3. needs identification (tools)

Warm-up:

How could ALA be more friendly to

blind students, Staffulty and guests?

Needs versus Wants?

Needs Identification

Human Centered Entrepreneurship: The BUILD Process

Approaches to Identifying Needs

•Empathy

•Beginner’s Mindset

Empathy

Putting yourself in someone’s shoes enables you to get beyond

what people say to what they think and feel.

Being in-context means gaining true empathy through being

with people in their real settings and doing the things they

normally do. We begin to take on the perspective of the

interviewee which enables us to identify needs with their

perspective in mind.

Beginner’s Mindset

Beginner’s Mind is critical when entering a environment

without carrying assumptions with you that

are based on prior experience.

This is often very hard to do since we interpret the world based

on our experience and what we think we know. This lens of

personal experience can influence what we focus on and can

make us unable to see important issues.

Beginner’s Mindset

•What stands out to you?

•What is happening?

•What questions would you ask

if you knew nothing about the

context or activity of the people

in the photo?

•How could you look at the

photo as a beginner, without

making assumptions about what

is happening?

Tools for Identifying Needs

•Interviews

•Questionnaires

•Shadowing

•Observation

•Demonstration (“Show Me”)

Interviews

Questionnaires

Shadowing

Observation

Observation

What do you see

happening in this image?

•Describe only what you see,

don’t interpret yet.

What is the reason for

this behavior?

•List five different possible

interpretations for why this

person’s behavior.

Show Me

When you are in the interviewee’s environment, ask

him/her to show you the things they interact with

(objects, spaces, tools, etc).

Capture with pictures and notes to jog your memory

later.

Show me Practice:

Show a partner how you enter contacts into

your phone. Answer any questions they

have.

Get to know people.

Have empathy.

Talk less, listen more.

Build relationships over time.

Plan to be flexible.

Time to Practice

REMEMBER:

Observers

•Empathy

•Beginner’s Mindset

Blind & Leaders•Emotional Intelligence

•Feedback!

Copyright © African Leadership Academy, 2012