Welcome Leading Conversations Workshop Coline Drévo | May 2024

Conversation / interview approach 1. Understand the external factors ● Context ● Project or Research Objectives What are we trying to achieve? What do we want to understand better? Who are the key stakeholders to involve? 2. Design a conversation guide ● Conversations can be conducted openly or semi-structured ● Frame the situation: research questions, context, plan… ● Define the flow, topics, questions… Tips: ● Make sure that the problem is well defined before jumping to solutions ● Use your critical thinking ● Don’t be afraid to ask questions Tips: ● Prepare your guide in advance ● Take the time to pre-think before the rush ● Align yourself with the research team

Some types of research methods Contextual Interviews “Interviews conducted with customers, employees, or any other relevant stakeholders in a situational context relevant to the research question” - This Is Service Design Doing, O'Reilly Media* In-depth interview Focus Group “A qualitative research technique of conducting intensive individual interviews. […] often conducted with relevant stakeholders or external experts to understand different perspectives on a specific subject.” - This Is Service Design Doing, O'Reilly Media* “A classic qualitative interview research method in which a researcher invites a group of people and ask them questions specific products, services, good, concepts, problems, prototypes, etc.” - This Is Service Design Doing, O'Reilly Media* ● conducted in “situational context” ● user’s natural environment ● use concrete examples *Stickdorn, M., Hormess, M. E., Lawrence, A., & Schneider, J. (2018). This Is Service Design Doing: Applying Service Design Thinking in the Real World. O'Reilly Media. ● can be based using a canvas, map or blueprint ● can use co-creation approaches ● often based on an initial question, let the conversation flow ● limitations such as the group effect or social desirability bias…

User Interview | Prepare & Plan As researcher.s, it’s relevant to define: ● Duration of the interview preparation, activity and follow-up ● Material requirements: ○ Notebook, voice recorder, camera, legal agreements… ● Researchers / Facilitators : ○ Minimum 1 but preferable to have 2 or 3 researchers per interview ○ Allows to divide the work, more efficient or less biased ● Participants / Interviewees: ○ Selection criteria, number of participants ● Expected Outputs: ○ Text: transcripts, verbatims, notes… ○ Recordings: videos, audios, photos…

User Interview | Conduct A few tips to consider when running interviews: ● Start the conversation by framing the situation: ○ Use clear language ○ Introduce the team & your intentions… ○ Help them feel comfortable & establish the trust ● Ask warm-up questions: ○ Ask questions that are easy to answer ● Listen, ask questions and follow-ups: ○ Ask one question at a time ○ Let the conversation flow & direct them where you want to go ○ Search for comparable behaviours ● Lean on your emotional intelligence: ○ Pay attention to body language ○ Try to separate observations from interpretations (bias) PRACTICE MAKES IT PERFECT!!

User Interview | Outputs & Follow-ups After conducting an interview, the expected outputs could be: ● Text: transcripts, verbatims, notes… ● Recordings: videos, audios, photos… A few tips to keep in mind as a follow-up: ● Stay active right after the interview (while still fresh!): ○ Write down your notes and a short summary ○ Compare them within your team ○ Make the connection between your findings and the data ● Plan an analysis session with your team: ○ Combine all the findings and raw data ○ Analyse them together and define emerging patterns Some examples of tools that can be used: ● Dovetail to bring all your customer data into one intelligent, searchable location ● Miro / Mural ● Excel ● Visualisation tools: canvas, maps, blueprints…

Team Exercise As a team, you will conduct a first research study involving the participants from the production unit to gain insights into the absenteeism issue. Design your interview guide (objectives, selection criteria for the participants, logistics, topics to explore…) Scenario ● You are the research team mandated by the Director of Operations of a Pharmaceutical Group. ● Your mission is to understand the absenteeism problem among the employees of their production unit. This unit comprises 60 employees, all at the same hierarchical level. Group of 3 x 25 min Problem Statement ● Over the past year, the number of absenteeism days taken by these employees has doubled, resulting in a significant loss of productivity and increased costs for drug production.

Discussions + Q&A