— This is a re-post of my original post on Google+ —
Earlier today I posted a note about the TED talk by Alexis Ohanian and how one big lesson from that talk was that brands & organisations need to ‘Lighten Up!’ to succeed in the social sphere.
Well, here’s another TED talk, this time by Amy Lockwood (is she on G+?). This one touches on the same topic but from a slightly different angle.
My key observation from this: how organisations fighting huge global problems sometimes take themselves so seriously that they lose sight of what users really want – they mistake their own goals with users needs.
Once again, it seems that the organisations need to lighten up, take a step back and listen to ‘them’. Them can be anyone – condom users in Congo, poor parents of school kids in India, parents of vaccine recipients in American south and even countries in the UN voting on Palestinian statehood.
It does not matter what you think you’re doing – It matters what the end users perceive you are doing. Listen to them and then tailor your efforts around their wants.
Aside:
Looking at just these two examples (Amy’s & Alexis’), I get a feeling that the zeal that propels these organisations seems to be concentrating too much on the goals, while ignoring the means to achieve them.
Makes me wonder if these organisations would deliver better results if they were staffed solely with professional, KRA-bound staff instead of highly devoted volunteers.