Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

The first tool I used was the tool of Storytelling, in order not only to understand better the  challenge or opportunity, but also to visualize it and also to accomplish better understanding of  the solutions of the problem. I used this approach because the challenge I decided to solve was  the lack of understanding that field construction engineers have from legal advice given to them.  Basically in order to solve the problem empathy was a main issue, followed by generating  interconnection between both parties, one that talks in words and the other that listens in graphs  and numbers. As stories generate questions and that leads to innovative thoughts and ideas, I  thought it would be a good starting point, in which nor the words or the graphs will prevail, but  the mixture of both, which will make all of the parties more involved in the process.

Application

My team had 5 participants, including me, two where field engineers, one lawyer, one graphic  designer and an administrative assistant, they were chosen given their different perspectives and  skills. I started the process by explaining what I considered was the problem to be solved,  regarding the lack of understanding that field construction engineers have from legal advice given  to them, resulting in more accidents, fines and mayor legal issues. As the problem was defined, we  decided to first make a tree of beliefs, in order to determine what we thought was causing the  problem, which were the main causes and which secondary causes. Then we went out and  observed. The third step was for us to make a journey map and then an empathy map. After we  did the process above mentioned and found some solutions to the challenge, we decided to  construct a story, about what was happening and how we thought it could be solved. While we  were doing that, ideas improved, others changed, some even got discarded or we determined that  they were not affecting the outcome. First we did all of these on a board, which let us change  what we thought we should, and make it work for us. After spending about two hours in the  storytelling board, discussion finished and all decided that we were happy with the outcome and  were ready to present it to the General Manager. The graphic designer digitalized our story into a  comic, and we had a final session of fifteen minutes to go over final details and get the last insights  from our members. After that we had the final storyboard ready.

Insight & Approach

Cliché proved me right: the success of your idea depends on the story you tell. What I have  learned from conducting this exercise with my group was that, although research is important and  leaving biases behind is vital to the process, the way you tell the story can change the outcome  from a great solution going MIA because you were not able to empathize with your client, or it  becoming the next opportunity and it being implemented. Also I found that the process of  producing the story helped my team to examine what were the needs of the stakeholders and why

they were behaving as they were. The process helped us provide context in order to brainstorm  and enhance our ideas. It helped us not only understand what was happening, but also helped us  envision how the future would look like with our solution implemented. We felt our storyboard  validated our idea and made it more exciting and real.

What I would definitely change is the opportunity in which we started drawing. At first we pitched  ideas and wrote them in the board, which did not make the engineers involved in the process,  when we started drawing people, graphs and solutions, all the team was on board and more ideas  started to flow and other to improve.

