Applying Storytelling for Design Thinking in Healthcare 

 Challenge 

 As a brand strategist , my work involves helping clients work through various brand challenges   every day . I recently encountered the challenge of creating a unique and differentiated new   hospital brand to come up in a locality which is already cluttered with several similar institutions ,   with the same capacity , areas of expertise and similar talent pool of doctors and surgeons . As   stakeholders of a large hospital , my clients wanted to become relevant to a large pool of   prospective patients , customers , partners , future employees as well as leading doctors – and   they did not seem to agree on a “ common ” vision amongst themselves – each stakeholder   provided a different objective to the exercise . Further , there was little to no data to indicate what   different customer groups were expecting . The challenge was both of connecting with different   audiences as well as creating a distinct healthcare offering that would have a single - minded   vision and be meaningful . The initial brief was to design a logo for the new brand , but I felt there   was a larger need to understand what the company wishes to stand for . I believed the larger   challenge was to identify a relevant consumer need before we could conclude what the vision   should be . In lieu of sufficient data , I decided to apply design thinking tools . My tool of choice   especially was storytelling , because I believed every stakeholder had a different story in   healthcare , and an institution that could understand these threads and tell its own story would be   able to truly resolve the needs of people . 

 Selection 

 We wanted to identify a new vision in healthcare that would actually do good and answer real   questions for people . I selected the storytelling tool because I believed the answered lied not with   the company or the competition but with the people and the audience . And in order to identify that   1 ) we needed to truly “ know ” our various audiences as mentioned in the video lecture and we   needed to know what exactly all their pain points were and 2 ) we needed to create “ moments ” of   reflection for the stakeholders of the institution , so that there could be “ empathy ” not just towards   customers but towards different functions , between administration and doctors , doctors and   patients and patients and their families back to administration .   I believed this tool would set us on   a journey of discovery through the “ What is ” “ What If ” “ What wows ” and “ What works ” 

 Application 

 I applied the storytelling in the entire problem - solving process right from gathering insights to   formulating strategy to presentation . To start the journey of storytelling , I first heard the stories of   the people who would be stakeholders for this hospital . I performed ethnographic observations ,   qualitative personal interviews and day - in - the - life - of probes with 30 people that comprised the   doctors who were founding the hospital , independent doctors with their own private clinic , doctors   on the board of hospital administrative boards , corporate members of corporate hospital brands ,   patients who had been admitted in the competition hospitals , family members of these patients ,   hospital , medical tourists in the neighbourhood and even the architect and construction crew of the   hospital building . I accompanied them to the accessible areas of their work life and observed their   meetings and inter - personal discussions around the new company . In interviews I heard their   stories about why they felt passionate about this venture . 

 I went back and analysed all the interviews and personal accounts and identified a “ larger story ” .   In order to tell this story , I chose “ 3 protagonists ” who each have a narrative in the “ story of private   healthcare ” . They have 3 different perspectives on the same institution . I got the key stakeholders   into one room and told them this larger story from 3 protagonists – the doctor , the patient and the   administration . The goal was to inspire empathy , the way Dan Pink mentions , amongst   stakeholders first before moving on to inspiring empathy for customers . The tool was extremely   effective in everyone immediately seeing the “ big picture ” and becoming more agreeable to each   other ’s challenges . 

 It made everybody see “ What is ” which included a common legacy and preference of treating   patients like a family , however they did n’t think that was practically feasible in a large hospital . I   then asked “ What if ” by writing the next chapter of healthcare by the possibility of all 3 protagonists   doing their bit to make a large hospital feel like a family . I broke it down into smaller questions of   each and every experience touchpoint in a hospital . For e.g. what if the reception felt like a family ,   what if the waiting chairs felt like chairs in the family room , what if the billing was in the family . This   led to prolific brainstorming of ideas , solutions , design interventions and even innovations .   Over a   couple of workshops brainstorming these possibilities , I developed the “ story we want to tell ” , of   ‘ what wows ’ – of a hospital that feels personal and homely which would appeal to every protagonist   in the story . All in all , the tool was extremely effective in helping uncover an opportunity that no   statistical data would have pointed us to .   It actually helped us craft a whole new corporate vision   and mission statement for this venture , a vision to design a new healthcare offering completely   inspired by empathy and warmth for people . 

 Insight 

 One insight I gained from applying the tool is that sometimes experts have to take a step back from   their field of expertise and approach problems like laymen to understand human implications and   understand the “ small details ” that could become “ big ideas ” eventually . Storytelling helps this   immensely because it parks expertise aside and encourages people to just listen and interact on   a human level . I also realized that for the tool to work best , open minded listening is a pre - requisite   from the very beginning in the initial stages of getting to know the audience . It ’s important to absorb   the larger context of their lives instead of asking pointed questions so as to really get a handle on   their ” story ” . It puts the human beings front and centre , and that ’s where the “ Real ” solution comes   out . 

