"Empathy helps you to create a better customer experience, to navigate organizational politics, to design better work environments, and a host of other things."

Dave Grey

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Walking a Mile in Their Shoes: How to Use Empathy Maps for Better Strategy

posted in Business Coaching

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Adam Kreek

What if everyone in your business truly understood each other—and every customer?

That’s not a utopian dream. It’s a process. And one of the simplest, most powerful tools to get there is the Empathy Map.

I use empathy maps in workshops and strategic planning sessions with clients. They help teams cut through assumptions and actually see, hear, and feel the world through the eyes of their colleagues and customers. The exercise creates alignment, unlocks insights, and sparks new ways of thinking about relationships and decisions.

A Short Origin Story

The empathy map was first developed by Dave Gray of XPLANE in the mid-2000s as a quick, collaborative way to understand user behaviour. The tool caught fire in the design thinking community and has since become a staple for innovators, marketers, and strategists. Why? Because empathy isn’t fluff—it’s a competitive advantage.

When you understand people more deeply, you make better products, design better services, and lead stronger teams.

How the Empathy Map Works

An empathy map helps a group “walk a mile in the shoes” of a defined character—whether that’s a customer segment, a stakeholder, or even an internal role on your team.

We break into small groups, characterize an individual, and then build their world using eight categories:

  1. Title
    Give this person a fun and playful name
    • Describe this person
    • What is their situation?
    • What is their role in their current situation?
  2. Seeing
    What surrounds them in their environment? What’s catching their eye day-to-day—competitors, trends, cultural influences?
    • What do they see in the marketplace?
    • What do they see in their immediate environment?
    • What do they see others saying and doing?
    • What are they watching and reading
  3. Hearing
    What voices, advice, and opinions are in their ears? Friends, colleagues, leaders, the media—all shape decisions.
    • What do they hear from others like them?
    • What do they hear from friends?
    • What do they hear from the marketplace?
    • What do they hear second-hand?
  4. Saying
    What do they say out loud in meetings, to customers, or on social media? This reveals how they want to be perceived.
    • What have we heard them say?
    • What can we imagine them saying?
    • What are they texting to friends?
  5. Doing
    What actions do they actually take? Buying, clicking, showing up—or avoiding.
    • What did they do today?
    • What behaviour can others see them do?
    • What can we imagine them doing?
  6. Thinking
    What are the unspoken thoughts running in the background? Worries, doubts, aspirations.
    • What thoughts do they have?
    • What beliefs do they hold?
    • What just makes sense to them?
  7. Feeling
    Emotions drive decisions more than logic. Are they excited, anxious, inspired, frustrated?
    • What decisions are causing an emotional response?
    • How will they feel when they are successful?
    • What do they fear if they fail?
  8. Pain
    What’s keeping them up at night? What fears, obstacles, or losses weigh them down?
    • Fears?
    • Frustrations?
    • Anxieties?
  9. Pleasure
    What are they truly seeking? Success, recognition, belonging, peace of mind?
    • Wants?
    • Needs?
    • Hopes & dreams?

When we map this out visually, people begin to recognize patterns—and more importantly, they develop empathy.

Why It Matters

When I facilitate this exercise, participants often say:

  • “I thought I knew what our customers wanted, but now I see what they need.”
  • “I finally understand why my colleague makes decisions that way.”
  • “This helps me stop projecting my worldview and start listening to theirs.”

From there, we generate new tools and strategies for more effective relationship building. It’s a mindset shift from “How do I get what I want?” to “How do I create value in their world?”

And that shift is the birthplace of collaboration, innovation, and long-term success.

Try It

Next time your team is stuck—or disconnected—don’t start with the spreadsheet. Start with empathy.
Gather your people, choose a character (customer or colleague), and map them out.

You’ll be surprised how fast walls come down and clarity rises up.

Empathy isn’t soft—it’s the hardest, smartest edge you can bring to strategy.

Empathy Map — Step‑by‑Step Workshop Template

Purpose

Quickly build shared understanding of a customer or colleague so your team can design smarter strategies, messaging, and decisions.

