Skills for the Social Entrepreneur

Cultural Sensitivity

In order to shape culture, we need to understand it, and to understand it, we need to actively and continually examine it. To do this, designers go out of their way to experience trends, patterns, fashion, technology, and all other qualities that shape the communities they seek to change. What's more, this awareness requires the ability to understand and rationalize historic patterns to envision better future scenarios. This is empathy through narrative, informed by history. Narrative implies a compelling, culturally sensitive, and emotionally appropriate story that unfolds around a given user. At the most basic level, a narrative may describe the steps a person takes to achieve a goal. But its greater value is in capturing the subjective and political qualities of the society in which this goal is accomplished. Like sketching or painting, cultural sensitivity and creating a narrative are skills that are learned, critiqued, and revised over time and that require attention to detail.

Facilitating Research with Real People

Borrowing heavily from fields of sociology and anthropology, applied ethnography is a way to forge empathy. "Pure" ethnography is the study of culture through observation and fieldwork. Ethnographers immerse themselves in a culture, gather data about that culture in various ways, and write narrative descriptions of observations. Often, the output of ethnography attempts to construct a meaningful explanation for cultural behavior—positioning actions in a historic setting, and interpreting various actions and reactions.

Designers have appropriated many of the principles and techniques of ethnography, using observational research to inform design decisions. For example, Contextual Inquiry—a form of research used in information technology and human computer interaction—examines how people's work spaces, processes, and interactions can be more efficient. In corporate settings, designers commonly interview stakeholders to learn the relative desires of decision makers, usually related to features, functions, and competitive product roadmaps. And a modified form of ethnographic research is used with end users, empowering them to act creatively to visualize a desired future state of a product, system, or service.

In all cases, design-centric ethnography demands a mindset of curiosity, patience, humility, and approachability. The last two qualities are especially important because design researchers often find themselves speaking to underserved people about intimate subjects in intimate settings. But many of these participants are not used to speaking about aspirations, desires, emotions, or even the minutia of their daily lives. So ethnographers speaking with homeless people may find themselves in a sensitive position of power. Approachable and humble design researchers can make participants feel at ease. Because they are acutely aware of how a participant is feeling, they respond to both spoken and seen cues of discomfort, anxiety, or anger.

Identifying Opportunity

Designers look for opportunities to improve the quality of life, make things easier, or change how things are done. Active design research helps to identify opportunities for designed change. But opportunities also turn up with experience in observing and interpreting trends and patterns in the man-made world. When you explore a new setting and talk to people, you'll begin to hear clues that indicate things aren't working as well as they could.

Listening Clues: Aspirations

When people describe their aspirations, they are often indicating a desired future: the way things could be, if only things they perceive to be out of their control were different. Spoken aspirations may describe long-term goals ("I just want to save enough money to get out of this hell hole") or a dream-like future state ("Someday I'll be a famous singer, too"). Behavior also indicates aspirations, although behavioral indications may be harder to interpret. For example, what's the aspiration behind a fairly obscure inner-city practice of wrapping tin foil in bicycle spokes? If you're aware of a trend towards large, expensive rims on cars, you begin to see a form of emulation, and the hidden aspiration becomes a little clearer.

Listening Clues: Discussion of How Things Used to Be

When people describe a simpler time, they are articulating desire, rich emotion, and a lot of directive data. So if you ask them exactly what about a memory produces such fond recollection, their answers typically point to areas of complexity, anxiety, or stress (often related to new technologies or cultural expectations) that can in turn identify opportunities for designed change. A statement such as "I remember when the world wasn't so complicated" should spark all sorts of follow-up discussion because it points to a pain point and a need. You can leverage this nostalgia in shaping new products and services, using feelings about the past to generate a positive future.

Listening Clues: Awareness of Negative Emotions

People are good at having and sharing opinions. You'll find valuable clues in your participants' negative opinions about things. Note that these negative opinions are typically self-directed; rather than blaming a faulty system, difficult program, or poorly designed product, people may say they "just aren't good at technology" or "aren't smart enough."

Visible Clues: Evidence of Work-Arounds

A "work-around" is a way people compensate for a technology or situation that isn't working correctly. Duct-tape, exposed wires, and missing screws are all evidence of physical work-arounds. People also engage in systemic or digital work-arounds. For example, while researching food banks, Design Researcher Ben Franck watched a woman gain admission using a photocopy of her identification that had an obviously fraudulent address manually pasted below her picture. She told him that the food bank wouldn't serve people from her real zipcode. But that turned out to be only a formality—the food bank actually served anyone in need. Her need to provide an obviously fake document indicates a system problem (Why ask for the zipcode? What's the purpose of understanding and collecting data? What is this data used for? Why needlessly embarrass your clients?) and still another opportunity for design-driven change.

Facilitating Group Creativity

Designing with literally means asking members of the community to help you design. That means inviting groups together to explain the problems, even by making things. But group dynamics bring their own problems. When non-designers need to draw, sketch, or build something in public, many become anxious or self-conscious. They consider themselves "not creative," so they shy away from producing something that will be judged. So a facilitator must encourage participants to put aside their fear of failure. This encouragement comes from an open, supportive, and comforting environment and the right words, including self-deprecating humor. It also demands a great deal of patience, an acute awareness of the needs and concerns of individual participants, energy, and passion—the same skills required for talking to potential customers in an at-risk setting. When a facilitator shows passion about the subject matter and the creative process, participants quickly tap into it as a source of energy and inspiration. For your participants to trust you and your process or methods, they need to believe you truly care about the subject matter and about them. To help them believe in you, use two powerful tools: Nonverbal Communication and Framing.

Nonverbal Communication

As you speak, you communicate nonverbally with your face, vocal tone, and body, including your posture, gestures, and movements. Make sure these mechanisms support your intended message and content. For example, maintain...

• an alert stance to convey energy and passion. (A slumped or sitting posture, on the other hand, may convey only apathy or fatigue.)
• a smile to help relax and persuade your participants, especially those who are overwhelmed by the concepts you present. Smiling makes you look relaxed, confident, and approachable.
• inclusive eye contact to engage the participants and encourage them to participate.

Framing

Before any facilitated session, research the participants' expectations, skills, and abilities. Then use the findings to make appropriate assumptions about their familiarity with the subject matter and confidence in working with groups.

Use your research and assumptions to "frame" the session in a way that presents value to the participants and explicitly defines its purpose. The frame creates the conditions that will encourage your audience to respond positively to you. It rationalizes the value of creative engagement in general and of your methods and processes in particular. The frame also sets the session's rules.

Begin each session by articulating your purpose. Then frequently remind participants of that purpose with words such as, "the one thing we are here for today is...." This will help them remain focused.

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