Designing better employee experiences starts with
better leadership
A human-centered approach to leading at work.
Kevin Finke helps leaders apply human-centered design to the employee experience so people feel valued, perform at their best, and experience a true sense of belonging.
KEVIN FINKE
Founder + CEO, Experience Willow
Speaker
Human-Centered Designer
People & Culture Consultant
Trusted by:
ANDREA LEDFORD
Chief People Officer, IEX
The energy of Kevin's on-stage delivery, combined with his passion for belonging, creates an incredibly impressive speaker experience for our international team.
WHO Is THIS work for?
leaders who know something needs to change but aren’t sure where to start
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You’re leading a team through change, growth, or uncertainty
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There’s a gap between your stated culture and what people actually experience
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Engagement, trust, or connection isn’t where it should be
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You’re ready to move beyond surface-level efforts and do something that actually sticks
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You want practical ways to lead better, not just ideas that sound good
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You want your people to feel more connected, engaged, and like they truly belong
If that sounds familiar, you’re in the right place.
A more human-centered way to lead
Most leadership models focus on what leaders should do.
This work focuses on what people actually experience at work.
Because employees don’t experience strategies or values.
They experience moments.
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How decisions are made
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How feedback is given
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How recognition shows up
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How leaders communicate, especially under pressure
Human-centered leadership is about the experience you create for your people day to day.
And those experiences aren’t random.
They’re designed—intentionally or not.
When leaders get this right, people don’t just perform better. They feel like they belong.
“A sense of belonging isn’t just about gathering people around the proverbial table. It’s also about what happens after they’re seated.”
—Kevin Finke
JEFF HUGHES
CEO, Enverus
Kevin helped us get moving in the right direction, and today he helps keep us on track. He's not afraid to tell us what we really need to hear to deliver real impact for our employees and business. That's refreshing.
“Building a culture of belonging is a journey; one that requires a clear map, the right tools and an abundance of patience.”
—Kevin Finke
Turning intention into something real
Most leaders want to create better experiences for their people.
But intention alone isn’t enough.
Without a clear way to understand what people are actually experiencing—and how to improve it—those intentions don’t consistently show up in the day to day.
That’s where human-centered design comes in.
It gives leaders a practical way to:
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Understand what employees are really experiencing
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Identify where things are breaking down
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Design better ways of working
So the experience of work improves in ways people can actually feel—through stronger connection, engagement, and a growing sense of belonging.
How human-centered leadership actually shows up
In practice, this work comes down to three things:
Moments
The everyday interactions that shape how people experience work—meetings, feedback, decisions, recognition, and more.
Signals
What those moments communicate—whether people feel valued, included, trusted…or not.
Systems
The habits, behaviors, and structures that reinforce those signals over time.
When leaders start to design these intentionally, the experience of work changes in ways people can feel—and sustain.
And over time, that’s what creates a culture where people feel connected, engaged, and like they truly belong.
REAL IMPACT. NOT JUST GOOD INTENTIONS.
Leadership Team Alignment
A leadership team was struggling with inconsistent communication and mixed signals across the organization.
Kevin helped them identify the key moments where those signals were being shaped—meetings, decisions, and everyday interactions—and rethink how they showed up in those spaces.
The result was clearer expectations, more consistent leadership behavior, and stronger alignment across teams.
Breaking Down Silos Across Teams
Teams were operating in silos, leading to friction, miscommunication, and missed opportunities to collaborate.
Kevin worked with the organization to pinpoint where breakdowns were happening in cross-team moments—and what those interactions were actually signaling to people.
The result was more intentional collaboration, improved communication across teams, and a stronger sense of shared ownership.
Turning Culture Into Action
An organization had strong values—but they weren’t consistently showing up in how work actually happened.
Kevin helped leaders identify the moments where those values were being reinforced—or undermined—and redesign them to better reflect what the organization stood for.
The result was a culture that felt more real, more consistent, and more aligned with everyday experience.
What this makes possible
You don’t build belonging directly. You build it through the experiences people have every day at work.
When those experiences are designed well:
People feel connected to their
team and leaders
People feel safe to speak up.
People feel their work matters.
WHEN THAT HAPPENS, organizations see:
Higher engagement and performance
Improved quality and collaboration
Stronger retention and loyalty
Better business results
What this looks like in practice
Most culture work focuses on values.
This work focuses on how work actually feels and how to improve it in ways that strengthen connection and belonging.
1. Identify the moments that matter most
Where employee experience is shaping connection, trust, and engagement—like onboarding, team meetings, feedback, and key leadership interactions.
2. Understand what’s really being experienced
Not what’s intended, but what employees actually feel day to day, and the signals they’re receiving in those moments.
3. Design better experiences at scale
Practical changes to moments, signals, and systems that leaders and teams can apply immediately and sustain over time
The result is a more consistent, intentional experience of work—one that strengthens connection, improves performance, and builds a real sense of belonging over time.
SPEAKING
Keynotes that challenge how leaders think and show what human-centered leadership looks like in practice.
Not another talk about culture or belonging.
A clear, practical way to design better experiences at work.
Audiences leave with a new perspective and a way to act on it, creating stronger connection, performance, and a true sense of belonging.
WORKSHOPS
Hands-on sessions that help leaders apply human-centered design to real moments at work.
Teams leave with:
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The moments that matter mapped
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Clear friction points identified
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Practical changes they can implement immediately
So the experience of work improves in ways people can feel, strengthening connection, performance, and belonging.
CONSULTING
Partnering with organizations to design better employee experiences at scale.
Identify where the experience of work is breaking down—and redesign it in ways that actually stick.
Working closely with leadership teams, Kevin helps uncover the moments that matter most and design more intentional, consistent ways of working across teams.
The result: stronger engagement, improved retention, and a culture where people feel connected and like they truly belong.
ANDY SLENTZ
SVP HR & Office Management
Hess Corporation
Kevin is incredibly effective at design thinking and workshop facilitation. His ability to connect, be transparent and lead others to share and discuss difficult topics, are exceptional. Kevin’s energy, presence and knowledge are surpassed only by how much he genuinely cares about my people and making a difference in our business.
Let’s design a better employee experience
Book a 15-minute conversation to explore where to start.