Figure 1-2. Display the diagrams prominently for others to gather around.
The workshop is not a presentation for passive consumption. Instead, participants are active contributors. There are several techniques to achieve this:
Write on the diagram
Invite people to comment, correct, or add information directly on the diagram (Figure 1-3). Even if you have a polished graphic version of it, keep it open for feedback. For instance, create empty rows for people to make additions from their own observations.
Foster discussion
Prompt the group with directed thought exercises. For instance, have the group indicate moments of truth, and discuss the relative importance of each touchpoint.
Tell stories
Have everyone in the group recount stories from the field research. What have they heard people saying at each stage in their experience? What evidence can they add?
Empathy doesn’t come from the diagram itself. Rather, the diagram serves as the hub for conversations that create a deeper understanding of an experience. Your job is to make sure that happens. I have found it is usually not difficult to get people talking, and conversations happen naturally.
Creating a diagram is not the ultimate goal. Rather, it is a means to engage others in your organization in a discourse.
Figure 1-3. Invite everyone to contribute to the diagram. Assess
Next, evaluate the organization’s ability to support the experience at each step. There are several ways to do this quickly:
Grade performance
Have stakeholders give school grades at each division in the diagram. If you are working in multiple groups, compare the grades after you come back together.
Identify moments of truth
Collectively identify points in the experience that are most important to individuals. Give everyone some colored dot stickers, and have them indicate the most critical moments. Discuss the areas that got the most votes.
Vote on importance to the organization
Look at what’s valuable to the organization. Use dot voting to find the most important points in the experience.
For instance, Figure 1-4 shows ratings from two separate groups working on the same section of a diagram in a workshop I once ran. The scale was 1 to 6, with 1 being the best score and 6 being the worst. At one point the scores between breakout groups diverged: one gave a 6, while the other gave a 3. The ensuing conversation was enlightening, building both consensus within the team and empathy for the customer.
Identify Opportunities
Next, look for opportunities. Insight into value creation emerges from the discussion about the diagram. Highlight some of the following aspects:
Weaknesses.
Look for points of failure. How can you better support users? When are their needs least satisfied?
Gaps.
Find where no support is offered. What pain points are not addressed? What moments of truth are potentially overlooked?
Redundancies.
Alignment diagrams point to potential duplication of efforts. Where can you eliminate redundancies?
Competitors.
Look at what other providers are doing at each step in the journey. Where are you underperforming? When do they provide more satisfying experiences?
Figure 1-4. In this example, rating performance reveals a discrepancy between two workshop breakout groups.
Then, take a step back and consider the overall experience. Try to see what patterns emerge. For instance, I once consulted a large publisher to improve their relationship with their authors, existing and new. We noticed a trend during the workshop: the publisher didn’t stay in close contact with authors after the manuscript was submitted.
Figure 1-5 shows this pattern overlaid on the experience map. The bars show our relative, estimated level of involvement at each stage. The team then focused on ways to increase contact with authors throughout the journey. How could they make authors feel more connected? How could they create a sense of belonging?
