Most Popular Design Thinking Resources of 2022

One year ago, I kicked off this Design Thinking for HR newsletter with a curation of the most popular design thinking resources of 2021 . Little did I know that the publication would garner a readership of 11,646 (and counting). Whether you’ve been reading since the beginning, or you just joined, thanks for being here!

Browsing through all the incredibly thoughtful comments that were posted to every single article fills me with immense gratitude. Here is a small selection of what you’ve shared with me this year:

“It is easy to throw around the term design thinking. This lays out a clear case for when to use the design thinking approach.”

“Love this topic! With HR being so deeply rooted in doing what’s safe, predictable, and least risky, it just makes the use of Design Thinking so much harder. But like you said, it's so worth it, especially since the problems HR is solving, continue to get more and more complex.”

“I have been in the design thinking space as a designer for 15 years and joined an HR team a month ago. So, I am bringing that designer perspective into the HR culture. So much of your article resonates with my (limited) experience so far.”

“Love the idea of design thinking for HR. Lord knows there is a huge need for human-centeredness in HR that goes beyond policies, procedures, and deluge of paperwork in that function.”

“I appreciate the layout and the format of this article, very easy to understand and beneficial to those who haven't yet thought about the Employee Experience Journey - let alone mapping it! This is great work! Thanks so much for sharing, Nicole! I have subscribed and I look forward to your next post.”

“Terrific insights, Nicole. Human design thinking - yes! And thinking from the candidate's point of view begins an integration process during recruiting! I love it.”

And now (drum roll please), may I present the most popular design thinking resources of 2022 – according to you!

Design Thinking for HR Newsletter Article: Design Thinking and DEIB

This was probably my most vulnerable post last year. So, it’s extra special it resonated so much!

In the article, I explored why and how we might apply design thinking in a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) context. I also talk about the limitations of the method in this space.

Medium Article: Design Thinking is Change Management 2.0

In this article, I explore the question What if we applied service design principles and methods to the change processes and brought people along on the journey as change co-creators?

I am honored that this piece made a list of Top 10 Change Management Resources . And a Tweet about the post by Helen Bevan (Strategic Advisor to the UK’s NHS) went all but viral.

Design Thinking for HR Service

The most in-demand service that I’ve delivered through my Employee Experience Design Consultancy talent.imperative inc this past year was co-creating strategy by collaborating with Executive Leadership and Human Resources teams to design a range of strategies, spanning from human-centric hybrid culture to talent management, and DEIB.

Talent Tales Show: Collaborating Across Functions – A Conversation with Ashley Eisenberg and Rachel Franco

In this episode, I had the honor to interview Ashley Eisenberg (Sr. Director Program Management, People Solutions) and Rachel Franco (Program Designer – Innovation Framework) at Change Healthcare.

Rachel and Ashley shared how they partner around design thinking. The most recent example of partnership was in the context of “DT Palooza” – a week of design thinking skill building for employees that culminated in an ideation session where participants were able to apply the skills they learned to tackle a real-life employee experience challenge.

2022 was also the year when Talent Tales was named to Employee Experience Magazine’s Top 20 HR Podcast list.

HR.Hackathon Alliance : Employee Experience Ideas

The most searched for ideas this year were the employee experience solutions the HR.Hackathon Alliance community generated.

I was recently asked what one of my personal favorite HR.Hackathon ideas was this year. As I reflected on this question, I realized that the solutions that stick with me tend to be those where participants tailored a concept to the organization we were solving the problem for.

So, I think my favorite idea this year might be Flyers Inclusion Groups “Fly In” . This concept cleverly ties into the Radio Flyer brand in addressing the challenge question of “How might we create a psychologically safe work environment for people from marginalized groups to empower their voice, ideas, concerns, needs, and careers?”

Client Impact Story: Performance Management Re-Design

My mission is to do work that has a positive impact, both on the HR profession as well as on the organizations I partner with.

At the beginning of this year, I closed out a project that was focused on re-designing performance management with a focus on employee/manager experience and equity. I got a chance to catch up with my client at the end of the year and was so moved by what they had already accomplished. First, they received feedback from managers and employees indicating how excited they are about the way this process was co-created with them. Who has ever heard of an instance where ANYONE was excited about performance management?! Secondly, the team is currently prototyping equity-focused calibration conversations within HR so they can apply lessons learned from their experience when they facilitate these discussions with leaders and employees. Third, the HR project team members who received design thinking capability coaching throughout the project are now applying the mindset and method to other HR projects. Wow – I think my work is done (LOL)!

I am thrilled that you’ve joined me in this exploration of design thinking’s application to Human Resources this past year and am excited to see what 2023 brings!

I pour a lot of time, attention, and care into each article and am starting to plan next year’s content. I am curious: What about this newsletter has sparked joy for you? What has been particularly useful? What would you change? What should I research and write about next??

If you could take a minute to?leave your thoughts here or share your feedback in the comments, it would mean a great deal to me. Thanks for jumping in here. I hope you know how grateful I am for this community!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Design Thinking for HR is a biweekly LinkedIn newsletter that aims to inspire HR professionals to experiment with the human-centered design framework. The newsletter is curated by?Nicole Dessain who is the Chief Employee Experience Designer at talent.imperative , Founder of the HR.Hackathon Alliance , and a Northwestern University instructor. Nicole is currently writing her first book about Design Thinking for HR. Join the Early Readers’ Community here .