Shooting in the dark ~ I don’t know these people!
I want you to imagine any situation in which you are preparing to work with someone who you don’t know well.
- You are going to hire someone and you must write an advert
- You are going for a job interview
- You are taking a new class
- You are going to a party and your host is relying on you to get the party going
- You are scouting for new business and you are all but cold calling
Personas
In any of the situations, it really helps to write a persona.
We write down a little story of where the person has come from and where they are going to. How many children do they have? Who is their partner? What is their immediate concern? What are the values that have guided their choice in the past?
Sometimes the persona just won’t flow
Once we start writing, sometimes we realize that our expectations don’t hang together. We can’t make the story “come together.”
That is the real core of our sense that we don’t ‘know’ people. We must be able to imagine a coherent story to be comfortable.
Use a character builder
When I get stuck, I find a “character builder” online, fill out the questionnaires, and resolve in my mind all the little details I expect about the person.
The version that I use suggests a Myers-Briggs profile. It is very good for settling on one persona.
Once I have a coherent picture of someone, then I can imagine what I am going to love about them, and also what I am not going to like.
Here is the key to resolving my ‘stuckness.’ What will I not like about the person? Where must my approach change to be reasonable?
Once I’ve got past this point, I can complete the scenario and write a few more, including scenarios of the person in the context of home, play and work. Who else will be there and what are their personas?
Useful hack
I hope that’s useful: Use a character builder to help your write personas to understand people you don’t know well
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