Design Thinking is a methodology that has tremendous potential to provide corporate strategy development a much needed facelift, a version 2.0 for the 21st century. Yet from my experience, Design Thinking is inconsistently executed, keeping it from reaching its potential and discouraging practitioners, leading to a low perceived return-on-investment.
The d.School at Stanford is the founder of Design Thinking. One definition they provide is:
Design Thinking is a methodology for innovation that combines creative and analytical approaches and requires collaboration across disciplines – Stanford d.School
Here’s another definition with a nuance I particularly like, provided by Sarah Stein Greenberg at Stanford:
Design Thinking is a process that highlights problem finding as much as it does problem solving – Sarah Stein Greenberg
The lack of attention to the discovery side of design is the crux of the issue that prevents Design Thinking from achieving its true potential: business people are problem solvers, not problem finders. Some of this stems from our school days where we spent our time solving equations rather than asking why it was a problem. (Remember that annoying student who was always raising her hand and asking why? We didn’t want to be her!)
To further cement this bias, a problem solver is often in a position of strength in the corporate arena where we reward people who provide us answers rather than ask questions. As we move up the corporate ladder, the fixed mindset starts to settle in. The best defensive position is from a place of knowledge rather than learning. Yet that growth mindset is exactly what is needed to find the problems that really need to be fixed.
Creating Problem Finders
So how can organizations develop problem finders? The secret is in developing empathy for your customers. Empathy grows from listening to customers on a one-on-one basis, and observing the journey they take to complete the task at hand, the task you would like to help them do better/faster/cheaper.
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Developing empathy requires that we step away from our notion of how it *should* be done and explore the ins and outs of how someone else does it. Empathy means understanding the emotional highs and lows of the customer journey.
Yikes! Empathy? That sounds way too touchy-feely for analytical business professionals playing in the corporate world. It’s not because we lack empathy; in fact, it’s just the opposite. We’re scared that we will get sucked in by a sob story and won’t be able to distinguish fact from fiction. We will chase after a solution for the customer we love the most rather than designing a solution that many customers will love.
Using Empathy and Evidence in Design Thinking
This is where the true power of Design Thinking really shines. Notice that the definition included both creative and analytical approaches. Empathy married with empirical evidence delivers insights that are human centered and validated with data. Empathy can help to uncover the holes in your data and data can ensure that a customer comment is not just a whim.
The last piece of the design thinking puzzle is collaboration. Each member of a diverse, multifunctional team will bring their own perspective about the problems they find and why that problem exists. Bringing those perspectives together will create innovative designs that provide the best well-rounded solution. A solution that your competitors will never be able to match.
Give us your thoughts. How have you been able to use the power of Design Thinking in your organization?