Learning empathy from the innovation experts.

I walked into my afternoon session open-minded and ready to workshop with IDEO. 

Waiting for the session to start, I engaged in a habit I picked up from my days in strategy consulting -- calculating the cost of the meeting.  My back-of-the-envelope calculations for a teaching session led by Tim Brown, the President and CEO and Jane Fulton Suri, the Co-Chief Creative Officer suggested that I was getting ready to experience a session that most for-profit organizations could not afford.

The format was simple. First, a crash course on some key principles of human-centered design. Second, a group exercise to help us illustrate the key points.

In just a few slides Jane concisely articulated some of the methodology I’ve been learning in my qualitative methods class.  But as I’ve learned with my field homework assignments, it’s so much easier said than done.  Especially done right. 

I was motivated to take that course after spending 3 months interviewing over 120 Kiva loan recipients in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  At the time I did my best to listen to the translated answers of the women and men I was interviewing and tried to incorporate observations about their place of business or home in my social impact review. 

I was fumbling around, knowing that my intentions were pure but inadequate.  I left Dar determined to learn the right way to do this type of assessment work when I started grad school, even if I was getting a MBA.  Believing that if I practice these skills they will be as invaluable for my future career as learning accounting, finance or marketing.

But let's get back to to Jane's great presentation.  She laid it out clearly; observation includes not just listening to what someone says, but also noticing what they do, and trying to infer understanding about how they think and what they feel.  Observation informs empathy. I’m picking up what you’re putting down, Jane.

As I go to Uganda this summer these skills will be crucial as we evaluate a program training motorcycle taxi drivers to provide first responder care to rural villagers.  It’s not about quantity, it’s about the quality and depth of those observations, the IDEO experts said.  But with only 3 weeks in the field, I know I’ll have to leave without having time to answer all my questions.  Don't we all wish we had more time to really understand and empathize with our customers?

After we went through the interactive skill-building workshop I wanted to figure out a way to share this exercise and the key learnings of the IDEO team with all the Richard C. Blum Fellows from UC Berkeley and students participating in similar programs leaving to do field work around the world this summer.  I know the my fellow students can not afford IDEO’s billing rate but neither can most social entrepreneurs. 

Maybe there's a reduced rate for do-gooders?  Or maybe it's time to flex my library card and reread the IDEO innovation books with a keen eye on empathy.