The Experience Rx for Your Organization
The experiences an organization hosts for those it serves, its staff, or surrounding communities are like X-rays of its inner workings. What can we tell about an organization from its meetings and events? You may be surprised. Could we flip the script and use events to improve our organizations? Keep reading to explore how "Experience Rx" could be your most potent organizational improvement prescription.
Experiences surround us. The way you slept last night was an experience. Was the room the right temperature? Was the bed comfortable? Was it dark enough? Science shows the importance of a good night's sleep. If you've taken time and care to create a pleasant sleeping experience, you understand the nature of Experience Design (Ex). Ex is used to improve our experiences as well as the desired outcomes. In this case, improving our sleep (the experience) improves our health (desired outcome).
In our fifteen-year history, we've never worked with a client who didn't become a better organization through their work to host an experience for others. Designed experiences intend to change people's behavior. Even simple weekly meetings shift the way people think and act. Or, they should. By defining behavior shifts and the organization's role in helping others make them, the organization's inner workings come into view. A clear understanding of an organization's level of support, the problems they solve, the systems they have in place to do their work, and their potential impact and purpose in society is necessary before convening others to create change. While the desired change may be evident, an organization's capacity to bring about that change may need to be improved.
Few actions inspire change as strongly as taking center stage to inspire others. It's common in our work that a client has a vision but needs more structures to bring it to life. That's why our clients grow FROM designing experiences. They learn about themselves as they shape the environment required to bring about change. They uncover murky messaging, limited connections to their ideal clients and community members, and inadequate processes to manage the scope of their desired work. The effort to bring about an experience provides an X-ray of the organization.
Ex helps many types of organizations evolve. Entrepreneurs can grow their exposure by hosting events (experiences) that showcase their services, products, and expertise. Non-profits can create experiences that spark viral energy and action toward a cause. For-profit companies can host internal training experiences that move teams toward previously unachievable knowledge-building and performance-improvement levels. By creating these experiences, these organizations can learn about themselves, make changes, and harness opportunities to improve themselves. Ex outcomes are for more than just those who participate in the experience.