Skill Alignment Feature
A web app onboarding and survey feature that collects and shares 360 feedback
My role
User research, UX design, Wireframing, UI design, Prototyping
Tools
Figma, Figjam, Photoshop, Illustrator
Timeframe
3 months
Design brief
Description
The Skill Alignment feature of the Lingo Live coaching platform captures each coachee’s top three focus skills and collects 360 survey feedback from their team members to measure coachee progress and business impact.
Context
Lingo Live is an online B2B leadership coaching provider. A typical client is a Learning & Development leader who wants to provide coaching to a group of employees to improve business results. In order to continue or expand the program, the client needs to be able to demonstrate improved business results to their leadership team. One of the most persuasive ways to do this is to show that coachee’s team members observed improved performance on the job through 360 feedback.
Contraints
The scope of this project was limited to the onboarding flow, a series of emails and surveys, and a profile page for the first iteration.
Onboarding pages
Emails
Learner profile page
Problem statement
User problem
Lingo Live clients wanted make sure their employees were using coaching to develop skills that were important for their teams and the business as well as their own personal development.
Business problem
Lingo Live sales and customer success data indicated that the company had lost deals and expansion opportunities as a result of not providing 360 feedback data. Providing this data also aligned with the company’s positioning as a strategic Skills-Based Coaching provider, in contrast more freeform and well-being-focused coaching options.
User research
Interviews
I interviewed seven prospects and former customers who closely matched our Ideal Customer Profile and five coachees who had recently participated in a pilot program to better understand their program and platform needs.
Key findings
Clients wanted coachees to get manager input before the program to encourage alignment with team and business goals.
Clients wanted both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitive data helps to tell the story of a cohort as a while and qualitative helps clarify the meaning to the business with concrete examples.
Clients were interested in tracking 1-3 skills for each coachee, ideally with skill ratings before and after the program to show behavior change, which is the most important data for executives to see.
Clients think program surveys are appropriate, but should be minimal because they already run many surveys of their own.
Coachees use the platform minimally and they consider existing automated platform emails appropriate, not bothersome.
Outcome
Customer feedback
The feature helps them align coachees’ personal growth in the program with the needs of the company.
It helps them to track coachee’s development journey.
They recommended that the coachee work with their manager on a learning plan and review it at the midpoint and end of the coaching experience.
They’d like to be notified about unresponsive managers.
Poorly trained managers are a risk. They might not deliver feedback well. Toolkits could help.
Interestingly, three interviewees told us the feature wouldn’t allow them to do anything new, a finding which eventually led us to develop a whole new coaching platform.
See all customer research
Coach feedback
The increased complexity might lead to delays in initial session booking.
Coaches should be notified about new survey results so they aren’t caught off-guard.
Insight Providers should have more visibility into the goal setting process so they have more context when they provide feedback.
Participant feedback
Some users wanted to see all questions ahead of time, so they could consider their responses.
It could be annoying to have to pick skills from a predefined list. They might not resonate with the coachee or their team.
“I really like the new functionality and how the information is delivered to the coachee. In the past, I found it difficult to find review past survey responses to see how I have improved. This information is valuable in the learning process.”
Learner/Manager
“It will be helpful for the coachee to share what they want to work on, commit to that, and modify their behavior so that when we go back in 3 or 6 months the coachee says, ‘Yes, I’ve seen a marked difference.’ That’s what would persuade our execs of the value of this program.”
L&D Client
“Getting feedback at the midpoint will be huge because we can see if what we are doing is working and adjust accordingly. I also feel that directly involving the insight providers will create more accountability and focus.”
Keith Turner, Coach