A wise man once said...

​ ​ ​ ​ Hello Indiana, I am a sucker for a good quotation, proverb or adage. From Buddhist sayings to the speeches of Churchill, I cannot get enough of these nicely encapsulated nuggets of wisdom. But one of my favourites is an ancient prayer: Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Sorry to get all philosophical on you; however, I cannot help but feel this is an attitude that many of us in digital could do with adopting. Working in our field can be frustrating sometimes. So much of what we do requires change. Change in how organisations work, think and behave. It can often feel like we are banging our heads against a brick wall, even when doing something as fundamental as introducing regular testing with users! See also — Motivating management and colleagues to embrace change​ In such an environment, we need to learn to accept what we cannot change. However, equally, we also need courage. We need the courage to challenge the status quo sometimes and risk making unpopular decisions or mistakes. But how do you know the difference? How do you know when you should accept something because it cannot be changed and when we should have the courage to push? It begins by recognising what we cannot easily change. Can I Help? Because of a client project being pushed back, I have immediate availability. If I can help you with anything from a website review to mentorship or training, please get in touch. I will even discount work signed in December. Accepting What We Cannot Change With enough time and energy, you can change most things. However, in the real world, there are some battles not worth fighting because the effort involved outweighs the result. Fighting these battles leaves you drained and demoralised. In my experience there are two types of battles that you will almost always lose. Making Large Scale Changes First, there are the fights where we are trying to make large scale changes. Perhaps we are trying to change an entire organisation's attitude towards testing or getting senior management to sign off on building an entire UX team. Perhaps you have had more luck than me, but it is tough to get these kinds of big wins. I would advise against these kinds of endeavours as they rarely succeed. As another saying goes "you are biting off more than you can chew". See also — How to ensure UX is a priority for your company​ Changing People The other type of change that almost always fails is attempting to change people. Even trying to change people's point of view is extremely hard. People have their perspective based on previous experience or the scope of the job they do. Even the best, most persuasive and logical argument rarely makes a dent on that. See also — Why I can't convince executives to invest in UX​ Fortunately, you don't need to win every battle to make progress. Neither do you need to change the world overnight. The secret to success is recognising what you can change and having the courage to carry that out. Courage to Change What You Can Occasionally I find myself mentoring in-house digital leaders or even agency owners who have settled into a comfortable rut. They moan about the lack of change in their organisation or that their clients do not listen to them. Yet secretly they would be terrified if they were given the freedom they complain that they are lacking. Something is comforting about being able to say you tried and were ignored, without actually having to do anything. However, in almost all cases, these people could do more than they have done if only they had the courage. Opportunities surround us, and yet our fear and lack of motivation prevent us from acting. We Can Change Ourselves For a start, nothing is stopping us from changing ourselves. Unfortunately, it is easier to demand others change than doing the hard work to change ourselves. However, making some small changes to how we work can make an enormous difference. Let me give you two examples. First, try adjusting the way you communicate with others. Your stakeholders and clients are not going to start caring about the needs of their users suddenly, but the chances are improvements in the user experience will help them achieve what they do care about. Focus on how you can help them achieve their aims, rather than how they can help you achieve yours. You will find people will be a lot more open to adopting digital best practice when they can see how it will help them. Second, stop being in such a rush. You don't need to establish the perfect digital workflow overnight. If we keep demanding big changes from others, we will keep being disappointed. You will overwhelm people with the size and cost of those changes. Instead, we need to focus on making small incremental changes. It is important to remember that "Rome wasn't built in a day!" That said, we do need to become braver and take more risks. We Can Take More Risks Changing takes courage because it means taking risks. It means stepping out of our comfort zone and challenging the status quo. That can feel dangerous for many. I regularly encounter digital professionals in-house who worry about doing things that they don't have the authority to do. I equally speak to agency owners and freelancers who are unwilling to question their clients for fear of losing work. However, things will never improve if you don't start taking risks and going beyond the constraints of your perceived role. You will never be seen as more than you currently are and never get to work on larger, more interesting projects. We need to start taking risks and "asking for forgiveness rather than permission". Stop waiting for somebody else's approval and do it. If you want to see more testing with users, start running it yourself. If you want accessibility to have a higher priority, start building it into projects. If somebody challenges you later down the line, you can always back down. However, in my experience, most people do not care or even particularly notice as long as you still deliver on time and in the budget. If I am honest with you, the only reason I got where I have in my career is by pushing the boundaries of my role. A client hires me as a UI designer, and I start asking about conversion optimisation. They approach me about conversion optimisation, and I start looking at the broader user experience. They hire me as a UX designer, and I start talking about digital transformation. Does that sometimes lose me work? Yes, occasionally. But most of the time, people value somebody who can look at the bigger picture. As long as you provide value, people will happily give you the latitude to explore other areas. Yes, you will not win every battle, and yes, you will need to know when to back down. But if you never try, you will never succeed. So this week, step out of your comfort zone and let me know what happens. Speak to you next time. ​ ​ ​ If you no longer want to hear from me, I completely understand and you can unsubscribe from all emails here. Alternatively, if you need to update any of the information about yourself you can edit your profile here. ​ ​