Reflection - Personas

Challenge

In the company (insurance, 7000 employees) where I work, digitization will massively change the jobs  of many employees (especially in the claims-department). The content of jobs will change, tasks will  partially or completely disappear, and certain job profiles will emerge. As part of the strategy work, I  had to work on the area of skills management and future skills. The questions I was asked were:  What skills do our employees have today? What skills will we need in the future? And how do we  develop our employees? That was my starting point.

Selection

I decided to work with the instrument personas and created - together with a team - personas for  various job profiles.

We observed (journey mapping - as we heard in week 1) and interviewed the employees in their  current roles and then created personas. For example, Anna, who today had administrative tasks as a  clerk. We gave Anna a face (using visualization), showed what her everyday life looked like, which IT  programs she used, what she did, what thoughts/hopes/fears she had. With this we were able to  cover the "What is" step.

In a second step, we worked out Anna's future role. She then worked at the customer interface and  took customer concerns directly. The administrative tasks were handled directly by the IT system. We  described the new skills Anna would use in her work, what her future daily routine might look like,  and what she thinks and feels about the new situation. In other words, the "what if" step.

Insights

This approach helped us later with the workshop participants to understand the reality of the  employees better and more holistically. We felt the employees better and perceived them much  more as people than as abstract workers. The discussions became more concrete and the approaches  to solutions went much further than the ideas we had before when we simply asked the question  "what skills will employees need in the future?" I was absolutely blown away by the energy in the  workshop and the results. Instead of just looking at the issue from the company's perspective and  assuming that Anna is afraid of losing her job, suddenly completely different thought patterns  emerged. What would we have to do to make Anna feel like this change is great and she finally has  time to take care of customers. Really doing value and meaningful work instead of boring data entry?  These other thought patterns were new to this line of questioning. Classically, many and  unanimously thought of fear & job loss.

Working with personas has absolutely worked for me and I will certainly use this again. It is true that  it took a massive amount of time to observe and create. But the quality and creativity of the  solutions was absolutely worth it.

Approach:

I would certainly use this tool again in a similar starting situation. After this training, I would try to  include analytical data - if available - in addition to the interviews and observations. In this case,  evaluations from HR would certainly have been available. I am thinking of length of service,  education level or fluctuation. This improvement would certainly have been a good addition.

On a personal level, my finding is that I (as a facilitator) have to be open to solutions and concentrate  on the process. Sometimes I found myself getting into solution mode with the team. And that wasn’t  my role.

Using personas was a great experience and I am very happy with the results.


Reflection - Personas Challenge In the company ( insurance , 7000 employees ) where I work , digitization will massively change the jobs of many employees ( especially in the claims - department ) . The content of jobs will change , tasks will partially or completely disappear , and certain job profiles will emerge . As part of the strategy work , I had to work on the area of skills management and future skills . The questions I was asked were : What skills do our employees have today ? What skills will we need in the future ? And how do we develop our employees ? That was my starting point . Selection I decided to work with the instrument personas and created - together with a team - personas for various job profiles . We observed ( journey mapping - as we heard in week 1 ) and interviewed the employees in their current roles and then created personas . For example , Anna , who today had administrative tasks as a clerk . We gave Anna a face ( using visualization ) , showed what her everyday life looked like , which IT programs she used , what she did , what thoughts / hopes / fears she had . With this we were able to cover the " What is " step . In a second step , we worked out Anna 's future role . She then worked at the customer interface and took customer concerns directly . The administrative tasks were handled directly by the IT system . We described the new skills Anna would use in her work , what her future daily routine might look like , and what she thinks and feels about the new situation . In other words , the " what if " step . Insights This approach helped us later with the workshop participants to understand the reality of the employees better and more holistically . We felt the employees better and perceived them much more as people than as abstract workers . The discussions became more concrete and the approaches to solutions went much further than the ideas we had before when we simply asked the question " what skills will employees need in the future ? " I was absolutely blown away by the energy in the workshop and the results . Instead of just looking at the issue from the company 's perspective and assuming that Anna is afraid of losing her job , suddenly completely different thought patterns emerged . What would we have to do to make Anna feel like this change is great and she finally has time to take care of customers . Really doing value and meaningful work instead of boring data entry ? These other thought patterns were new to this line of questioning . Classically , many and unanimously thought of fear & job loss . Working with personas has absolutely worked for me and I will certainly use this again . It is true that it took a massive amount of time to observe and create . But the quality and creativity of the solutions was absolutely worth it . Approach : I would certainly use this tool again in a similar starting situation . After this training , I would try to include analytical data - if available - in addition to the interviews and observations . In this case , evaluations from HR would certainly have been available . I am thinking of length of service , education level or fluctuation . This improvement would certainly have been a good addition . On a personal level , my finding is that I ( as a facilitator ) have to be open to solutions and concentrate on the process . Sometimes I found myself getting into solution mode with the team . And that was n’t my role . Using personas was a great experience and I am very happy with the results .