S2 Ep10: Ryan Rumsey - Design Leadership and organisational transformation
Dec 20, 2020
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Ryan Rumsey, executive leader and author of Business Thinking for Designers, discusses his journey into design, business thinking and design leadership, organization transformation, and the film Flash Gordon.
Understanding colleagues and organizational culture is crucial for successful transformation and decision-making processes in organizations.
Designers should incorporate business thinking into their skill set to bring value to their organizations by understanding the language of business and bridging the gap between design and decision-making.
Deep dives
The Importance of Understanding Colleagues and Organizational Culture
One of the main insights from the podcast is the importance of understanding colleagues and organizational culture. The guest, Ryan Ramsey, highlights how organizations often embark on initiatives like digital transformation or design transformation without fully understanding the people dynamics and decision-making cultures within the organization. He emphasizes that at the root of these initiatives is the need for behavior change and developing better relationships between colleagues. Ramsey suggests that design leaders and professionals should focus on improving how they work together by gaining trust, fostering better relationships, and understanding the human side of their colleagues. By doing so, they can drive more successful transformations and decision-making processes.
The Need for Designers to Incorporate Business Thinking
Another key point discussed in the podcast is the need for designers to incorporate business thinking into their skill set. Ramsey argues that just as designers learn design thinking, they should also develop an understanding of business thinking. He challenges the traditional notion of separating design and business, suggesting that designers can bring value by understanding the language of business and contributing to competitive advantages within their organizations. He also emphasizes the importance of bridging the gap between design and decision-making processes, highlighting the need for designers to communicate their ideas, options, and concepts in a language that resonates with stakeholders outside of the design field.
The Value of Improving Relationships and Communication Methods
The podcast underscores the value of improving relationships and communication methods within organizations. The guest shares his experiences of successful narrative storytelling in certain contexts, while facing challenges in decision-making processes. He believes in the importance of adjusting communication methods if they have proven unsuccessful in the past. Ramsey introduces a concept called the Good Partner Map, which encourages designers to understand the needs and perspectives of their colleagues and to adapt their communication approaches accordingly. By prioritizing relationship-building and effective communication, designers can improve their influence and be more successful in driving change within their organizations.
Matching Organizational Fit and Design Maturity
The podcast raises the question of whether all organizations should aim to be design-led and emphasizes the need for designers to consider organizational fit. The guest suggests that not all companies may deserve or be ready for a design-led approach. He highlights the importance of aligning personal integrity and values with the organization's goals, as well as considering the compatibility of design thinking within the existing culture and structure of the company. This perspective challenges the assumption that designers should always strive for a seat at the table and encourages a more discerning approach in choosing organizations that align with their value systems and approaches to design.
My guest in this episode is Ryan Rumsey who has worked for 20+ years as an executive leader and a designer building technology, teams, and organizations. He has a hybrid background in interaction design, front-end development, product management, and strategy and has worked for the likes of Apple, Electronic Arts, USAA, Nestlé, and Comcast. He is also the author of Business Thinking for Designers, published by InVision.
We talk about Ryan’s journey into design from the early days of the web, business thinking and design leadership, the human side of organisation transformation, and the 1980 film masterpiece, Flash Gordon.