Materials

  • Large canvas (whiteboard, flip chart, or Miro board)
  • Sticky notes + markers
  • Timer
  • Optional: recent customer quotes, support tickets, NPS verbatims, CRM notes

Roles & Time

  • Facilitator: you (or a neutral lead)
  • Participants: 3–7 per group
  • Time: 45–75 minutes (tight = 45; deep = 75)

1) Define the Character (5–10 min)

Pick one specific person (not “everyone”):

  • Who are we mapping? Role/title, segment, or a named colleague.
  • Context of use: What situation are they in? (e.g., “Renewal review,” “First week as manager,” “Evaluating vendors.”)
  • Success criteria: What would “value” look like from their perspective?

Write a clear Title & Descriptive Name at the top of the canvas.

2) Set Rules of Engagement (2 min)

  • Facts beat assumptions. If you’re guessing, mark the sticky with “?”.
  • Speak in their voice; avoid insider jargon.
  • Many stickies > perfect stickies.

3) Fill the Map (25–35 min)

Work fast, one idea per sticky. Use these prompts for each section:

SEEING

  • What’s in their environment right now (tools, dashboards, policies, market trends, competitors)?
  • What signals or constraints are visually obvious?
    Label on canvas: SEEING.

HEARING

  • What are they hearing from bosses, peers, friends, influencers, or media?
  • Which voices or KPIs shape their decisions?
    Label on canvas: HEARING.

SAYING

  • What do they say out loud—in meetings, emails, calls, social?
  • How do they want to be perceived?
    Label on canvas: SAYING.

DOING

  • What are they actually doing (clicks, steps, rituals, workarounds, purchases, delays)?
    Label on canvas: DOING.

THINKING

  • What’s running in the background? Goals, motivations, concerns, mental models.
    Label on canvas: THINKING.

FEELING

  • What emotions colour their choices (pride, anxiety, excitement, frustration)? Intensity from 1–5.
    Label on canvas: FEELING.

PAIN

  • What pain, loss, fear, or friction do they face? Where do they get stuck?
    Label on canvas: PAIN.

PLEASURE

  • What value are they seeking? What gains or outcomes matter most (status, clarity, speed, savings, belonging)?
    Label on canvas: PLEASURE.

These prompts align with the workshop flow I use: environment & influence; goals, motivations & interests; public actions; pain to alleviate; value they seek.

4) Cluster & Name Themes (5–10 min)

  • Group similar stickies across the whole canvas.
  • Give each cluster a 2–3 word insight label (e.g., “Afraid to be wrong,” “Chasing quick wins,” “Tool chaos”).

5) Synthesize Insights (5–10 min)

Answer together:

  • Jobs-to-be-done: What are they really trying to accomplish?
  • Barriers: What’s in the way (policies, skills, incentives, risk)?
  • Levers: What would meaningfully reduce pain or increase pleasure?

6) Decide What You’ll Do (5–10 min)

Translate insights into action:

  • Design choices: What will we change or create?
  • Messaging: What will we say differently to match what they hear/feel?
  • Process: What step can we remove, simplify, or automate?
  • Experiments: 1–3 small tests for the next 2 weeks (owner + date).

7) Share‑outs & Commitments (5 min)

Each group presents:

  • 1 character snapshot
  • Top 3 insights
  • 2 actions and one test they’ll run
    Capture owners and deadlines before you leave the room.

Quality Bar (Quick Checklist)

  • Specific persona + real context?
  • Evidence tagged vs. assumption?
  • Emotions and trade‑offs named (not just features)?
  • Clear next actions with owners?

Common Traps to Avoid

  • Mapping “what we wish they felt.” Stay honest.
  • Cramming three personas into one map. One map = one person/context.
  • Ending at empathy. Always ship an action.

–––––

Adam Kreek is on a mission to positively impact organizational cultures and leaders who make things happen.

Kreek is an Executive Business Coach who lives in Victoria, BC, near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and Seattle, Washington, USA, in the Pacific Northwest. He works with clients globally, often travelling to California in the San Francisco Bay Area, Atlanta, Georgia, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. He is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a storied adventurer and a father.

He authored the bestselling business book, The Responsibility Ethic: 12 Strategies Exceptional People Use to Do the Work and Make Success Happen. 

Discover our thoughts on Values here.

Want to increase your leadership achievement? Learn more about Kreek’s coaching here.

Want to book a keynote that leaves a lasting impact? Learn more about Kreek’s live event service here.

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