How can you use design thinking to spark creativity in your team?

Empathy allows us the unique opportunity to view the world and those in it through a different lens. Transformational leadership begins with providing the tools employees need to help facilitate their sense of ownership and worth in the organization. A group think would be one way to implement design thinking with the ultimate goal being developing a working solution to meet the needs of the clients, staff and organization collectively.

My experience with design thinking has allowed me to understand the importance of fostering a culture of creativity and innovation. I believe that by applying design thinking principles, we can spark creativity and encourage our team to approach challenges in a new and innovative way. As rightly said, Design thinking is a human-centered approach to problem-solving that focuses on understanding the needs and perspectives of the end-user.

I really like this - empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Design thinking could describe my approach too.When working with leadership clients on their voice and speech goals, it starts with really listening to their hoped-for outcomes (empathise, define, ideate) and helping the embed the tools and techniques to effective engage their audiences. We co-create them then realising their full, authentic potential (prototype?) As they engage daily with audiences, using the techniques (test). Feedback and adjustment accordingly are also important to the process.

In large organizations, design thinking meets an immediate roadblock in the form of unit ascendancy. Basically, with multiple departments and multiple supervisors needing to align funding and staffing to one program, it can feel impossible for a project to move steadily if the members of the team cannot commit their funds or people at the same time. An approach to overcoming this hurdle is the asynchronous retrofit. Recognizing the end goal of the iteration, teams commit to benchmarks at agreed upon deadlines but filled at the discretion of thr team lead. Knowing the work will move forward and having a lead to share obstacles/ opportunities, this allows all elements of the design project to continue forward without losing momentum!

Understanding consumer and stakeholder needs is vital to product success, and there is no better way to determine their needs than putting yourself in their shoes (by using empathy). Using the design thinking approach to problem-solving incorporates the empathy needed for your team to create successful projects.

Because design thinking involves a human-centered core. Organizations are focused on the people they're creating for, leading to better products, services, and processes. When someone sits down to create a solution for a business need, the first question will most likely always be what's the human need behind it?

Design thinking is a powerful approach to problem-solving that can be applied to a wide range of projects. By following the design thinking process, you can develop innovative solutions that meet the needs of your stakeholders and deliver effective results. For example, let's say your company wants to improve the onboarding process for new employees. By following the design thinking process, you can gather feedback from new hires to understand their pain points and goals. You can then define the problem and ideate possible solutions, such as a personalized onboarding plan or a mentorship program. By prototyping and testing these solutions, you can refine them to meet the needs of new hires and ultimately deliver effective results.

Design thinking is like going through a haunted house. You start by exploring, trying to understand the needs and wants of the people who live there. You listen closely for whispers in the dark. Next, you enter the room of mysteries, where you define the challenge that needs to be solved. Beware of the ghosts of past projects! They may distract you. Once you've defined the problem, you move on to the laboratory of ideas, mixing different approaches to find one that will bring a prototype to life. Now you enter the graveyard of prototypes to test and refine ideas. Some ideas might not make it out of the graveyard, and that's okay! Finally, you emerge from the haunted house with an effective solution for the user. It wasn't scary after all!

To facilitate design thinking sessions with your team, consider the following tips: Build a diverse team: Include members from different departments to bring different perspectives to the problem-solving process. Encourage collaboration: Create a safe and supportive environment for ideation and encourage your team to share their ideas openly. Use visualization tools: Use tools like mind maps, sticky notes, and whiteboards to visually represent ideas and help your team think creatively. Test and iterate: Continuously test and iterate on your solutions to ensure that they meet the needs of stakeholders. By following these tips and the design thinking process, you can facilitate effective design thinking sessions with your team.

Facilitating a design thinking session is like hosting a spooky mystery dinner party. You'll need to invite guests with diverse perspectives and skills and be a gracious host, creating an atmosphere that is comfortable and inquisitive. You'll also need to set the stage. This means displaying initial questions and clues and setting up the space so everyone can be seen and heard. Once it's time to start, use activities like mind mapping and role playing to help team members combine their wit and mental resources. Finally, it's important to document the session's progress and gather consensus on the next steps. So don't be afraid... See where the mysterious world of design thinking will take you!

I developed the Paradigmatic Transformative Decision-Making Process (PTDM) to help managers make faster, better decisions, and overcome "Blind spots" caused by high-stress and unfamiliar situations during the beginning of the Pandemic. It can help with design thinking challenges by cultivating a growth mindset and providing a framework for intentional decision-making. To address resistance or fear of change, prioritize the most critical aspects of complex problems, test and refine ideas for feasibility, viability, and desirability, and continuously improve the design thinking process. By applying PTDM, teams can create innovative solutions that meet their organization's and stakeholders' needs.