Our Brief:
Was to help design and facilitate a highly impactful one-day event for a large housing association in the UK, with the aim to engage the hearts and minds of a wide cross-section of people. A key outcome was to ensure that the housing association’s employees and suppliers had a stronger emotional engagement with the needs of the customer. This would enable them to adapt their behaviours and actions accordingly. The goal was to identify tangible internal and external customer experience improvements – real-time.
The Challenge:
We needed to represent the “voice of the customer”. However, since the customer in this case was often a disadvantaged member of society e.g. an asylum seeker, someone with substance abuse problems etc., it was not possible to literally bring the customer into the room. We set about representing the emotional and functional needs of these customers in a compelling and unique way by creating some real-tenant-based characters and immersive encounters.
The Solution:
We created a set of tableaux featuring different ‘customers’ portrayed by actors. These tableaux were interactive, so delegates of the event were able to go and visit individuals in settings that virtually represented their physical environment – even down to the cigarette butts and empty beer cans.
The 300 participants chatted and interviewed the customers in small groups at a time, asking them about their lives, their attitudes towards the organisation and the people that worked there etc. In order to achieve this seamlessly and authentically, the team spent hours visiting real tenants in the high-rises and tenements of Glasgow with repairs and maintenance officers, chatting with people to listen to their stories. They then painstakingly created intricate back-stories so they could represent these customers with credibility and respect. Our powerful VerbatimPlayback® presentations initiated the discussion forum.
Result:
It is difficult to portray on paper the power of these interactions. Everyone instantly suspended all disbelief and related to the actors as if they were real customers. This intense understanding and engagement unlocked powerful individual and team learnings. Conversations were had with individuals and teams that had never happened before. Previously insurmountable problems were tackled with gusto and ease and people pledged to significant and specific changes. The client had never in its history experienced this level of engagement and change. This could not have happened without the sheer talent, hard work and persistence of our VerbatimPlayback® team.
“Our staff on the training course instantly suspended any disbelief they had and related to the actors as if they were real customers and members of staff.” HOUSING ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVE
“It’s difficult to put on paper just how powerful these interactions were…” MD TMI
Click here to see some personal handheld video shots of the characters in action