Hi, I’m Dana Benjamin-Allen Principal Founder + Principal of Back of the Napkin Consulting. My work in evaluation is rooted in front line youth development, non-profit organization management and (technology) systems building experiences. Our company facilitates non traditional engagements where clients have fun and ultimately own the processes and end product(s).
We also focus on helping our clients center and amplify the voices of decision receivers instead of decision-makers. The best way to make this work is to deepen clients’ understanding of the communities they seek to impact. This is particularly challenging when different groups within an organization have different levels of readiness, varying and layered power dynamics, especially when communities impacted by their decisions have not typically been included or have historic trauma from previous research interactions.
How do you create an environment where decision-makers take the time and have the interest to bring community voices into the room, safeguard their emotional experiences, and create understanding about decision-making? How can equitable evaluation tenets be incorporated (and appreciated) while managing resources?
We suggest using an empathy map. Empathy maps are a design thinking and product management tool to help engineers and designers understand the lived experiences and needs of end users. While frameworks vary, the empathy map engages participants to envision:
- What people think & feel
- How they receive information (Hear)
- How they perceive situations (See)
- How and what they communicate outwardly (Say and do), and
- What they stand to gain and lose from a project/project.
Once you have moved through the empathy mapping exercise, those you’re working with should have a clearer picture of how their work may affect the people they serve in different ways. They will have information they need to adapt or tailor their programs, interactions, and decisions to better serve their communities.
This tool helps us begin to scratch the surface in introducing empathy and community-focused thinking into the facilitation and decision-making process. It provides a shortcut when folks balk at the idea of shared understanding or prolonged process and helps resistant groups begin to build the muscles they need to engage in truly community-centered practices.
Hot Tips:
- When facilitating with groups of varying power dynamics I find it best to have folks think and populate maps on their own before discussing findings and building a collaborative map. A virtual tool like Miro allows participants to contribute anonymously so they feel safe sharing what they think and what they don’t know.
- The Empathy Map is a tool. Just like all of the unused apps on your phone, having the tool doesn’t “solve for x” – the goals and process outputs still require skillful facilitation.
Empathy Maps are a helpful framework for groups to debrief their reaction to document reviews or results. It can foster thoughtful conversation about community needs, feelings, and experiences and help improve decision-making within those contexts. As Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, writes, “getting proximate” changes our capacity to make a difference.
Rad Resources:
- Access and use this online Miro template or download a hard copy of the template here.
- Empathy Maps were designed by Dave Gray as part of Gamestorming, a set of innovative facilitation tools.
- Many industries have taken the Empathy Map concept and adapted it to their industries/needs. Consider – How Empathy Maps Can Help Teachers Connect With Middle and High School Students | Edutopia
Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.