Transform Office Pains Into Gains In 30 Minutes Or Less
by Lisa Bodell for ForbesWomenTo better understand and anticipate customer needs, companies like P&G pour millions of dollars every year into ethnographic research. But what if you need insights and don’t have that kind of budget? Try a DIY technique called From Pain To Gain, which helps companies understand the issues and obstacles around a given product or service.It’s ideal for improving aspects of your business that customers complain about, but it’s also effective for solving internal pain points in the office. To illustrate, let’s explore a pain point that most of us can relate to: meetings.Start by writing “Meetings” as your Pain Point at the top of a sheet of paper or a whiteboard. Then, draw a line down the center. Title the left column “Pains” and title the right column “Gains.”For the Pain portion, think about the issues or obstacles you encounter around meetings. What distracts you from having a positive meeting experience? Some examples might be:
- “Meetings are too long or happen too often.”
- “Hosts don’t provide a meeting agenda—or they don’t stick to it so attendees constantly go off topic.”
- "A decision-maker isn't always present, which means meetings don't result in actual decisions."