Getting to the Heart of Pain Takes the Right People, Reasons, and Discussions

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time negotiating pain. Nothing personal, mind you, but working professionally to help both clients and groups with whom I’m involved get to the root of issues that are causing significant challenges. It’s a hard process but it’s made immeasurably easier if you have the right people, with the right reasons, willing to have the right discussion working together towards a common goal.

We use the term pain to describe roadblocks, challenges, and frustrations. We identify pain points to help inform solutions. Sometimes, that pain can be easily rectified, other times it’s systemic. Back in my Kaizen days, we would map out a process and identify pain points (something I still use in my UX work now). Oftentimes, an action that one person was doing early in a process had unintended impacts down the line. Identifying those issues can go a long way towards improving an experience for all.

But again, it takes having the right people, for the right reasons, willing to have the right discussions.

Whether you’re looking at a website and trying to identify the barriers that users face, or you’re gathering a community around a table to address a topic as challenging as homelessness and the impacts of vagrancy, there are a few keys elements that can set the foundation for progress and success.

The Right People

The Kaizen philosophy is to have representation broken down into thirds:: one third people with a casual understanding of the process; one third people directly involved with a process; and one third with no experience or awareness of a process. There’s value to that because it gives you a great blend of perspectives, experience, and -- especially from the latter group -- the willingness to ask the “why do we do that?” questions.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been blessed to be in rooms filled with the right people. On a business level, it’s been interacting with people who are physically interacting with tools and processes, and those who are most directly impacted by them. On a community level, it’s people who are on the ground, experiencing issues or capable of executing a plan. People who see the issues for what they are and can express how it (being the process) actually is.

The Right Reasons

You want people who are willing to subjugate their egos for the greater good. The two recent community meetings that I was part of and/or facilitated were very much under-the-radar. The people involved aren’t in it for a staged media photo or recognition; we’re in it to make a difference and creating tangible, actionable next steps. We are focusing on action and end-user benefits, not individual glory.

Too often egos get in the way. That’s also the case when doing user research with businesses. You want people who are willing to tell the truth and willing to hear the truth -- even when it’s uncomfortable. You want people who can make a direct impact on the issues of which we’re speaking.

You want people who prioritize actions over agendas. And that means sometimes understanding that the greater good may not be your way, but it is one that will be informed by all.

You have to have people who are willing to hear opinions and expressions that may not align with their beliefs, and be open to exploring that. You also want to mitigate the risk of suppression.

In a business context, it can be challenging to get open and honest feedback when management are in a room. Sometimes, people defer to the biggest paycheque; other times, people feel they can’t be honest due to fear of retribution, which leads us to the next part...

The “Right” Discussion

This is the most challenging of all. I’ve been in too many meetings and been part of too many community-oriented groups where language is weaponized to quell dissent and discourage meaningful discussion.

Pain isn’t comfortable. It’s ugly. Sometimes those experiencing it don’t use the “approved” language. But instead of spending all your time chastising people for not using their terminology, or correcting them, it’s better to delve into the root of their issue. That’s where the true value comes from.

We often get stuck on the superficial, but focusing on the “how” something is being said reeks of privilege. Delving into the “why” and “what” gets us where we need to go -- to the root cause. What would you rather do? Fix someone’s language or fix the root problem.

Community vagrancy is a tremendously difficult issue. And the discussion we had, at times, was challenging. But the environment encouraged that raw honesty and openness. We were able to discuss true pain and real issues.

The second you have someone getting defensive, or explaining how someone is “wrong,” you shut off that discussion. And that’s the worst thing you can do in this process. For example, if end user “A” says, “I really need this tool to do my work, but I can’t find it,” having someone else defensively say, “Oh, but it’s located at Point Y. It’s been there for years” doesn’t help the conversation. The defensiveness obscures the key issue and often prevents further feedback.

Both sides can be right. User A may not be able to find a tool; Person B may have built that tool and put it on a website. Those two items can co-exist because the pain is in the access of that tool.

A more fulsome discussion of the barriers that exist preventing User A from getting to the tool would provide the most value, but if we’re not willing to be open to that discussion, we lose an opportunity.

“This sucks,” is not great feedback. But that person likely has reasons for feeling this way -- you can dismiss them outright because you don’t like the attitude, or check your ego and  probe for more information. Eventually you’ll get to the root of the issue.

People need to be encouraged to share and they need to feel they won’t be “attacked” because they’ve violated someone else’s “approved” belief or terminology. We may not like what someone says or how they say it, but instead of dismissing it, the true value comes in moving past the superficial and delving into the root of that expression.

Pain is ugly. But if we want to remove it, we can’t expect the process to always be pleasant. But ensuring you have the right people, with the right reasons, having the right discussions present can go a long way to making a difference.