Gather Inspiration
Hold on, let’s think about what skill every innovator needs to practice in relation to understanding people.
It is not just about asking: “Excuse me, what would you like us to sell, offer, create for you?” Many times we don’t know what we need and questioning your target audience you want to innovate for in this way may not give you the answers you need to develop a successful solution. Did you know that many companies skip this stage completely and base their product or service development on their own assumptions?
There are many methods how we can gather inspiration to address our problem. In this section we will mainly focus on empathy. What is your definition of empathy?
Note down your answer our Innovation board Question 9.
What an important topic- and I bet you didn’t think you would be learning things like that, did you?
Activity: Ok, let’s meet your students so that you can practice empathy in your innovation challenge.
Meet Adrian, an international student
Meet Jack, a British student with limited mobility
Stories of our students
Try to empathise with Adrian and Jack – don’t feel sorry for them, feel what they have been going through constructively and accept their frustrations in a non-judgmental way.
Stop! No jumping into solutions yet….take your time, pause, feel, observe again and get to know Adrian and Jack as much as you can from the information you have.
Remember our challenge?
How might we create an inclusive Campus environment for students of diverse backgrounds and abilities to enjoy outdoor activities together in a safe and fun way?
You have now gathered inspiration through observation. From the observations of the place – campus and the people – students, what do you think are the key frustrations, challenges, issues that you need to address in your challenge? Name 3 key challenges related to the Campus and 3 key challenges related to the students.
Note down your answer our Innovation board Question 10.
Are you ready to innovate? In the next section we will generate some ideas for our challenge. Exciting!!!!
Ready for another movie night? Today’s movie is What Women Want. In this movie a chauvinistic alpha-male advertising executive starts hearing women’s thoughts. But before that happens, he tries to get inspired for an ad campaign for women, so tries empathising with them better. Enjoy some real fun!
Key learning:
“Walk in the shoes of your clients” is a great advice. No amount of desk research will enable you to empathise with your customer, unless you experience what they experience. Sometimes this means visiting a location, or trying out a part of a service. But sometimes it takes more sacrifice.
Note that he is not just experiencing the products, but ‘gets into character’, by listening to music that appeals to a girl, etc. However, this is probably not the actual setting that these products would be used in!
Mel Gibson’s character seems to just randomly buy beauty products, and on a whim start playing around with them. Instead, immersion in your constituent’s experiences should be a planned part of your research.
Skills gained throughout this section:
Skill flower: [1]. Spotting opportunities [4]. Ethical and sustainable thinking [5]. Self-awareness and self-efficacy.
