' but also
'How can I communicate this in a way that my organisation will embrace?'
That's how you turn knowledge into organisational action – and ultimately, into desirable user + product experiences.
You know you need quality UX outcomes but don’t know where to start? I am Soma and I enable evidence-led product market fit, growth, or a successful pivot. I help products win, using research, design and systems-thinking toolkits.