Empathy’s Role In Innovation

 

Often clients come to us with a problem but the ones we discover through empathy turn out to be quite different. An essential start to projects we undertake is to understand if the client’s problem is truly the problem we want to be solving. By that I mean going beyond the said problem to identify the underlying root cause, one that needs to be nipped in the bud first. How we do this is through user research. 

User research is a critical part of Pensaar’s problem solving process, Design Thinking. It has repeatedly proven to be successful in identifying the right business problem to solve. Not just that, it also helps us build empathy, understand at a deeper level what users are really looking for so we can design better services and build breakthrough products for them.

It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur and an innovator. We’ve all been witness to some of the best services and products ever made and unfortunately, a slew of equally bad inventions. The bad ones aren’t those that failed but ones that really solved for nothing. A classic case of ‘Falling in love with your solution, not the problem’ often leads to solutions being built with no real market need for them.

 

Building Empathy

Good user research is not about asking customers what they want. It’s a tool for connecting with your user segment and building empathy. 

Why exactly is empathy important if you know what you’re solving for? It allows you to go in with an open mind, set aside bias and truly learn. As an innovator it helps you fill gaps and needs in people’s lives. It has tremendous impact on the solution being built because you account for the entire ecosystem in which your solution would function. In turn you end up creating delightful solutions when you connect emotionally with the people you’re building for.

Here’s an example that beautifully illustrates the value of empathy. Cargo handling, a challenge that long perplexed shipping experts and extended ship idle time resulting in huge costs and wasted time was solved by Malcolm Mclean.

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Mclean was a former truck driver and transport entrepreneur who lived the problem and therefore knew first hand the challenges faced, further increasing his ability to deliver empathy driven innovation. It also gave him the perspective to view the problem holistically, as freight, unlike how it was being solved – “the shipping people thought about shipping and the trucking people thought about trucking”.

People misunderstand research to be quick surveys. Empathy doesn’t limit itself to quick surveys or questions alone, it delves into the emotions, habits, desires and frustrations that people have. It gives us a deeper understanding of the user, their pain points, fears, what excites them, their motivations and values.

“People don’t want to buy a quarter inch drill. They want a quarter inch hole.”
— Theodore Levitt

Synthesis

We as a rule of thumb spend as much time identifying patterns and contradictions as we do on the research. Be willing to explore these contradictions and inconsistencies that don’t fit with current beliefs. Making sense of all the data gathered is a key step in the innovation process as it also helps frame the problem or opportunity. Non-obvious insights i.e. insights that inspire innovation, lie at the core of these patterns and contradictions

Empathy in Innovation

Successful innovators experience deep emotions and are sensitive to their environment and their users. They observe the world in detail, notice things that others do not and use their insights to inspire innovation.

Importance of constantly connecting with customers

1.          They keep you in check and help you focus on the problem, instead of the solution

2.          Influence the design of the solution and the experience being delivered

3.          Understand changing behaviors and their ecosystem

Time and again we see that companies that get innovation right are the ones that feel what their users feel. They build an emotional connect and design for delight by taking the product beyond just functional and operational.