What parenting an atypical child taught me about understanding jobs to be done theory.
[Originally published on April 26, 2023 and updated on January 22, 2024] Without delving into the intricacies of my child's diagnosis, he has experienced asynchronous development. The labels pose challenges. The configuration of the US insurance and education systems makes it difficult to address the needs of children. It might surprise you, but many children are both unintentionally and intentionally misdiagnosed.
In 2017, my excellent manager Jon White and I attended a Strategzyer Masterclass conducted by none other than Alexander Osterwalder. He exudes energy and possesses an extraordinary mind. We joined the masterclass with the goal of leveraging Strategyzer to foster rapport, buy-in, and innovation within our employer’s business. Strategyzer seemed like the ideal framework with its emphasis on Business Model Innovation and Value Propositions. What we gleaned was powerful and fueled some remarkable work.
I enjoyed collaborating with that team and engaging in product marketing. However, fate had other plans. Due to a personal safety issue, I had to leave the UK. I found myself in the USA with a young child undergoing asynchronous development. Navigating this in a world where early years are dictated by assessments and milestones proved challenging. Before I knew it, I was dealing with an IEP (individual education plan), learning special education laws, undergoing multiple assessments, consulting with a neurologist, speech pathologist, and feeling like my world was spiraling downward. Another transformative course came into play: the ABCs of behavior. Antecedent: events, actions, or circumstances preceding a behavior; Behavior: problematic behavior - what occurred; Consequence: the action or response following the behavior aimed at mitigating future occurrences.
I began to see behaviors (good, bad, neutral) as analogous to jobs, often linked to social, emotional, or functional needs. Much like behaviors, many jobs have antecedents and consequences. Similar to behaviors, there is often a sequence of antecedents leading to a "behavior." This mirrors situations where someone's mood simmers, and an outburst is triggered by a series of antecedents, not just the one immediately before the outburst.
Over time, I've realized that special education struggles to meet children's needs because it grapples with identifying the actual jobs that matter. Just as companies do in marketing, sales, and beyond, people hold firm beliefs about the jobs and are resistant to alternative possibilities.
For instance, when discussing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), most people have a general idea of what autism entails. Once informed that an individual has autism, they tend to view them solely through that lens, with few exceptions. This mirrors how we treat customers, assuming certain personas or demographics have specific wants or needs. Where do these assumptions originate?
I've challenged perceptions and assumptions by asking experienced individuals in ASD about the crossover symptoms of Giftedness, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Nearly all are unaware. Understanding this is crucial because education and health systems focus on identifying causes (diagnosis) and prescribing solutions. We often fail to understand the job, attempting to modify it to fit our preconceived notions. In children, this leads to frustration, potentially resulting in lifelong issues related to confidence, learning, mental health, and more.
Understanding the jobs people have, whether they are two-year-olds with speech delays or fifty-year-olds driving digital transformation, is imperative for their well-being and success. Would we stop making assumptions if we approached their jobs with empathetic understanding?
My son has made significant improvements, even mind-blowing ones. Complete strangers, witnessing him ride his scooter or bike, or swim at the pool, express surprise. I kept urging people to think beyond the conventional. I may have unintentionally challenged people by pointing out their own admission of being unqualified for part of an assessment they were conducting on my child, though thankfully they recognized the value in this. I've educated educators, delved into Advanced Behavioural Analysis (ABA) therapy to speak their language, conducted ethnographic research to prove points, and presented stats and research from memory to those who wouldn't stop to listen. All of this has led to a massive shift in how people perceive my child (and hopefully others). People have become more open, more curious, and more willing to explore other possibilities.
Further to this, consider how a focus on labelling and categorizing in marketing and sales blinds us to understanding what people truly want or need. Using my child’s speech delay as an example, I often found that educators and speech therapists refused to consider what seemed to me like relevant factors. He was exposed to trauma in the form of domestic violence from before birth – which is now known to impact development. His predominant language changed at a critical time in child speech development with some language lost along with the loss of one parent. From that same time he went from living in a two parent household to a one parent household. I asked the questions – how can you keep holding him to the same timeline in speech development? If he is living with one parent and no longer hears that parent speaking to another parent or other family members or friends – doesn’t that slow down speech development? As we woke to find ourselves in a global pandemic, wouldn’t that slow down speech development?
After all, the first functional job of learning any language is HEARING the language.
How often has a team assumed that personalization was of primary importance to the marketing team, when the primary functional job was better UNDERSTANDING customer data?
In summary:
Building rapport is often necessary before engaging in conversations about Jobs To Be Done theory. Research is essential to demonstrate that assumptions or beliefs may not be entirely valid. Helping people understand JTBD theory is crucial. Stories, especially those where people misunderstood jobs and achieved greater success by better understanding people, are valuable. It may take time for people to comprehend that understanding jobs requires deep curiosity and persistence. Avoid putting words in people's mouths and steer clear of closed-ended questions. Conducting ethnographic research may demand creativity but is usually critical. After gathering information through research and interviews, prioritizing how to handle the newfound information takes additional time.
Understanding jobs allows the creation of stronger value propositions, business models, messaging, personalization, products, customer service, sales strategies, and relationships.
An example of understanding the winding series of antecedents in a child and how it can be applied to understanding customers:
Unpacking antecedents can be highly useful in understanding the actual problem and, consequently, how to solve it. Focusing solely on the antecedent right before a behavior often yields limited results. For example, Andy throws a tantrum because he is frustrated with math in class. Antecedents, in order from last to first, include the teacher's explanation, classmates' attempts to explain, insufficient lunch, inadequate sleep, prior mockery from another child, difficulty expressing words, perfectionism, struggles to keep up during a playground game, and feeling inferior despite efforts. Understanding this sequence reveals that Andy's outburst is more related to the need for inclusion and vocalization with peers, rather than being about math. Similarly, customers expressing frustration about a product's unavailability might not be primarily upset about the product itself, but it might signify a broader issue that they feel unable to solve, even after considerable effort.
If you want to learn more about JTBD theory or the ABC behavior model, please use the Contact Us form.
