9 ways to enable Design Thinking capabilities - Innovation Leadership

Over the past 5 years, I got the chance to teach, coach and mentor more than 100 teams of professionals (Westpac, PwC) and Australian university postgrad students (USYD, UTS, Macquarie Uni) through Intersective's collaborative project learning and innovation programs (like the NEXT Innovation Challenge).

What became apparent over time was that at each step of the innovation process there are distinct problems that most of the teams, regardless of age or work experience, are struggling with.

Today I focus on an issue that I observe in at least 9 out of 10 teams: The application of design thinking.

The common scenario 

Not once in any of my innovation mentoring or coaching sessions have I come across an innovation team - corporate or uni - without an idea. What I do however experience nearly every time during these early stages of the innovation programs is the lack of problem definition that these ideas address and the inability to articulate:

• Why the proposed solution is desirable (Who wants this and why?)
• How it can be implemented (Can you actually do this?)
• How it will become sustainable from a business point of view (Should you really do this?).

"Which problem are you trying to solve and who would benefit from it?" - "Our idea is to create [...]" - no successful innovation team ever

These three questions served me very well and are key components of the innovation mentor toolset. They were often provoking enough to raise awareness of the fact that innovation is more than just an idea. If I had a team mentor session very early on, I was normally able to take overambitious innovators who focused too much on the solution back on track to verify the key questions before progressing.

Love is in the air

Unfortunately, early mentor meetings not always the case and oftentimes I found myself in a situation where the answers to the above questions made it obvious that too little effort was made to critically challenge the favourite idea. The main issue with not intervening early enough is that as time goes by, it becomes more and more difficult to let go of and fail or pivot an idea if one of these questions cannot be adequately addressed. At this point, rational analysis falls victim to what is beautiful in any other context: Love.

Innovation teams who fall in love with an idea that does not a real problem, an idea that cannot be implemented with the resources available or an idea that is not sustainable will eventually go through a breakup with tears.

Can it get any worse? Yes.

Adding a real-world context with deadlines, stress, pressure and authentic business feedback in the mix and you end up witnessing how people become desperate and try to cling to that loved idea as if it just slid over the edge and they jumped ahead, holding onto it, preventing it from going down, leaning halfway over the abyss and stretching every inch of their arms to grab it with the tip of two fingers trying to keep it from falling while more and more weight will pull on their wrist with every second that passes by - but they hold on to their idea because it is all they have got in that moment. At this point, I often heard the same justifications: "It is too late anyway!" or "We think it's not too bad actually!" or "We'll just have to go with it." The teams became desperate. What a toxic mix: Desperate Love.

The single most dangerous mistake you can make as an innovator in the early stage of the innovation process is to desperately fall in love with an idea without realising that it is just that: an idea, a construct of your thoughts which can be rebuilt better than ever with reflection and learning from the situations that got you leaning over the edge in the first place.

Design Thinking

Long story short: Teams and individuals going through the above rollercoaster of feelings probably (among other things that I will go into more detail in future posts) failed to apply the basics of the 'Design Thinking' methodology.

Design Thinking is a methodology that uses empathy and elements of the design toolset to find the sweet spot between desirability, feasibility and viability in which innovation can thrive.

The most interesting insight

Where it got really interesting is when it became apparent to me that - to my surprise - the theoretical concept of "Design Thinking" was often clear to the teams due to an abundance of information on the internet or formal education. And still, I could observe the same problems over and over again: The inability to apply the theoretical concept to a real-world situation. Bright minds getting stuck with their darling ideas.

Most often because they either haven't applied their knowledge in a real-world context yet or if they have, they likely:

• Worked towards innovation unfriendly KPIs and rubrics,
• Applied the methodology to a non-realistic situation (Case Study workshop) or
• Were not responsible for the implementation and success of their solution (eliminating Feasibility from the equation).

All of these send false positives and do not prepare someone who is finally confronted with business reality at a non-junior level!

9 key enablers to improve learning and innovation outcomes

Irrespective of your role and position, being aware of these pitfalls dramatically improves the chances of either yourself or your team successfully completing this early phase of the innovation process. From my experience, there are 9 bulletproof ways to enable the application of the design thinking methodology and increase project and learning outcomes for all parties.

For innovators:

1. Don't fall in love with your ideas too early! (Only after you found the innovation sweet spot!)
2. Challenge your assumptions, especially in the beginning of your innovation journey.
3. Talk to the people that experience the problem you are trying to solve. If you cannot talk to them, you won't be able to solve their problems.
4. If your environment is not aligned with the innovation process, propose a plan to change it (a plan that is, of course, desirable, viable and feasible)

For mentors, coaches and managers:

1. Have a session with your team as soon as possible after they 'decided' on an idea.
2. Ask the three questions and challenge all assumptions to validate desirability, feasibility and viability.
3. Ask 5 times "Why?" for every answer you get. Seriously.
4. Provide an authentic learning experience - don't just focus on project outcomes. During each innovation project, a team learns A LOT. Help to drive and to articulate these learning outcomes and incorporate a lifelong learning approach - your team will love you for it
5. Encourage 'failure' - Making mistakes and learning from them is a key driver of success. Help your team to learn from their mistakes and make sure their KPIs and assessment metrics are aligned with those learning outcomes!

Have you found yourself in a situation where you struggled to apply design thinking? Or where you saw an innovation team failing too late or never? What are your tips and tricks to navigate your team through that early stage of the innovation process?

Please leave a comment with your thoughts and suggestions, show some love with a "Like" or make my day by sharing a tagging a person who might be interested!