Personal Tragedy Leads to Innovations to Help Families of Deceased People

In the morning, Mohammed went to work as usual, but upon arriving at his office, he realized he had left his mobile phone at home. 

 At the same time, the prayer for rain was being held in the neighborhood mosque. This is a Muslim prayer to ask God for the rain to fall. Mohammed's father attended and sat in his place long after prayers were over. Sensing something was up, the other worshippers rushed over to him and found he was dead. Tears were shed, and feelings were mixed. There was sadness at his passing but also joy since he died in the mosque while worshipping God. 

 Mohammed's mother called one of her son's friends to ask him to come home. At work, Mohammed had a strange sensation that something had happened. He returned home to pick up his mobile phone and was met by several people in the neighborhood who told him his father was in the mosque feeling a little tired. He rushed to the mosque and discovered his father laid out on the ground. "Oh, God, what a shock this is, how difficult this is going to be."

 A few months after his father's death, Mohammed had the opportunity to move to our company. When I met him, I found him to be a perfect fit for our newly developed program, the "Innovation Challenge." This program aims to find creative solutions to challenges through Design Thinking as well as encourage the development of skills and aptitude for innovative employees.

 One day, Mohammed came to my office and said: "Basem, I've found the next challenge we need to solve." He went on to explain his idea, which was to provide new kinds of help to the families of deceased people. I replied, "Let's get to work."

 To develop the challenge, we would present to employees, we visited numerous companies and organizations. They included hospitals, the police, the Red Crescent, the municipality, the cemetery, the civil status, the Ministry of Justice and Social Security, utility companies, a bank, and more. We took some pictures and collected a lot of information. In so doing, we developed a deep understanding of the issues facing a family following the death of a loved one. In particular, we took note of their feelings at every stage, from the moment someone died until their inheritance had been distributed. 

 We discovered a lot of difficulties and challenges, such as locating and dealing with a deceased person's bank accounts, real estate, cars, money borrowed or lent, online accounts, social media accounts, subscriptions, and so on. Also, getting a burial permit is very difficult, and distributing an inheritance is a nightmare for some people. The procedures were not clear at all. Some were still written on paper; others were totally inappropriate, and some information was repeated. We found the journey filled with fatigue, sadness, and pain.

 With all the insights and aha moments we collected during the journey, we were ready to announce the new challenge to our company's employees. To be honest, before the announcement, some felt we shouldn't proceed because it's a sensitive area. But we were driven by our determination to help people by mitigating their pain. We announced the challenge and invited everyone to participate and make an impact.

 Our innovation challenges have strict rules. We do not accept written submissions nor solutions from individuals. Instead, multidisciplinary teams must present a prototype that has been tested with the end-user.

 The challenge lasted for two weeks, during which time participants worked on their solutions in their spare time. To help them develop breakthrough ideas, we held awareness sessions on Design Thinking, Business Models, and the Customer Journey. We explained our findings about the difficulties facing a deceased person's family and the journey they go through, and Mohammed told a moving story about his father.

 When we built the journey a deceased's family goes on; we found it to be long and challenging. We were able to locate the greatest pain points and difficulties. We learned it is sometimes unwise to try to solve all the challenges at once, so instead, focus on the most important ones with the most significant impact.

 One of the evaluation criteria was the ease of execution. We encouraged participants to come up with ideas that could be implemented quickly and easily. This is important in innovation. Ideas that take years to execute will most likely die because you never know what is coming down the line, and protracted development periods can consume large amounts of money.

 Eight teams qualified for the final. What caught my attention most was the maturity of the majority of ideas and the high quality of the prototypes. One of the most memorable and happiest moments for me was seeing employees with the courage to tackle this kind of challenge, showcasing their creative solutions, and testing their prototypes with users.

 For months, we have been helping our employees adopt new mindsets about customer-centricity, prototyping, experimentation, and embracing ambiguity. It was wonderful to see the results of all this effort.

 Three teams took the first three places and celebrated their great achievements. Those who didn't win nonetheless gained good experience and more confidence.

 We are currently working with these teams to build the Minimum Viable Products (MVP), test the business models, and make sure the solutions are accepted by the users. I am very optimistic we will see some of these solutions going live soon.

 Let us have the courage to find creative solutions to demanding problems. Let us make an impact, make a difference, and bring smiles to the faces of human beings.