What I learnt from delivering a 12 week transformation program at Airbnb
I’ve just finished an intensive 12 week service design program for Airbnb. It was the most exciting and rewarding program I’ve delivered in my career to date. After showcasing the final deliverables at a recent global offsite I took time out to evaluate what I learnt. For those embarking on a similar journey I thought I’d share what I learnt and my top tips for successful delivery.
1. Communicate, communicate and communicate again. With any large scale transformation program you can’t communicate enough. When people experience long gaps in updates it leaves a vacuum where those same people start to listen to rumour and begin to imagine all sorts of possible scenarios. Work closely with internal communications and be open and transparent about the work you are doing. Hold Q&A sessions that are longer than normal. Allow space for open questions and debate. Don’t be afraid to approach difficult and sensitive issues.
2. Always be several steps ahead of the program team. As a program lead you need to be thinking several weeks ahead of where the team is. You need to be scenario planning to ensure the program stays on track. I’d spent the first few weeks of the program planning for the potholes we would encounter over the summer. I already had in mind what the end result would look like and made efforts to plan towards that goal.
3. Co-creation and global localisation are non-negotiables. If you’re working on any service design program then co-creation is a must. There’s little point coming up with service designs that end-users don’t fall in love with. If you’re looking to redesign a global company then you need to get feedback from employees and users across the globe. What works in San Francisco might not work as intended in Seoul.
4. Pick a world-class agency. If you’re getting external help to side-step bias and drive new thinking then pick an agency that is an expert in their field. We chose an agency that is world renowned for great work and they didn’t let us down. We put them through their paces during initial chemistry sessions and follow up pitches. They embraced us as a team and taught us a lot. It wasn’t easy to say goodbye at the end of their assignment and I have to admit I did shed a tear when they headed for the airport.
5. Don’t settle for slideware. Assets are nice but you want to avoid showcasing the future design through the lens of a PDF presentation. We built an experiential event to show what the future will look like. It was sensory experience that could never have been as engaging if done through keynote.
6. Embrace office politics. I know in today’s world the word politics feels fraught with angst. However, politics isn’t all that bad and office politics is totally normal and should be embraced. It’s unlikely that every decision you make will be popular. You need to listen to objectors and take on board their feedback. People are rarely difficult just for the sake of it. You’ll often find they’re making a valid point and may be just trying to help you from dropping the ball.
7. Have a wing-man/woman you can trust. Given the global nature of the project I was lucky to have a co-lead in Asia who was everything and more in helping to deliver a successful project. He was one of those guys you knew had your back. We talked multiple times everyday and supported each other to make the right decisions in a fast moving program. It also helped us adopt a follow the sun approach meaning the program could run 24 hours a day.
8. It takes a village — so get them involved. The program team was relatively large with 25 individuals involved. However, we didn’t stop there. We had over 400 people involved in sharing their ideas and feedback. We set up forums where people could actively engage and influence the program. Without this many would have felt less passionate and without a stake in the future.
9. Go offsite. We held several 3 day long off-sites to accelerate the work at key points of the program. This allowed for deep work where a series of 30 minute meetings just wouldn’t have cut it. Taking people away from their day jobs to focus on complex and creative tasks delivered rewarding results and built a cohesive team that is better at collaboration than ever before.
10. Delegate work effectively. As a program lead it’s often easy to try and control every moving part. In this program we nominated and assigned leads who would deliver distinct aspects of the program. This gave people ownership and ensured that people could focus on areas where they are the Subject Matter Expert.
11. And finally have fun! The 12 week schedule was tough but we did it as a team. We had a lot of laughs along the way and several memorable moments we still reminisce about over a beer. Work hard and play hard was our mantra and it ensured that when we were stuck on late night calls together we made sure to support one another through difficult lines of questioning or when a stakeholder went rogue.
Embarking on such an ambitious program in 12 weeks scared me at first. It was only with the help of an amazing team that so much high quality work was accomplished. If you’re embarking on a similar adventure then I wish you well on your journey.
Hopefully these pointers will help guide you to a safe harbour at the end of the work.
