3 Things I Learned Teaching Design Thinking to an Entire Company
I had the pleasure of leading a program that gave a crash course in Design Thinking to every person in a mid-sized company, a program that later became integrated with new hire onboarding. I learned quite a bit in leading and training others to lead so many workshops, but here are three takeaways for anyone wanting to roll out or leverage Design Thinking in their organization.
1. It’s not a Silver Bullet
Design Thinking’s primary value is bringing together different disciplines and work styles to create better solutions to better problems. While its framework is flexible enough to apply to any problem or innovation area, it’s not a panacea to what ails a team or organization. Many executives would like for a two-day class to create immediate change (as that would be economic and efficient), but that’s not often how significant change happens. Big outcomes start with seemingly small changes in our approach to problem solving, in our shift from an assumptive executional style to a learning and iterating mindset. The silver bullet expectation is what I’ve found to be the biggest criticism of Design Thinking, so you must acknowledge this up front and focus on what it can do for people instead.
2. Know Your Audience and Focus on their Pain Points
Human Centered Design centers on a deep understanding of people before solving for them, so be sure to apply this to your internal stakeholders. Because people are all different they will have very mixed reactions to working with the Design Thinking framework. Some will think it doesn’t apply to them, and some will perceive the method as counter to the successful approach they use in their daily work. Research ahead of time to understand your audience. Identify their pain points and give special focus to the areas of the framework that could alleviate these issues. Above all, get people practicing and seeing value. “Bias Toward Action” is part of Design Thinking for a reason. Practical is better than theoretical, and practice becomes incredibly important as people think of how to integrate Design Thinking to their daily work.
3. Manage the Change in Mindset and Work Style
Whether your audience is a team of UX Designers eager to expand on how they already work or reluctant employees from across the org participating out of mandate, Change Management has to be part of your plan. I recommend the Prosci ADKAR model using a dedicated change management specialist and executive sponsor. However, even without this robust approach, we have to recognize the success of Design Thinking is predicated on behavioral change and breaking of old habits. Make a plan to mitigate the way these will work against your desired outcomes. In the company-wide rollout I managed we acknowledged the org would at first reject this way of working like a body fighting a virus. People had to first understand why a change was needed and have a desire to make the change (mix of pain point identification and executive mandate). They had to gain the skills to work in the new way (workshops and practice projects). Finally, their learning had to be reinforced (consistent follow ups to help people use Design Thinking when needed).
Design Thinking can be a powerful mechanism for positive change, but it is ultimately just a framework used by people. Rolling it out as a program does have immediate impact, but the valuable outcomes happen when people adopt the mindset of listen-try-learn-repeat. Keep the three points above in mind and you’ll see greater success in your Design Thinking programs.