Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Why Changing Hearts & Minds Doesn’t Work When Promoting DE&I Efforts, but Checklists Do

Gold
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Share the love for this talk
Why Changing Hearts & Minds Doesn’t Work When Promoting DE&I Efforts, but Checklists Do
Speakers: Theresa Slate and Erin Robertson
Link:

Summary

Across the industry, design teams are focused on growing and supporting a diverse workforce. But current efforts are often unsuccessful —?and despite an increase in time, effort and money behind organization’s DE&I efforts, most teams remain unchanged (and very white). To truly address bias and support diversity efforts, teams need to stop focusing on feelings and instead create hiring and performance review systems that prevent individuals from acting on their bias. As a Design Enablement and Operations practice, we have worked with designers and their teams to build practices that standardize hiring criteria and reduce the impact of individuals’ bias and racism. In this workshop, we will work together to: Define tangible core competencies that define each job and the criteria hiring and performance are measured on Create a Portfolio Review “Cheat Sheet” that allows a team to review a candidate with an anti-bias approach Review examples of performance review and correct instances of bias

Key Insights

  • Initial DEI efforts focused on changing hearts and minds often lead to burnout without measurable impact.

  • Bias in hiring decisions can manifest as unequal standards for candidates based on race and gender.

  • Creating a set of 12 core competencies helped objectively define key skills across multiple design roles.

  • Focusing on action-oriented 'I can' competencies over subjective knowledge helped reduce bias.

  • Hiring cheat sheets tied to competencies guide interview panels and reduce individual bias.

  • Performance reviews are high-risk areas for bias due to confirmation bias and the halo/horn effect.

  • Requiring three pieces of evidence for each feedback item reduces unsubstantiated biased comments.

  • Managers auditing peer feedback enables identification and mitigation of bias during reviews.

  • Evidence-based performance review workshops empowered teams to discuss and call out bias openly.

  • Scaling equity efforts requires integrating objective criteria into organizational processes, not just discussions.

Notable Quotes

"We were literally doing the most and having no impact."

"When we focused on objective measurements, it really highlighted the inequity and moving the goalpost based on who it was applying."

"Scale is about doing less while having greater impact."

"We wanted to move from I know, which is subjective, to I can, which can be demonstrated."

"If a candidate meets the three non-negotiables, it’s a reason to move them forward no matter what."

"Performance reviews are petri dishes for bias, especially confirmation bias and halo/horn effects."

"Give three pieces of evidence for every piece of feedback you provide an individual."

"Managers need to audit the feedback their team receives, not just accept it at face value."

"We asked people to judge others’ feedback with an anti-bias lens instead of focusing on their own biases."

"Let the bird fly of hearts and minds. Don’t go chasing waterfalls; disrupt your organization with checklists."

Ask the Rosenbot
Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi
Contextuality problem: Exploring the Benefits of Qualitative and Quantitative Research
2023 • QuantQual Interest Group
Christian Crumlish
Introduction by our Conference Chair
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Patrizia Bertini
The (r)evolution of designOps: It’s Time to Think (really) BIG
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Dane DeSutter
Beyond the Console: The rise of the Gamer Experience and how gaming will impact UX Research across industries
2024 • QuantQual Interest Group
Jeff Gothelf
Who does what by how much?
2025 • Advancing Service Design 2025
Gold
Luz Bratcher
This Is a Talk for Tired People
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Daniela Magaña Flores
Ahead of Competition: Learn What UX Benchmarking Can Do for Your Business Today
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Michele Marut
Research Repositories Reconsidered
2019 • DesignOps Community
Dave Hora
Research in the Face of Complexity: New Sensibility for New Situations
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Josh Clark
Sentient Design, AI, and the Radically Adaptive Experience (1st of 3 seminars)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Jerome “Axle” Brown
How to Use Self-Directed Learning to Ensure Your Research Insights are Heard and Acted Upon
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Joerg Beringer
Scaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Chris Hammond
Embedding sustainability into enterprise design and development: A journey towards "sustainability consciousness"
2025 • Climate UX Interest Group
Alexandra Schmidt
Enterprise UX Playbook
2022 • Enterprise Community
Daniel Gloyd
Warming the User Experience: Lessons from America's first and most radical human-centered designers
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold

More Videos

John Cutler

"Patient opportunism means most of the time having the current at your back and only occasionally angling directly against it to avoid burnout."

John Cutler

Oxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)

December 3, 2024

Saskia Liebenberg

"If you solve the problems your users are experiencing, they'll trust you and come back to you."

Saskia Liebenberg

Start Small for Big Impact

May 15, 2019

Ash Brown

"We're at a pivotal moment where technology can truly make a difference in sustainability."

Ash Brown

Silver Linings: What DesignOps Learned in the Shift to WFH

October 23, 2020

Harry Max

"Your priorities don’t tell you what to do — your judgment makes the decisions."

Harry Max Jim Meyer

Prioritization for Leaders (2nd of 3 seminars)

June 27, 2024

Patrizia Bertini

"AI is not a tool. AI has agency. AI makes decisions that impact people's lives."

Patrizia Bertini

Designing Within the Lines: How the EU AI Act Can Spark Better AI Innovation

December 11, 2025

Liwei Dai

"This emerging AI technology has given us a golden opportunity to combine the heart and brain of technology and make meaningful impact."

Liwei Dai

The Heart and Brain of the AI Research

March 31, 2020

Christian Crumlish

"I know that a development team of six costs me a million bucks a year, so risk has a dollar value executives understand."

Christian Crumlish Wendy Johansson Rich Mironov Aditi Ruiz Adam Thomas

Afternoon Insights Panel

December 6, 2022

Josh Clark

"Traditional software is grounded—accurate and reliable—but lacks radical adaptivity."

Josh Clark Veronika Kindred

Sentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)

January 29, 2025

Sarah Rink

"Observers interrupting sessions was a weird behavior we had to manage with clear rules."

Sarah Rink

Remote User Research: Dos and Don'ts from the Virtual Field

June 11, 2020