Project Playbook Module 0: Empathy Mapping

Noticing the Current State: Optional Pre-Work Grounded in Empathy

Owner: Director of Program Impact & Visibility (DPIV) – with input from other project stakeholders Audience: All current and potential participants in the WNC Resilience Project.

Module Purpose

Welcome to Module 0—an optional but highly encouraged reflection and preparation tool for project Innovation Partners before the onboarding workshop. This module bridges your commitment from the [Exploration & Planning Guide] to the collaborative work your team will begin at the onboarding kickoff session. It provides space to begin noticing and documenting your current state from a student-centered perspective.

Rather than requiring formal planning, Module 0 is a flexible guide designed to:

• Ground your team in student voice and lived experience

• Surface early hunches about strengths and challenges

• Begin identifying patterns and tensions worth exploring

Key thing to keep in mind: We’re not solving problems for students—we’re solving problems with students.

Step 1: Starting with the Why

Module 0 helps ensure that your team enters the onboarding session with:

• Observations and understanding about the current student experience

• Some early questions or tensions to explore (especially ones that emerged or were exacerbated by Helene)

• Ideas and artifacts that will support your draft the future state you want from this work

Important: The WNC Resilience Project is about starting small, learning fast, and staying grounded in what matters most for student success.

Step 2: A Buffet of Optional Activities you Might Do:

Pick 1–3 light-lift activities that make sense for your team.

Input from Students or Families:

• Reflect on conversations you have had with students or families that help you understand what things about their current school experience are working well or not working so well.

• If possible, reach out to a few students that might be able to provide a diverse set of feedback data via stories, quotes, or examples.

  Reflections as a Team:

• Have a conversation prior to the onboarding session with your teammates regarding what student-centered challenges feel most worth addressing right now. This can be via an informal team huddle, via email, or phone.

  Review Local Artifacts

• Applicable attendance or engagement data

• Recent prior student and/or family survey results

• Anecdotal input from counselors, SEL teams, or parents

• Classroom walk-through notes (your own or that of your peers)

Important: Please use the above (or other) options not as a prerequisite, but as conversation starters.

Step 3: Reflections

Regardless of what you were able to do for Step 2, reflect on the following prompts:

• What are students saying, doing, or showing that signals what’s currently working well for them and where there might be gaps?

• What might some of our harder to reach students or parents say about their current school experience?

• What feels most urgent or most full of possibility, especially in light of what has happened since Helene?

Important: This step emphasizes reflective listening over planning. Use whatever approach or method that feels natural to document these reflections: journaling, a recording, sticky notes, photos, quick summaries, etc.

Next Steps

In the Onboarding Session (defined by Module 1), you’ll use what you’ve gathered to:

• Create empathy maps

• Engage in the Insight Carousel

• Draft an AIM statement

• Begin ideating early Change Ideas

These steps build the foundation for your first Driver Diagram and improvement cycle.

Thanks for taking the time to intentionally prepare for the onboarding session. The most impactful improvement work always begins with deep, empathetic listening and reflection.