Be empathetic to every stakeholder in your ecosystem
Original Publish Date: Apr 27, 2020
We live in trying times. There’s no way to mince words about it. There are so many decisions beyond our control. One thing is certain though – how we choose to manage our relationships during these difficult times will drastically impact who we become even from a business standpoint.
Let me unpack those statements.
Remember April 2019?
Seems like a generation ago and a whole different world. One of the popular topics during that time dealt with a press release from Business Roundtable. Apparently, several CEOs came together to sign a statement about caring for different stakeholders. Being mindful of every stakeholder would be the new purpose of a corporation. I think it’s a noble objective for starters. In their own words…
We commit to:
Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations.
Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits. It also includes supporting them through training and education that help develop new skills for a rapidly changing world. We foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.
Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers. We are dedicated to serving as good partners to the other companies, large and small, that help us meet our missions.
Supporting the communities in which we work. We respect the people in our communities and protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.
Generating long-term value for shareholders, who provide the capital that allows companies to invest, grow and innovate. We are committed to transparency and effective engagement with shareholders.
We must start somewhere. It was great to see this move in the positive direction. At the end of the day, just like so many things in life, we need to lead with action to ensure any good thought or idea turns into reality. As it stands right now; few companies already do great work with a genuine respect for the different stakeholders beyond the shareholder.
I finished reading a book not so long ago called ‘Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change’ written by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. I must confess that I have a cursory understanding of Salesforce mostly through the CRM solutions they provide. What was interesting to uncover through the book was Salesforce’s philanthropic model.
Pledge 1% is a corporate philanthropy movement dedicated to making the community a key stakeholder in every business. Pledge 1% encourages and challenges individuals and companies to Pledge 1% of equity, profit, product, and time to the causes they care about.
I’m sure different companies have versions of this pledge currently in existence. Every company needs to find its own way to serve their stakeholders.
What’s the reason for me to share these two references?
I want to highlight the need for positive action in the business world (obviously). I also want to highlight the idea of empathy to figure out what we can do for every stakeholder.
The concept of empathy mapping is extremely popular in user experience design circles. One of the popular tools developed for this purpose is called an ‘empathy map canvas’. It was originally created by Dave Gray and introduced in his ‘Gamestorming’ book back in 2010.
An empathy map, broadly speaking, is a collaborative tool to understand different groups of users. It’s a useful tool to capture discrete pieces of information on ‘user behaviors and attitudes’. In some ways, one can say that it adds EQ to the design process to better speculate how a user might respond to a new solution or service. A regular empathy mapping session may consider questions like –
What would the user be thinking or feeling? What are some of their worries and aspirations?
What would their friends, colleagues, and boss be likely to say while the user is using our product? What would the user hear in these scenarios?
What would the user see while using our product in their environment?
What might the user be saying and/or doing while using our product? How would that change in a public or private setting?
What are some of the user’s pain points or fears when using our product?
What gains might the user experience when using our product?
My challenge for every reader of this write-up is as follows – Why stop empathy mapping at the user or customer level? Why not extend it to every stakeholder in your company’s ecosystem? Let’s not use empathy mapping strictly for user experience design alone. Let’s think about empathy mapping as a collaborative tool for value creation for every stakeholder.
This is exactly where the statement from Business Roundtable (highlighted earlier) comes into play. If our ecosystem consists of people beyond shareholders like customers, suppliers, employees, communities; what are we doing to better understand their pains and goals on top of what they hear, see, say, think, feel, and do? Maybe even a high-level understanding of these areas can go a long way in shaping how we uncover and create lasting value for multiple stakeholders.