 Approach 

 I think creating an open state of mind to enable hearing alternate perspectives is the most critical   aspect of storytelling and goes a long way in determining the tool ’s effectiveness . While I got a   great response this time , next time I would like to try more immersive mediums of storytelling , use   audio visual instead of just pictures and cue cards or perform an entire skit so that the stories could   live with people long after workshops and guide their day - to - day practice as well . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Applying Storytelling for Design Thinking in Healthcare 

 Challenge 

 As a brand strategist , my work involves helping clients work through various brand challenges   every day . I recently encountered the challenge of creating a unique and differentiated new   hospital brand to come up in a locality which is already cluttered with several similar institutions ,   with the same capacity , areas of expertise and similar talent pool of doctors and surgeons . As   stakeholders of a large hospital , my clients wanted to become relevant to a large pool of   prospective patients , customers , partners , future employees as well as leading doctors – and   they did not seem to agree on a “ common ” vision amongst themselves – each stakeholder   provided a different objective to the exercise . Further , there was little to no data to indicate what   different customer groups were expecting . The challenge was both of connecting with different   audiences as well as creating a distinct healthcare offering that would have a single - minded   vision and be meaningful . The initial brief was to design a logo for the new brand , but I felt there   was a larger need to understand what the company wishes to stand for . I believed the larger   challenge was to identify a relevant consumer need before we could conclude what the vision   should be . In lieu of sufficient data , I decided to apply design thinking tools . My tool of choice   especially was storytelling , because I believed every stakeholder had a different story in   healthcare , and an institution that could understand these threads and tell its own story would be   able to truly resolve the needs of people . 

 Selection 

 We wanted to identify a new vision in healthcare that would actually do good and answer real   questions for people . I selected the storytelling tool because I believed the answered lied not with   the company or the competition but with the people and the audience . And in order to identify that   1 ) we needed to truly “ know ” our various audiences as mentioned in the video lecture and we   needed to know what exactly all their pain points were and 2 ) we needed to create “ moments ” of   reflection for the stakeholders of the institution , so that there could be “ empathy ” not just towards   customers but towards different functions , between administration and doctors , doctors and   patients and patients and their families back to administration .   I believed this tool would set us on   a journey of discovery through the “ What is ” “ What If ” “ What wows ” and “ What works ” 

 Application 

 I applied the storytelling in the entire problem - solving process right from gathering insights to   formulating strategy to presentation . To start the journey of storytelling , I first heard the stories of   the people who would be stakeholders for this hospital . I performed ethnographic observations ,   qualitative personal interviews and day - in - the - life - of probes with 30 people that comprised the   doctors who were founding the hospital , independent doctors with their own private clinic , doctors   on the board of hospital administrative boards , corporate members of corporate hospital brands ,   patients who had been admitted in the competition hospitals , family members of these patients ,   hospital , medical tourists in the neighbourhood and even the architect and construction crew of the   hospital building . I accompanied them to the accessible areas of their work life and observed their   meetings and inter - personal discussions around the new company . In interviews I heard their   stories about why they felt passionate about this venture . 

 I went back and analysed all the interviews and personal accounts and identified a “ larger story ” .   In order to tell this story , I chose “ 3 protagonists ” who each have a narrative in the “ story of private   healthcare ” . They have 3 different perspectives on the same institution . I got the key stakeholders   into one room and told them this larger story from 3 protagonists – the doctor , the patient and the   administration . The goal was to inspire empathy , the way Dan Pink mentions , amongst   stakeholders first before moving on to inspiring empathy for customers . The tool was extremely   effective in everyone immediately seeing the “ big picture ” and becoming more agreeable to each   other ’s challenges . 

 It made everybody see “ What is ” which included a common legacy and preference of treating   patients like a family , however they did n’t think that was practically feasible in a large hospital . I   then asked “ What if ” by writing the next chapter of healthcare by the possibility of all 3 protagonists   doing their bit to make a large hospital feel like a family . I broke it down into smaller questions of   each and every experience touchpoint in a hospital . For e.g. what if the reception felt like a family ,   what if the waiting chairs felt like chairs in the family room , what if the billing was in the family . This   led to prolific brainstorming of ideas , solutions , design interventions and even innovations .   Over a   couple of workshops brainstorming these possibilities , I developed the “ story we want to tell ” , of   ‘ what wows ’ – of a hospital that feels personal and homely which would appeal to every protagonist   in the story . All in all , the tool was extremely effective in helping uncover an opportunity that no   statistical data would have pointed us to .   It actually helped us craft a whole new corporate vision   and mission statement for this venture , a vision to design a new healthcare offering completely   inspired by empathy and warmth for people . 

 Insight 

 One insight I gained from applying the tool is that sometimes experts have to take a step back from   their field of expertise and approach problems like laymen to understand human implications and   understand the “ small details ” that could become “ big ideas ” eventually . Storytelling helps this   immensely because it parks expertise aside and encourages people to just listen and interact on   a human level . I also realized that for the tool to work best , open minded listening is a pre - requisite   from the very beginning in the initial stages of getting to know the audience . It ’s important to absorb   the larger context of their lives instead of asking pointed questions so as to really get a handle on   their ” story ” . It puts the human beings front and centre , and that ’s where the “ Real ” solution comes   out . 

 Approach 

 I think creating an open state of mind to enable hearing alternate perspectives is the most critical   aspect of storytelling and goes a long way in determining the tool ’s effectiveness . While I got a   great response this time , next time I would like to try more immersive mediums of storytelling , use   audio visual instead of just pictures and cue cards or perform an entire skit so that the stories could   live with people long after workshops and guide their day - to - day practice as well .
### Output: 