NOTE: This study is covered by a non-disclosure agreement which bars me from being specific about devices, clients, or precise findings. The following information is the most I am legally allowed to disclose about this work.
OVERVIEW
A medical device manufacturer needed to validate its patient monitor’s interface. The goal was to ensure the machine could gain final approval from the FDA.
This was going to be a difficult study; not only would our results go to a major government body, but the study required our team to travel to two different cities to complete 30 user tests, each of which lasted over 2 hours. To top it off, my co-lead and I had a new hire to train while the study was going on.
Luckily, I had a unique background in performance that gave me the skills needed to help us all get through it. Using my Hollywood training, I was able to to build connections with client stakeholders and act as a servant leader for my teammates.
This work ensured the clients would be repeat customers and taught my teammates how to handle adversity.
OBJECTIVES
1
Be there for my teammates, especially new hires who had never worked in an environment like this before.
2
Personally connect with our clients to build relationships and foster a positive experience.
BACKGROUND
Before research began, our team finalized the study methodology with our clients. As experienced healthcare researchers, we emphasized one very important point: once the methodology is finalized in a validation study, THERE IS NO CHANGING IT ONCE TESTING BEGINS.
Not only was our team tied to our protocol once it had been finalized, it had to be reliably repeated in two different cities across 30 user tests. Even a slight deviation from the study protocol could have endangered the integrity of our results and made the study insufficient in the eyes of the FDA.
To add to the challenge, we had a new hire who had never worked on a UX research study and had never completed a human factors (HF) study in any capacity. This new team member needed training in client management, research best practices and user testing, and it all had to happen on the job.
HOLLYWOOD TRAINING TO THE RESCUE
We had an inflexible research methodology, a new trainee on the team, and had to ensure a smooth study was completed identically across two different US cities and 30 different test sessions!
Fortunately, my time in Hollywood had prepared me for moments like this.
I had three essential skills that I could use to demonstrate to my team that this situation was not unsalvageable.
Here is what proved useful for building relationships with our stakeholders and ensuring my teammates were supported through a difficult project:
SERVANT LEADERSHIP
My perspective as a manager is that if our team is going to achieve anything, we are going to achieve it together.
While not every client stakeholder was interested in building rapport with my team, we could still focus on our attentions on more receptive clients.
With them, my teammates and I could better strategize, coordinate and relate to stakeholder needs, more effectively delivering value by the project’s completion.
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My focus was not only on our clients. As a co-leader on this project, I needed to ensure my team’s mental and emotional wellbeing, and reassure them that they had my support.
I privately emphasized to my team members that I was there if they had questions or just wanted to provide feedback. I empathized with them when they told me how exhausting the work could be. And I reached out to my co-leader constantly to see how else I could be of help.
By the end of the project, something remarkable happened: we were sharing laughs about the project instead of worrying.
IMPROV COMEDY
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You step onto a dark stage with 4 other people. A theater with 200 people in it are waiting to see if you can make them laugh. You have no script.
That is the reality of improvisational comedy. You depend on your teammates, depend on your training, and work your best to make the best thing possible. The same principles apply in the UX field, a truth I have noticed time and time again.
My comedy background also helped foster a connection with two of our client stakeholders. As engineers in the company, they were very interested to see how their machine would fair when put to the test. Originally, they were laser-focused on the project and fairly reticent, giving one-sentence replies to any questions we had. One joke I told at lunch opened them up and kept them open for the remainder of the study:
Stakeholder: “The Barbie movie is beating Oppenheimer at the box office?! I can’t believe it!”
Me: “Well, I can. One movie is about a cute pink doll that everybody knows and likes. The other is about THE WORST WEAPON IN HUMAN HISTORY.”
The laughter we shared over that got us to talking about things unrelated to the project and encouraged them to return to our research firm for future testing! Improv comedy training landed our team a loyal customer.
ACTING TECHNIQUES
Acting is a strange profession. It’s not enough to see yourself in the shoes of another person – you must become the other person. For what do they yearn? What happened to them in kindergarten? In second grade? What scents can they smell in their bedroom right now?
This training helped me numerous times throughout this study. In addition to working as a co-lead, I was a session moderator, and I saw each session as a sort of performance…
- I had a script.
- I had to dress a certain way.
- I had to take on a certain behavioral style.
- I had to use my voice in a relatable but authoritative way.
- I had to keep a straight face even if something crazy happened.
Ultimately, this study uncovered numerous possible user errors, so maintaining my composure in real time was key to my success as a session moderator. I made this clear to my team many times, and demonstrated the parallels between acting and moderation to our new team member.
Photo by Anna Shvets @ Pexels.com
Acting techniques also helped me empathize with the stressors our clients may have been going through at the time. Who knows what stressors they were dealing with? Not only was the FDA watching the results of our study, but our clients could have had issues internally, at their company, that our research team couldn’t see. This is to say nothing of the other, more human problems they could have been experiencing we may not have seen, like a sick loved one or missing their children.
Imagining the struggles and problems of my clients and teammates provided vital perspective. These folks around me weren’t just going through the study – they each had their own needs, worries and wants. Understanding this helped me become a better leader because it helped me step outside of my own stresses and be more receptive to the needs of others.
OUTCOMES
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Thanks to the skills I had learned from my time in Hollywood, I helped effectively lead our team through this difficult project while imparting vital research and management skills:
- I harnessed the power of servant leadership, turning to my teammates and asking how I could be there for them.
- I used improv comedy skills to not only be ready for anything, but also bond with our stakeholders and get their buy-in.
- Finally, I turned to acting techniques to not only be an effective moderator but also relate to our clients and our new team member.
Later on, the client company returned to our firm later with more projects and entrusted new project teams with other medical technologies for testing.