Make Empathy Maps Better with Behavioral Science...
These canvases are great for mapping out your insights, however, if you want to get better results, then you need to modify them to include a behavioral analysis.
Let's look at the elements of a traditional empathy map:
1) Does: --> Here you can define behaviors: These are observable, measurable actions an actor is doing - so make sure they are behaviors and not outcomes or drivers.
Tip: Don't just describe the action, be more precise by adding more context.
For example: -Where is the behavior happening -When must it happen -How often
2) Says: --> What is the customer/employee saying about the experience?
Tip: Design your questions with a behavioral model in mind, so you can then easily classify what those things people are saying, thinking and seeing are.
For Example
When someone says "We often drift into unrelated topics while discussing X"
You would be able to analyze this as: --> a lack of skill
Knowing your customer or employee lacks skill can guide you to the right behavior change strategy to help them overcome this.
3) Thinks:--> In the thinking part you could code beliefs, intentions, and goals.
4) Feels: --> Emotions that are felt or expressed.
Emotions can be things like fear, anxiety, and happiness (also can be coded)
Tip: If you want to go further, you could use something like the wheel of emotions to get more dimensions.
What I may be missing here is the environment part - which
I guess could be captured in a new area called sees - as you could capture "Well, I do this behavior because everyone in the office also does it" - so we would capture a social influence for example - or it could be a comment around lacking time - which we would code to a lack of resource.
The template gives you a Behavioral Empathy Map
-Actor Does - In the middle (includes behaviors, context)
-Knows: Knowledge, Skills, Decision Making -Thinks: Attitudes, Intentions, Goals -Feels: Emotions, Habits -Sees: Environment, Norms
Actions for you to try
A) Create your questions based on something like COM-B or the Theoretical Domains Framework, so you can then code the drivers of behavior.
B) Once I have the drivers coded, the work begins (COM-B is not the end of your behavior change, it's just the beginning)
C) Map the drivers to possible behavior change strategies to ideate possible solutions.
It may sound like a different way to work, but that's because it's not the norm for most of us who work in innovation, CX, and Design.
It doesn't have to be hard or complicated, you can learn this and apply it to deliver better outcomes (If I could do it, you can too)
Hope it's helpful - Let me know how it goes?
Credit to Dave Gray the creator of the empathy map