PIONEERS INTO PRACTICE 2014

Regional Placement

Regional Innovation Implementation Community (RIC)

Valencia,

May – June 2014

COACH TEM

Cristian Matti Javier de Vicente

Antonio García Bernardo Martín

REAL INTERVIEW GROUP ASSIGNMENT

2 |

Assignment During the Introductory Workshop you made an actor analysis, identifying

the key actors according their relevance, interest, power etc. on the project.

Also you practiced a semi-structured actor interview. Following this you, AS

A GROUP ASSIGNMENT, are going to interview 2 actors that are

relevant for the Challenge group assignment and you probably identified

them during the Introductory Workshop. After the interview, you have to

draw up an empathy map for each one of them. These maps will allow

you to better and thoroughly understand them and hopefully the whole

challenge.

Then, start a narrowing down process on your challenge definition.

The goal is to improve your vision of the challenge and get a new and more

accurate description of it. Finally redesign your challenge poster where

you draw your niches, regime and landscape.

3 |

Assignment

1

The assignment is meant to learn more about your challenge in your regional

context. Hopefully you´ll get out of the interviews a deeper idea about general

developments in your region (relevant for a low-carbon society), actor’s vision,

including chances and hurdles, and his/her role and network, and so on.

. As a result of the interviews, gathered information will allow you to go over

the challenge description and narrow it down in a more precise,

straightforward and accurate way in future assignments

.

2 3 Step Step Step

Two real Interviews

The Empathy Map

Presenting and Feedbak

STEP 1 Interviews

5 |

THE ENVIROINTMENT

Try to meet them in a

friendly environment where

they can relax and feel

comfortable to share their

opinions with you

THE LENGTH

An ideal interview will last

around 35-45 minutes. Make

sure not to overwhelm the

interviewed.

Introduction: 5/7 min.

Content: 30/40 min.

TWO PEOPLE

Up to three people could

take part in the interview. In

any case one of them has to

take on the role of leader

and run the interview. The

other person will support the

interviewer, taking notes,

picture, helping with some

questions, etc

SELECT TWO

STAKEHOLDERS

among the actors identified

during the Introductory

Workshop. Try to pick out

the most important

stakeholders for your group

challenge, as long as they

are in your region and are

available for the interview

Interviews How?

6 |

The interviewer (1) Kicking off

?

Be prepared for the interview

Make sure of gathering as much information as you can about the

interviewed. Google them, visit their websites, etc.

: what is the organization's vision, goal and ambition? In what low

carbon projects are they engaged? Also think over in advance what you

are going to say when approaching your respondent. Take into account

what could be interesting for the respondent about being interviewed?

7 |

Kicking off:

Start the interview with a short

introduction of who you are and

why you are here. If not done

already, express gratefulness for

your interviewee’s willingness to

participate in the interview. It is

recommended to refer to positive

reasons for asking especially

him/her.

You could say something on the

expected duration of the interview, if

you did not before, to check whether

that is OK.

Then ask questions about the

interviewee’s organization (goal),

department, your interviewees

position, and major projects ,

responsibilities or tasks.

Content:

It comes to dive into their vision.

Begin with the group challenge, Do

they recognize it? .What is their

opinion about its importance? what

is behind it? Is it part of a broader

problem? And what, according to the

interviewee, does that look like?

Try to go deeper exploring their

opinion: What are (systemic) cause

underlying that problem? Who are

the ‘problem owners’? What would be

needed to What does the interviewee

see as (possible) solutions to the

challenge? Why/how does the

solution prevent the problem?

Is the interviewee involved in the

solution? how? What other actors are

involve? Are there any supporting

development in the region? …

.

The interview

8 |

.

The interview

?

?

Their opinion and feelings.

Main barriers, current initiatives at

niches and regime levels, needed

breakthroughs, next steps, future

trends….

Their actions.

How do they contribute in this

multilevel challenge? Are they in a

niche or are they a piece of the

regime? Are they active or passive?

Their expectations

What are their fears, their worries,

their hopes, their pains… What are

they putting at risk? What do they

expect to gain?

Their relations

How/Where do they engage with

other actors? Forums, radio, journals,

meetings… Do they have alliances,

enemies…? What role are playing?

Their advice

Some new ideas? Maybe a hidden or

key actor? Some out-of-the-box

innovation? New regulations?

Something financial related?

9 |

The observer(s) pay attention to

BODY Language

FLUENCY of conversation

CLARITY of Q&A

COMFORTABILITY of the interview

BALANCE between interviewer and interviewed

The role of the observer is key to the success of the assignment. They

mainly have to actively listen to the interview, paying attention to the

other´s behavior as well as the conversation (content, fluency, etc.)..

They take notes or record the interview as well. Although the observers are

not directly involved in the conversation they could take part .in case of the

interviewer needs help, a clarifications with some question, etc.

ENGAGEMENT of the interviewed

STEP 2 The Empathy Map

11 |

Empathy Map

In the recent years has appeared the tool called Empathy Map, developed by

XPLANE www.xplane.com . It helps sketching the profile of a stakeholder ( or

customer, audience…) and understand his environment, behaviors, concerns

and aspirations regarding the project (idea, program, solution, challenge,

product…).

The empathy map can be used with the information you gather through the

media and the Internet or even better through a face-to-face interviews, which

are highly recommendable.

Check out the empathy map and the kind of questions it entails, always from the stakeholder perspective. Fill in the empathy map for each stakeholder you are interviewed

12 |

STEP 5 Presenting and Feedback

14 |

Time to share and get feedback

Start with explaining the general performance of the

assignment.

• Feelings and difficulties found while conducting

interviews: What did you notice? Did you find difficult to

adapt the questions? Were you comfortable?. Did you

manage to deal with time, environment, questions…?.

• Did you find it difficult to fill in the empathy map?

Then show your outcomes and share your own comments and

conclusions.

• In terms of understanding your challenge, did you find

them useful interviews and Empathy map?

• Have you got out relevant information for your challenge

definition such as new key actors, power relationships,

new barriers or new visions?

• Has your approach to the challenge changed in any

sense?

PIONEERS INTO PRACTICE 2014

Regional Placement

Regional Innovation Implementation Community (RIC)

Valencia,

May – June 2014

COACH TEM

Cristian Matti Javier de Vicente

Antonio García Bernardo Martín

THAT´S… NOT ALL FOLKS!!!

… KEEP PLAYING