Paula Land: Empathy, Change, and CATs - CS Seattle
Download as PPTX, PDF3 likes3,128 views
The document discusses the importance of empathy in content strategy and organizational change, highlighting the need for soft skills and a shift from tactics-focused thinking to people-oriented approaches. It emphasizes that change is difficult but necessary, with a focus on understanding customer needs and overcoming resistance within organizations. Additionally, it outlines strategies for becoming an effective change agent, including vulnerability, embracing failure, and breaking down siloed thinking.
Paula Land: Empathy, Change, and CATs - CS Seattle
- 1. Empathy, Change, and CATs What I Learned at CS Forum Paula Land
- 2. Sessions Empathy: Content Strategy's Hidden Deliverable Corey Vilhauer, Blend Interactive Embracing Your Role as a Change Agent Jonathan Kahn, Together London
- 3. Common Themes • Soft skills—less focus on tactics, strategy, deliverables as the starting point • Listening and reframing • Being advocates • Change requires changing organizations • Overcoming fear, uncertainty • Failure is okay
- 4. Empathy Definition: “The act of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another…” “The trend towards greater and greater customer empowerment requires a deeper and deeper understanding of customer needs.” --Gerry McGovern
- 5. How to do it • Replace Content Strategy with People Strategy • Practice empathy not just with the people who are the consumers of the content, but with the client (or team, co-worker, boss, editor…)
- 6. How to do it • Be curious – Ask questions • Be clear and deliberate – Get to a shared understanding of terms – Consistency promotes trust • Be conniving – Identify strengths and play to them – Use politics as leverage • Be a teacher – Provide tools
- 7. “Your job isn’t to make the change happen – only your client can do that. Your job is to present the change, understand the issues that will serve as barriers to that change, and walk a bit in their shoes.” --Corey Vilhauer
- 8. Change • Change is hard • Failure is certain, unavoidable, necessary • Content strategy work involves systemic change • You can’t solve problems without changing organizations
- 9. Traditional organizational models • Top-down • Hierarchical “…the idea of limiting communications, so that they flow only from one layer of the hierarchy to the next, was part of the very design of the system at the dawn of managerial culture.” Here Comes Everybody, 2008 CLAY SHIRKY
- 10. Mind shifts and power shifts • Moving from product to service • From consumer to customer To bring about systemic change we combat: • Denial about change • Org-centric thinking
- 11. The arguments against change • My organization is too complex • It’s different in a large company • It’s different in a small company • It’s different in non-profits • It’s different in higher ed • We can’t do this agency-side • This is impossible in government
- 12. Areas of focus • Service design • Cross-channel UX and CS • Web and digital governance • Learning lessons from the lean startup and agile movements
- 13. How to be an agent of change 1. Let yourself be vulnerable (make mistakes) 2. Fight the culture of shame 3. Embrace failure 4. Get out of the building
- 14. “Denial about change, silo-centric thinking, and poor governance and strategy lead to disappointing user experience outcomes and substantial business risk. As web professionals, we can’t be effective until we become agents of change.” --Jonathan Kahn
- 16. Strategic Content www.strategiccontent.com Content Insight www.content-insight.com @content_insight