Get Real

Get Real, Mayo Clinic is platform for minorities to anonymously share stories of inequity. What started as a grassroots initiative has become a viral movement. Now, Mayo Clinic’s CEO and C-suite executives plan to use our findings to inform institutional strategies to tackle systemic racism.

My Role

The initiative was a grassroots start-up within the larger organization. Hence, I wore many hats, from operational and strategy to service and UI/UX design.

Strategy Responsibilities:

• Articulated the need to frame the product as a movement
• Organized a volunteer army into actionable committees
• Advocated for an actionable framework within our leadership report
• Presented in roadshows to publicize the platform
• Set agendas during operational team meetings
• Drafted a project proposal for a future sister site around allyship

Design Responsibilities:

• Interviewed minorities to design an approachable web presence
• Became a voice for minority perspectives
• Negotiated with Public Relations to keep a visual language that would embolden minority storytellers
• Set up “people systems” such as a moderation process for stories
• Developed mockups and user story requirements for IT
• Became an expert on the product’s technical, business, and system needs

Background

After George Floyd’s murder, our volunteer diversity and inclusion group sought to respond to a hurting community. We knew Black and African American colleagues wanted their perspectives heard but were afraid of repercussions. One of my colleagues suggested an anonymous storytelling platform. Right after the discussion, I drafted a mockup of the platform, and the group leader shared it with his African American colleagues. They were excited, and we knew this had potential.

Movement Strategy

Mayo Clinic’s Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, where our volunteer diversity and inclusion group is based under, is a research entity. The group lead saw Get Real as a research platform. I advocated to make it a movement. Movements change mindset. People can join movements. We made it both.

The research rigor provided us credible data to present to C-suite leadership, and the human-centered movement strategy fueled a viral awareness.

I wrote the call-to-action copy to convey an inclusive movement.

What’s In A Name

The biggest takeaway from the user testing with Black/African American Mayo Clinic colleagues was an affirmation of the name. “Get Real, Mayo Clinic” represents a call to action: that we all have a role to play in addressing racism. Our team had received feedback that the name “Real Talk” may be more appealing. While “Real Talk” is a perfectly fine name, it seems no different than “WeChat” or “Twitter.” For a movement, we needed a statement people can get behind.

During user testing, participants said they preferred “Real Talk.” But when pressed why, they admitted they liked “Get Real” because it acknowledges that the status quo is not alright—but they were afraid it wouldn’t be palatable to non-minorities.

Our team advocated to keep “Get Real, Mayo Clinic” and made a successful case to Public Relations.

Systems Thinking

Our team developed systems (roles, workflows, and tools) to support Get Real. For instance, my colleague and I created a moderation guide and trained volunteer moderators.

We had to find our place in the larger Diversity & Inclusion ecosystem at Mayo Clinic. I visualized frameworks to facilitate the conversation around our group’s vision and direction.

Outcomes

• C-Suite leadership is engaged and excited. They plan to use Get Real to inform institutional strategies on racism
• The site has garnered 200+ stories, 20,000 pageviews and 8,000 unique visitors to date
• Our analyst derived themes from crowdsourced narratives and compiled a report alongside a scorecard to keep Mayo Clinic accountable
• We’ve opened the platform to all minority experiences
• We’re currently building a sister site to collect stories on allyship

Acknowledgements

This effort was possible because I was part of an amazing team. We had complementary skillsets, from in-depth organizational knowledge, risk management, negotiating and strategy. I worked with true inspirations. This has been one of the most meaningful work for me thanks to this kinship with passionate, talented individuals who wanted to stir up some “good trouble.”