A simple and powerful technique for thinking differently is metaphorically stepping into someone else’s shoes and living their experience. This someone else could be a customer, a supplier, a competitor or another team inside your organisation.
In this blog I’m going to outline a process for metaphorically stepping into someone else’s shoes. This process is similar to the Fresh-Eyes process where you get a perspective from an outsider who may or may not have a stake in the problem being examined.
To start you need to consider a number of questions?
- How well do I know the people impacted by this problem?
- What are their needs and fears?
- What would the best resolution of this problem look like for them?
- What would be the worst outcome for them?
It’s always important to check yourself to ensure that you are considering their perspective and not your own.
In this activity you will gather and review the information you have about the problem. Then you will participate in a role play being one of the parties affected by the problem. This is a powerful way of building empathy for each stakeholder.
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