Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge

The challenge I was facing is the following. We developed a great product in the medical  device space, and everyone was excited about bringing it to market asap. The difficulty with  the product was, that it was not obvious to a lay person what big of a game changer this was  going to be.    Selection

I selected storytelling for my challenge because this is how information is conveyed, and  emotions. Good stories inspire, captivate and carry you away. They breathe life into cold,  bare numbers. This is best described in the last video of week 2 of the course. It is my go-to  tool for three reasons.  First, it will allow for creating a higher feeling of purpose in everyone already involved and  will increase employee engagement even further.  Second, it will help the customer to better understand the value of our new product.  And third, as mentioned in the video, it will secure the longevity of our brand and help us  gain traction in the market.    Application

I applied the tool in the form of a workshop. We invited a few patients with that specific  condition and had a vivid discussion about how this device may be able to help them. I  followed a three-step approach, beginning with capturing the initial situation. Medical staff,  patients and engineers came up with a very good summary of the status quo. After that, we  encouraged everyone, not just the patients, to talk about complications in their private and  professional lives this condition causes. Medical staff and engineers naturally had different  problems than patients, but we found common ground.  Lastly, we talked about the resolution of the issue, our product. There were many different  opinions about the product and in what ways it will be able to help. In the end, we distilled  all the main points into a great story which we now circulate internally and externally.    Insight

Everyone loves a good story. I became particularly aware of this when we were taking all the  facts we had agreed upon and started to form a coherent narrative. It was amazing to see  how everyone started out by trying to get heard and present their own problems, and how  all of them were working toward creating the best story possible in the end.  I wasn’t too sure that it would work out when the workshop started, but boy was I wrong.  Looking back, it really makes sense to me now. Stories are one of the few things that every  culture has in common.  In general, I developed a better understanding about how to aggregate different points of  view and how storytelling can help pave the way for a better world.    Approach

I wouldn’t necessarily do anything different when faced with a similar challenge because the  outcome was so great. What I will definitely do is to revisit our entire approach and try to  implement other design thinking elements. It’s hard for me to put a number to the outcome  we achieved and even harder to compare it to a more “traditional” approach. I think it  would just not have worked if we hadn’t used the tool. I’m so glad we did!

