Reflection

Chosen Tool: Visualization

Challenge:

Each year, our high school organizes a Fundraiser, comprising of numerous student-run events and stalls. The  proceeds earned are donated to an orphanage for children with disabilities. However, over the past couple of  years, I have observed a declining trend in the turnout of the Fundraiser. The funds collected this year slumped  to about only 50% of what we had managed to gather last year. It seemed as though the stakeholders (general  public and other important invitees) were losing interest in the fundraiser at a very quick rate. Certain events  had an almost empty auditorium, attended by only a handful of customers.

Selection:

To tackle this problem and get a better understanding as to what the Fundraiser lacked, I have decided to use  the tool of visualization, or a process of depicting the situation using visual tools, and attempting to illustrate  the various solutions using the same.

The specific visual tool I decided to use was model-creation. To commence this plan, I asked the in-charges or  the head-students of the various events to create a small scale model of the environment in which their event  is held (for example, the concert head created a scale replica of the entire auditorium along with the stage and  lights, the food in-charge created mini stalls with the exact number of chairs and tables for the customers to  dine). After the models for each event was complete, the next job was to select a diverse group of  stakeholders, to gain insight, suggestions and improvements for conducting each event.

Application:

First, I collected all the existing data and prerequisite information. For this, I consulted the Principal and the  Teacher In-Charge of the Fundraiser. They gave me a set of rules, and a base design-criteria which I was  obliged to abide by. This gave me a good starting point as to what I was allowed to incorporate in the  Fundraiser and the maximum investment the school was willing to make.

Next, I had to select a diverse group of stakeholders. These included all the audience and the folks who had  attended the Fundraiser at least once. I examined the records of the people who had attended and shortlisted  around 20 people of varying age groups and backgrounds. This was done to get a comprehensive and well- distributed range of solutions to my dilemma.

The selected stakeholders were invited one at a time. Before being taken to the models, they were to answer a  questionnaire about the Fundraiser. The specific questions were:

1. Which events did you find the most appealing and which ones the least?  2. Would you attend the Fundraiser again, next year? Why or why not?  3. What would make your experience at the Fundraiser more comfortable?

Having answered these questions, the stakeholder was taken to the models of each of the events. After  analyzing and reflecting the past experiences, he/she was provided with chits. They were to identify the  changes that should be made, jot them down on the chit and paste them on the model itself.

The model was quickly changed according the specifications of the stakeholder before the next person made  his/her suggestions. This process was repeated 20 times i.e. the model was edited 20 times. Moreover, a  picture of each stakeholder’s ideal model was taken and archived. We believed that it might be handy while  deciding the final changes, and, unsurprisingly, they were.

After the interview process and having edited the model for the final time, the event in-charges each had a  pretty clear idea of what the stakeholders wanted, or what, in their opinion, would make the Fundraiser  standout. The in-charges also went through the archived chits and pictures of the intermediate models to  check what common features was listed by the stakeholders but did not appear in the final model.

Finally, after consulting their subordinates, and matching the fiscal requirements for the changes with the  guidelines laid down by the Principal, the model was ready to be applied. These changes were incorporated in  the Fundraiser the following year.

Insight:

To our delight, the Fundraiser turned out to be a major success. The popularity of the Fundraiser was  unprecedented. We were also featured in the ‘Times Magazine’, as the most well-organized small-scale  Fundraiser initiated by high school students. The profit earned was up by 300% from last year.

Approaching the problem using visualization really benefited us. I got to learn a lot. The model, as it turns out,  made the stakeholders feel a sense of deja vus- they familiarized with the model and it was as though they  were experiencing the event all over again. Therefore, they were able to feel exactly what they felt the  previous time- the discomforts and problems- and were able to suggest ideas to improve their experience at  the Fundraiser.

Another valuable insight I gathered from this exercise was that each successive stakeholder suggested a fewer  number of improvements, compared to the previous one. Furthermore, each stakeholder was able to relate to  the problem faced by the previous stakeholder (all the edits made were highlighted with a different color). This  gives an idea that they faced the similar kind of problem, each stakeholder shared a common ground with the  others. The tool of visualization aided them, as well as us, to identify this insight.

In conclusion, the ‘model-creating and editing’ approach turned out to be extremely useful and effective.

Approach:

If I am ever in such a situation again, I would definitely re-implement the visualization tool in a similar manner.  Coupled with the Mind-Mapping tool, so as to track the similarities in the opinions of the stakeholders, the  Visualization tool might prove to be even more useful.

