Boosting UX Influence and Perception

UX Insights - User Experience Leadership and Strategy

Last week, we talked about the key UX topics you need to educate your organization on. But education is just the foundation. Today we're diving into something equally crucial, boosting your influence and perception of UX within your organization.

Changing your organization's culture to be more user-centric isn't a sprint. It's a marathon. I've learned this the hard way more times than I'd like to admit.

When I first started trying to shift organizational thinking toward UX, I thought I could bulldoze through resistance with compelling presentations and undeniable data. That approach went about as well as trying to change the weather by shouting at clouds.

The reality is that cultural change in organizations is genuinely challenging, and there are solid reasons why.

Why organizational change feels impossible

Most organizations have what I call "change paralysis." The longer a company has existed, the more entrenched its current culture becomes. It's like trying to redirect a river that's been flowing the same way for decades. Possible, but requiring patience and strategy.

The existing culture often directly clashes with user-centric thinking. I've seen companies where the quarterly targets obsession makes it nearly impossible to talk about long-term benefits like customer lifetime value or loyalty. These benefits take months or years to materialize, but if your leadership team only thinks in 90-day cycles, you're fighting an uphill battle.

There's also a fundamental lack of understanding about UX value. Many organizations simply don't have a clear vision of how UX delivers business benefits. Without that foundation, any attempt at culture change feels like pushing against a wall.

The art of culture hacking

What we're really doing is hacking the organization's culture, reshaping it to foster behaviors that align with user experience values. This isn't about being sneaky. It's about being smart.

Here's what I've learned works.

Be subtle, not forceful. While you could try to force change through authority (if you have it), it rarely sticks long-term. The more forcefully you push, the more resistance you'll encounter. Think gentle river, not battering ram.

Make incremental changes. If you're being subtle, you can't rush things. I constantly monitor what's working and what isn't, then adapt accordingly. Give people time to adopt changes before moving to the next thing. Otherwise, you'll overwhelm everyone and lose momentum.

Sustain the effort. I've seen too many organizations start cultural changes with great enthusiasm, only to watch them fizzle out. Consistent, incremental improvement over a prolonged period is what creates lasting impact.

Managing your expectations

Don't expect quick results, and don't despise small beginnings. At first, it feels like pushing a giant snowball. Exhausting and seemingly pointless. But once you build momentum, change happens faster and faster.

The challenging part is that you're likely doing this culture hacking work on top of your regular responsibilities. It's demanding, especially at the start. Sometimes you need to step back from individual projects to focus on building that crucial momentum for change.

Your next step

Look at your organization this week and identify one small, subtle change you could make that nudges toward user-centric thinking. Maybe it's asking one different question in a meeting, sharing one customer insight in a team chat, or suggesting one small process tweak.

Start there. Culture change isn't about grand gestures. It's about consistent, thoughtful pressure applied in the right direction over time.

What's the smallest change you could make this week that would plant a seed for user-centric thinking?

Next week, we'll dive deeper into the specific techniques of culture hacking. The practical strategies for shaping a UX-friendly organization from within. I'll share the tactical approaches that actually work to create lasting cultural change.