Visualization

Challenge and  Selection

The tool I used in my odontologic startup was the tool of Visualization, or Visual Thinking, to  achieve a shared understanding of a problem space among a diverse group of stakeholders  before attempting to identify possible solutions to the problem.  We use this approach often  with our customers, who  are people with diferent backgrounds, but that want the same thing  as they reach for our products: a whiter and healthier smile. Considering that our stakeholders  are very diverse,  we have used the technique of using a straw man visualization of the  diferent personalities that our clients often present with a set of questions for discussion to  allow the group of stakeholders to absorb knowledge from each other in the process of  defining boundaries, scope,  key elements, and relationships between elements to consider  when identifying  opportunities for improvements or  even solutions, our team have 10 people  with diverse backround like dentists, students, enerpreuners, etc.

Application

Applicated  this method by creating a straw man graphic of the personalities of our clients and  defining 2 common problem situations. To develop the straw man graphic, I will draw from any  existing material available to understand the environment such as documents held within the  company containing data about our clients, marketing material, training material or even from  Google Forms we usually do every six months so our clients may evaluate us. The model I often  start with also has four columns: the unwealthy that want to fix their smile, the unwealthy that  don´t care, the wealthy that want to fix their smile and the wealthy that don´t care. The straw  man graphic is simple, using simple shapes and icons available in Painting or on the Internet.  For the activity, me and the cofounder draw situations based on the data we organized,  representing each personality and we separate the team into four groups.  Each trio receives a  chart   with a copy of the straw man graphic that they can write on directly, or use sticky notes  to make comments. We give them two-three questions to answer, such as: 1) Are there any  important information that is missing from the graphic? 2) What would you change about the  graphic to make it more accurate abou tour clientes problems and needs? 3) What key insights  do you have about the relationships between the personalities of the clientes in your problem  space? 4) What would be the approach of the group to solve this situation? Question 4 comes  in a way of empowering  the team which seems to have a really positive effect like studied by  me in a course: “Management of the company of the Future” in University of Bologna. After,  approximately 20 minutes to discuss the questions and mark up the graphic, each group report  out on their answers to those questions while pointing to the mark-ups on their poster. As the  groups present what they think is the best improvements and solutions, we take notes about  the common points in the insights of each group, and then additional insights that come from  the group discussion. Later, I combine  each group’s poster  and create a view that show the  new insights from the group discussion.

Insight and Approach

What I have learned from conducting this exercise with several groups is that while the  graphic,  especially the revised graphic that combine their opinions,  is important for  reinforcing their understanding of the problem they are working to solve, the more valuable  aspect of the activity is the shared learning that occurs while they are working to define their  problem space, especially coming from a such distinct backrounds our employees have and  shared  insigths. The graphic gives the diverse group of stakeholders a focal point for

discussion that allows them to share their perspectives and develop insights into potential root  causes of their problems, finding ways to connect better with the clientes needs by exploring  the situations that are trying to be resolved. The graphics helped them to easier locate our  situation as a company in the mind of the clients and allowed an exchange of knowledge and  information that speed up the process o f having new insights about what are the relationships  between the company and the four personalities identified, giving more clarity of how we can  better achieve more sales by transforming our customer service to a more personalized way to  sell. Since I discovered that the most valuable aspect in the visualization tool  is the shared  insights and learning, next time I will use the visualization activity in the beggining  of design  thinking activities.

