Storytelling challenge

Using meaningful customer stories to show the strengths of design thinking

Challenge

My challenge is to convince my team to approach a new project with the design-thinking

methodology. I work in a large technological company that has been using an experimental

approach based on quantitative data for years. This approach historically deﬁnes the

company's identity and has enabled it to achieve excellent results and operate as an industry

leader. Although this strategy still works well, it is increasingly clear that product innovation is

no longer suﬃcient, and that to maintain a leading position it is essential to innovate the

business model. The strategy used so far, based on convergent thinking and quantitative data,

begins to show its limits and, despite participating in the increase in revenue and market share,

has proved inadequate in generating revolutionary ideas, leaving the side of the company

discovered to the attacks of new younger and brave competitors.

Selection

The tool I selected is storytelling. Storytelling is a communication technique that consists in

telling a story to attract the attention of an audience, conveying the message that history wants

to tell and stimulate a speciﬁc desire in them, persuading them to perform a speciﬁc action.

The storytelling diﬀers from more traditional communication techniques because it puts at the

center of the story the feelings, and aims to involve and not to convince.

Following advice from the Storytelling Tool lecture from Week 2, I have chosen it because it

lends itself perfectly to my purpose, that is to open the minds of my team members to new

methodologies, inspiring them with a stimulating narrative that encourages them to face new

challenges in a new way, rather than with tested methods with which they are comfortable with,

and because I believe that my idea can only be successful if we are all really convinced of its

goodness and eﬀectiveness and we feel really involved.

Application

I used the storytelling technique in the context of a talk reserved to my team members and a

few other employees in our department. Preparing presentations to propose new ideas and

strategies to teams and departments is very common in our company, and storytelling

immediately seemed to me the tool that best suited this mode.

My company oﬀers operators in the hospitality market a digital platform to sell their services to

consumers. The way I used storytelling was to get in touch with users of our service looking for

touching and special stories that would involve them and consumers and show the most

human face of our service. The stories I gathered were about strong bonds born during the

stay between the guests and our customers, thanks to their willingness to understand their

needs and their kindness to guests in unexpected moments of need or weakness. I built my

presentation around these stories, using them both to generate in the listeners an emotional

reaction who transcended from the successful ﬁnancial metrics we are used to, and to

demonstrate how direct knowledge and empathy with users is a tool that allows you to capture

the real needs of users and create a stronger link than any commercial promotion or

advertising campaign. Knowing my audience, I have interspersed the stories with hard data to

add value to my thesis, and brief summaries of design thinking techniques relevant to our craft.

Insight

The thing that struck me most during the preparation of my challenge, is how eﬀective it turned

out to be on myself. Although I started with the idea of using storytelling to engage my team

and convince them of the eﬀectiveness of design thinking, I for one was involved and gained a

deeper understanding of our users, our mission, a greater empathy with our customers and a

greater awareness of the meaning our work can have. This convinced me even more about the

usefulness of design thinking and ethnographic research methods, probably making my

presentation more eﬀective.

Approach

In the future I intend to repeat the presentation for other teams and departments of the

company. For the occasion I want to enrich the presentation, integrating photos and video

interviews with the people featured in the stories. I think this will make the presentation feel

more real and engaging, and also that seeing and listening to stories directly from the mouths

of the protagonists, while I limit myself to telling the context and enriching it with data and

theories, will create a greater connection and empathy in the audience, strengthening the

eﬀectiveness of my presentation.


Storytelling challenge Using meaningful customer stories to show the strengths of design thinking Challenge My challenge is to convince my team to approach a new project with the design - thinking methodology . I work in a large technological company that has been using an experimental approach based on quantitative data for years . This approach historically deﬁnes the company 's identity and has enabled it to achieve excellent results and operate as an industry leader . Although this strategy still works well , it is increasingly clear that product innovation is no longer suﬃcient , and that to maintain a leading position it is essential to innovate the business model . The strategy used so far , based on convergent thinking and quantitative data , begins to show its limits and , despite participating in the increase in revenue and market share , has proved inadequate in generating revolutionary ideas , leaving the side of the company discovered to the attacks of new younger and brave competitors . Selection The tool I selected is storytelling . Storytelling is a communication technique that consists in telling a story to attract the attention of an audience , conveying the message that history wants to tell and stimulate a speciﬁc desire in them , persuading them to perform a speciﬁc action . The storytelling diﬀers from more traditional communication techniques because it puts at the center of the story the feelings , and aims to involve and not to convince . Following advice from the Storytelling Tool lecture from Week 2 , I have chosen it because it lends itself perfectly to my purpose , that is to open the minds of my team members to new methodologies , inspiring them with a stimulating narrative that encourages them to face new challenges in a new way , rather than with tested methods with which they are comfortable with , and because I believe that my idea can only be successful if we are all really convinced of its goodness and eﬀectiveness and we feel really involved . Application I used the storytelling technique in the context of a talk reserved to my team members and a few other employees in our department . Preparing presentations to propose new ideas and strategies to teams and departments is very common in our company , and storytelling immediately seemed to me the tool that best suited this mode . My company oﬀers operators in the hospitality market a digital platform to sell their services to consumers . The way I used storytelling was to get in touch with users of our service looking for touching and special stories that would involve them and consumers and show the most human face of our service . The stories I gathered were about strong bonds born during the stay between the guests and our customers , thanks to their willingness to understand their needs and their kindness to guests in unexpected moments of need or weakness . I built my presentation around these stories , using them both to generate in the listeners an emotional reaction who transcended from the successful ﬁnancial metrics we are used to , and to demonstrate how direct knowledge and empathy with users is a tool that allows you to capture the real needs of users and create a stronger link than any commercial promotion or advertising campaign . Knowing my audience , I have interspersed the stories with hard data to add value to my thesis , and brief summaries of design thinking techniques relevant to our craft . Insight The thing that struck me most during the preparation of my challenge , is how eﬀective it turned out to be on myself . Although I started with the idea of using storytelling to engage my team and convince them of the eﬀectiveness of design thinking , I for one was involved and gained a deeper understanding of our users , our mission , a greater empathy with our customers and a greater awareness of the meaning our work can have . This convinced me even more about the usefulness of design thinking and ethnographic research methods , probably making my presentation more eﬀective . Approach In the future I intend to repeat the presentation for other teams and departments of the company . For the occasion I want to enrich the presentation , integrating photos and video interviews with the people featured in the stories . I think this will make the presentation feel more real and engaging , and also that seeing and listening to stories directly from the mouths of the protagonists , while I limit myself to telling the context and enriching it with data and theories , will create a greater connection and empathy in the audience , strengthening the eﬀectiveness of my presentation .