New Canvas: How to understand your customers and stakeholders

Are you trying to figure out what really matters to your stakeholders? The Personal Agility Impact Canvas leads you through a 30 to 60 minute interview so you find out what is really important to your stakeholders, building their trust while you do.

You've probably heard about the Lean Canvas or the Business Model Canvas. These help you think about and understand your customers and your business. But how do you know what really matters to them? You have to talk to them to validate your assumptions. This is key to achieving better Impact (as I explain in my PAS Workshop)

Inspired by Iman Aghay's approach to problem validation, I created a canvas to lead you through the discussion with your stakeholder's, centered around Who, Why, and the Outcomes  you want. Each question is a Powerful Question, to help you understand what is on your stakeholder's mind:

Who?

• Stakeholder - Note and if necessary confirm the person's Name, Function, Contact Details
• Goals or Objectives - What do you want to achieve through this project or collaboration?
• What really matters? - When push comes to shove, what is most essential?

Why?

• Challenges and Impediments - What are the main challenges to achieving your goals or desired outcome?
• Risks, Concerns, Fears - What are your biggest concerns about achieving these goals?
• Frustrations - What causes you to bang your head against the wall?

Outcomes

• Definition of Awesome - If I could snap my fingers, and all your wishes came true on this project, what would that look like?
• Support - How can I/we support you to make this come true?
• What's next? - What is the next thing that you need to do for this stakeholder (follow-up)?

You can download the Personal Agility Impact Canvas, either in a blank or annotated version

Enjoy it! I would love to hear your experience with it, and if you would like to translate it, I'll be happy to provide the sources!