Background and Problem Statement
The Bank of Montreal in collaboration with Bain & Co, the Gender and the Economy Institute at the Rotman School of Management, and The Letters student organization asked the teams to solve a challenge question.
How might BMO become the #1 employer in the world by empowering its employees and leadership to champion the needs and professional development of LGBTQ2+ people?
Methodology
Our team used the business design methodology of FIND, FRAME and SOLVE developed by Dr. Angèle Beausoleil (Professor of Business Design and Innovation) at the Rotman School of Management (more on the methodology here).
Our Thought Process
We tackled the challenge by designing for the edge user - ‘Transgender people’. The needs of this user group are the least understood and thus, they are left out of inclusive design.
My Role (In a team of three)
Conducted secondary research
Conducted primary interviews
Find
We started with secondary research on the challenges of transgender people in the workplace and then followed it up with hearing real stories.
Frame
We synthesized the above findings and came up with the following insights:
We then uncovered the following four insights:
Insight 1:
Gender identity is not always the same as gender expression
"People make assumptions about my gender all the time. I identify as a woman, but don't like to wear skirts and high heels. My pronoun and my wardrobe are different things!"
Insight 2:
Talking about transition can be burdensome
“I don’t always want to talk about my transition, and even when I do, certainly not to strangers. I don’t owe anyone an explanation.”
Insight 3:
Transition can be a silent, ongoing struggle
"As I go through this journey, there are some days that my confidence is really low and I just don't feel comfortable in my body. It's really hard to be at work at those times."
Insight 4:
Included is not true inclusion
"I don't want to be included because of my gender identity, I want to be included regardless of it. Sometimes I feel I am treated like a diversity token."
Re-frame of the problem statement
How might BMO create a nurturing space for trans-people to realize their best selves every day?
Solve
We used the BAIN ‘Elements of Value’ pyramid to come up with a 4-tier solution to each of the insights stated before:
The interventions are described below:
Tying it back to the business:
Impact
Our Team was one of the 6 finalists to move to the second round and received an Honorary mention in the final round for our creative and bold ideas.