How to Use Your Design Skills to Build Strategic Allies / Belén Tello / Ep. #248
Service Design Show
Keeping design close to rural users
Belen outlines missions and user testing to ensure designers engage with provincial users beyond project needs.
It’s the one thing they didn't teach in design school...
We spend years learning how to understand what drives our users, map out complex journeys, and deliver useful service prototypes.
But when it comes time to sit down with business stakeholders, compliance teams, or yes even legal departments? That’s when the friction sets in.
For this episode, we're joined by Belén Tello, who has a very interesting take on how we can overcome this struggle. As the Head of Design for the largest bank in Peru, Belén leads a massive team of over 150 designers.
As you might imagine, because they operate in the highly regulated financial sector, they are constantly in negotiations with the rest of the business.
Over the years, Belen has experienced firsthand that even the most talented design professionals often freeze up when talking to their business partners.
To our own demise, we often retreat to our comfort zones, simply handing over the work and letting the business decide whether it's "good or not". Deep down, we sometimes feel like the business folks just know more than we do (not the case!).
To fix this confidence gap, Belén started doing something quite radical, at least for design teams.
Before a big stakeholder meeting, she runs "role play" sessions with her team. Yes, almost like lawyers preparing for a mock trial!
They sit down and strategize. What do you want to say here? Who are your strongest stakeholders? Do you need me to step in and ask a specific question so you can explain your rationale?
Add to that that she's been helping her team learn to speak the "common language" of the bank. And that language? It's numbers and data, obviously.
As you'll hear Belén argues that we already do the hard work of gathering qualitative and quantitative insights, but we frequently fail to actually bring that data to the table in a convincing way.
When you stop arguing based on subjective perception and start negotiating with facts, everything changes. You move away from being seen as just an "add-on" to the process and finally become a true strategic partner.
So if you've ever felt that imposter syndrome kick in during a big meeting, this episode is pretty much a masterclass in building your confidence and growing your influence.
As you listen to the episode, I’d love for you to reflect on your own work. How often are you actively translating your insights into a language the business understands? And what would help you to do that more often?
Enjoy the conversation and keep making a positive impact!
Be well,
~ Marc
--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---
00:00 Welcome to Episode 248
05:00 Banking in Peru: Education over digital tools
09:00 The danger of designing only for the capital city
17:30 Negotiating with Legal and Compliance
21:00 Using data to find a common business language
23:00 Why designers struggle to speak up in business
27:00 Prepping for stakeholders like a mock trial
28:45 Finding internal sponsors who understand design
33:30 Quantifying design's impact on the business
36:15 Redesigning 200+ physical branches
41:00 Moving from transactional to relational models
45:30 Connecting with rural users
51:15 Using design's systemic view as an unfair advantage
55:30 Why listening is a designer's true superpower
58:00 Positioning design strategically
1:00:30 Closing thoughts
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