Forget digital transformation. Aim for empathy transformation.

Technology is most often a solution in search of a problem. Organizations, falling in love with a technology, attempt to find a reason to implement the technology. User research, if there is any, is used to justify the use of the new technology as opposed to developing a deep empathy for the people the technology is meant to serve.

Some stories can help illustrate the point. Some I have heard, one I lived.

There was a train operator.

Surveys indicated a low level of rider satisfaction.

Follow up surveys asked riders why they didn’t like the train. Survey results indicated an issue with the seats. The company looked into replacing seats but the project had a huge price tag.

Someone said “We operate trains and train stations. But what do we really know about taking a train to an office?”.

The train operator hired a design firm to follow commuters from the moment they woke up until they got to the office, then in the evening the design team followed the commuters from the office back home. This group of commuters had people following them around, watching them brush their teeth, make the coffee, eat breakfast, get in the car, drive to the train station, swipe their passes, go through the turnstiles, get in line, board the train, look for the seat furthest from the guy who bathed in Polo cologne. The designers sat with the commuters as they rode the train. They watched how the commuters worked, played video games, snapped, posted comments about the Polo guy. The designers followed the commuters all the way to their offices. In the afternoon they reversed the process and followed the commuters from their offices to their homes. By the time they were done trailing the commuters, the designers more than knew what it was like to be a commuter. They FELT it.

And the designers found out the seats were just fine.

The designers found getting from the car to the train station was painful. Parking was inconvenient. The walk from the car was hot in the summer and bitterly cold in the winter.

The designers recommended the train operator improve the parking experience. They put awnings up to protect passengers from the sun and rain. The awnings cost a fraction of putting new seats in every car.

Satisfaction surveys improved significantly.

When you ask people about the train, they’ll tell you about the train.

When you spend time with people and experience what it is like to be them, you learn what works and doesn't work from their perspective.

There was a electronics manufacturer

A small electronic components company lost a $1.2 million dollar deal to a competitor who undercut their price.

By $.03. 

The electronic manufacturing team was tasked with squeezing the supply chain to get $.04 out of the system and massaging the customer to get them to reverse their decision. They grabbed their carry-ons and a few books and jumped on a flight Hong Kong. They met up with an interpreter and caught the train to Shenzhen. It was a long day of drinking tea and formal lunches with lots of toasts and an even longer night of more toasts with rice whiskey and karaoke. 

Net result: $.02. $.02 more to go.

From Beijing they jumped a plane to Guadalajara to negotiate with the contract manufacturing firm. It was a long day visiting manufacturing facilities and a long night that included a bizarre car accident, masked wrestlers in a Lucha Libre extravaganza, and a marathon of street meats, tequila, and cheap beer. The contract manufacturers agreed to reduce their price to the end customer.. 

That saved another $.02. Time to go to the end customer and pitch to get the business back.

The manufacturers team met flew back to the U.S. to meet with the purchasing agent. They immediately offered the purchasing agent the reduced price.

The purchasing agent didn’t respond.

The pennies added up, but the additional $60K/year on the deal was not enough for the purchasing agent to switch suppliers.

The manufacturer’s team was exhausted. They had made a grueling trip around the world to get the price to match. They offered every concession they could. They wrapped up the meeting, silent and demoralized. As the purchainsc agent walked them to the door he started talking about production issues at the Guadalajara facility and the headaches of dealing with the suppliers and their random shipping schedules. The manufacturer’s team listened politely, wishing they could just get back to the hotel and sleep. As the purchasing agent rambled on, one member of the manufacturer’s team realized the purchasing agent was telling them exactly what he needed to make the deal.

$.04 was not what the purchasing agent needed.

The purchasing agent needed to know that the components would be at the manufacturing facility when he needed it. He needed to know that there would not be any delay in production due to late parts. He needed to feel confident, to feel assured.

The manufacture’s team leased a garage by the factory in Guadalajara. The production supervisors could walk across the street and see the components on the shelf, ready to be put into the production line.

Price is not the most important thing. But you have to listen to know what the important thing is.

There was a social services program

The social service program had a problem.

They had a growing population of elderly, a growing number of whom were suffering from malnutrition. The city had started a low cost food delivery program to combat the issue but the problem continued to grow. The service seemed to have minimal if any impact on levels of malnutrition.

The group overseeing the program decided that the menu needed to be redesigned to make the food options look more appealing. Kind of like asking your UI designers to make the software sexy.

Lucky for them they went to the right designer. The designer was not convinced that making the menu sexy was going to get seniors to eat the food.

Like the train operator’s design team, the designers spent time living side by side with the seniors, sharing the experience as the seniors went through their day. Then they spent time with everyone who was involved in the production and delivery of the food.

The cooks.

The delivery drivers.

The designers found there was a complex set of needs that were not being met, not just for the seniors but for everyone involved.. 

People who cook will tell you there is nothing better than seeing someone enjoying the meal they prepared. But these cooks were far removed from the people who would be eating their food. As a result they felt more like manufacturers than cooks. They took little pride in the meals they were preparing.

For the seniors, the menu was unappealing and the food was unappetizing. But there were deeper issues as well. They felt humiliated when a van with the social service logo on it parked in front of their house. Having their neighbors know they couldn’t take care of themselves and couldn’t afford to eat out was more than they could bear. So they didn’t.

A sexy menu wasn’t going to solve that.

The design team completely rebuilt the service. They brought together the cooks and the seniors so the kitchen staff built a connection with the people they were serving. They rebranded the entire service to look more like a high end restaurant with professionally designed logo’s, new uniforms for staff, new food packaging, and new signs on the truck. And yes, they did redesign the menu using more appealing descriptions of the food as well as offering a wider variety of choices. 

Malnourishment dropped by 22%. Orders increased by 78%.

Your most powerful asset is empathy.

The ability to understand your customers. Not just in the context of your products and services but what it is live their lives for a day. 

Their challenges.

Their victories

Their passions.

Empathy is active, not passive. Empathy is not a sales, marketing, or account management responsibility. It is a core function of the entire company. Empathy can make an organization future-and competition.