- Empathy is not just a buzzword but rather an important skill that involves triggering mirror neurons to understand others' perspectives. - Empathy interviews are a way to practice empathy by asking open-ended questions to elicit users' stories and experiences. - A template is proposed to help design empathy interviews in a structured way, with steps like adopting a beginner's mindset, making the interviewee comfortable, exploring different emotions through stories, and intentionally seeking different emotions. - Anyone can learn to conduct empathy interviews and employ empathy in their work through simple steps like actively listening to understand others.

1. Understanding "Empathy"
-Beyond the Buzzword
Presented by Adharsh Dhandapani

2. YOU MUST HAVE HEARD THE TERM "EMPATHY"
A LOT IN STATEMENTS LIKE...
"Empathy is the USP of Design Thinking.”
"Great designers/product managers/strategists have Empathy for the users.”
"Non-designers need to gain Empathy for the users as well”

3. And thus, might have assumed
that Empathy is just a meaningless
buzzword.

4. But is "Empathy" really
just a Buzzword?

5. Imagine the following scenario.
In Order to Understand Empathy beyond
the Buzzword

6. What do you feel when
you see a stranger
getting hit hard by a nail
in the back of his hand?

7. You would probably
cringe in pain!
Right?
As though you went
through the same
painful experience
yourselves.

8. Is due to the presence of Mirror Neurons
The reason this
happens...

9. Without Going too much into Science
Mirror Neurons are triggered when you see an action and
also when you perform the same action!
And with no difference between the two!

10. We all have a natural talent for Empathy.
What this means is

11. One has to constantly practice & hone the same in
order to develop it.
But, with any natural
talent...

12. So, how do you practice Empathy?
TL;DR: By constantly triggering mirror neurons.

13. And we already make use of Mirror Neurons in
many ways without even realizing...
For Example:-
Empathy Interview: Asking open-ended questions to elicit stories from
users.
Observation: Getting out of the building and observing users.
Design Thinking workshop: Giving an opportunity for non-designers to
gain empathy for the end-users/clients.

14. In this presentation, let us
focus on Empathy Interviews
further...
With the objective of making the case that anyone
can design and conduct an empathy interview.

15. Steps for designing an Empathy Interview
1) Adopt a beginner’s mind.
2) Make the interviewee comfortable.
3) Open-ended Questions seeking stories.
4) Explore the different emotions intentionally.

16. We propose using the below template.
So, in order to intentionally design an
Empathy Interview...

18. Under "Existing Assumption about the persona and the problem" write
down your assumptions and biases which you might have.
Then, duly strike those off to remind yourself to be mindful of your
biases while designing your designing your interview.
Step 1: Adopt a beginner's mind

19. In the example below, the interviewer is designing an interview of a
Product Manager in AgriTech Startup with the objective "To
understand the future hope and vision of food startups".
Step 1: Adopt a beginner's mind

21. Why would the interviewee, who is mostly a stranger to the interviewer, choose to
reveal details about his/her feelings, emotions, motivations, etc?
Hence, it is important to build rapport with the interviewee and make them feel
comfortable so that he/she opens.
Hence, under the section "How might we build rapport with the interviewee?", we
brainstorm for ways to make the specific interviewee comfortable and thus open up
during the interview.
Step 2: Make the interviewee
comfortable

23. Think about it - interviews provide a unique opportunity to listen to stories from
users - which is not possible in emails, chat etc.
so, it is important to ask open-ended questions seeking stories. Hence, list
down your planned open-ended questions under the section "Key questions for
exploration of stories".
Step 3: Ask open-ended questions
seeking stories

25. It is important to explore the different emotions displayed during the interview
intentionally and this can be done in two steps.
1) Under the section "Keywords in connection with the emotions": Note down the
keywords/sentences from the interviewee and the corresonding emotion displayed.
2) Under the section "Outline of the Story": Representing the context/story
corresponding to keywords/sentences preferably using pictures.
Side-note: Never mind if you think that you are terrible at drawing - the
objective here is just to represent the stories visually.
Step 4: Explore the different emotions
intentionally

27. As shown in the next slide.
Hence, the four steps for designing an
Empathy Interview is cooked into the
template.

29. If there is one take away from this
presentation:
One doesn’t need to be a professionally
trained designer to employ Empathy at
work. Everyone has this natural talent and
everyone can design for empathy by
following a few simple steps.

30. ADHARSH DHANDAPANI
Presented by
Intrapreneur at IBM and guest author of The Design
Thinking Toolbox
Email: adharsh2208@gmail.com

31. For more such practical tips &
techniques on various Design Thinking
Methods & Tools
The Design Thinking
Toolbox: A
Guide to Mastering the
Most Popular and Valuable
Innovation
Methods
Available in Amazon!

32. Thank you.