Employee Experience Design

3The North StarThe EXD Guiding Principle

Organizations come in infinite shapes and sizes, but there is at least one common denominator: They were created to accomplish some goal. At the mega‐end of the spectrum, maybe a Fortune 50 company spun off a unit that will be funded with a few billion and whose goal is to build an AI agent to aid in pharmaceutical research.

At the small, other end of the spectrum, maybe someone created a Kickstarter campaign to make adjustable‐focus eyeglasses so people without the means don't have to buy expensive prescription ones. That effort has turned into a nonprofit that employs 100 people. Both of these organizations have a clear reason for being, and that reason can further be broken down into organizational outcomes.

One reason why some initiatives become mere fleeting fads is they are not tied to the key outcomes needed to further the goal of the organization. We refer to the “North Star” in the chapter title because it relates to the next principle of Employee Experience Design:

For EXD to be effective, it must be tied to organizational outcomes.

Those outcomes comprise the North Star. That link between an EXD project and the outcomes provides a solid foundation that's explainable at any level of the organization.

Let's look at six areas where EXD efforts can support organizational outcomes.

1. Attracting the people we need. As we mentioned earlier, the top talent in any industry usually has their pick of multiple job offers. Competitive ...