How does Design Thinking influence in the new working trends?

Recently,
Design Thinking dynamics
shave become essential in the Innovation departments. More than ever, users are the goal of every strategy. For this reason, Design Thinking is been used by more and more companies, not only in the innovation department but also in marketing, human resources and sales departments.



To be specialized in the design culture and its value at a strategic level, it is a must to compete in the labour market.


¿Why design is each time more relevant at a strategic level? Since years ago, the “Design Ladder” (1) evaluates its impact on the company. In this blog, we will show you… ¿How do we implement the design culture in our day a day? ¿How to create the perfect framework in the company?


At this point, is where Design Thinking becomes more relevant due to we may understand Design as an attitude, not only as something aesthetic. That is why it’s important

to create dynamics in the company, to have the opportunity of acquire this way of do, think and feel.


Dynamics are developed by teams made by employees and a facilitator but, ¿which is the key to build a good team? In this blog you’ll get tips to achieve it.


1. Empathy
Each member may know the goal, which is understand the customer. There’s no better way to do it than put yourself in his shoes, not only analyzing data as age or sex but also the way he thinks or behavies. If we don’t know our customer, we won’t understand his needs.


If the team shares the same point of view, trust will be fostered and good decisions made, strengthening the team thought and groupal and creative intelligence.


To help the teams empathy, Design Thinking provides several tools from sociology and ethnography adapted to actual projects speed.
Which are the keys to build empathy with the client?


2. Autonomy
If the company delegates the decision process on its employees, they will tend to be more independent. The same would happen if we do that with a whole team, if all the members may take relevant decisions together, they will be more collaborative and independent.


When the team know the profile of its buyer persona, made by the previous analysis of the customer, they will be able to offer effective solutions without the need of interaction of a manager. To share this kind of responsibilities will generate a common working methodology and language among all the members, which will help the team to solve conflict and disagreements by means of a previous consensus and respect.


3. Leadership
It’s time to substitute bosses who instruct by leaders who promote the corporate values and guide the team. This is the role that facilitators play during dynamics, they measure times and build a good environment among the group.


Leadership includes support team decisions, solve problems and ensure the well-being of the team without being positioned in a higher position. A good practise is to let each member has his own opportunity to highlight, if the team listen all the members ideas empathy will be promoted and they will learn ones from each others.


To create a shared leadership is essential to get the team involved, people are and will always be the driving force for change. Pay attention HHRR, you are the key to make this leadership change.


4. Diversity
The more diverse teams the better results. If we compare experiences, abilities or points of view we will build a better vision of the challenge, goal and possible problems, due to each team member will have a different perspective. This collaboration will develop a corporate culture based on the awe and respect, dealing conflicts in a more tolerant way.

The real known of the problem merge when there are frictions, this means we can see the problem from different perspectives. The connection point will be our customer.




5. Open mind
A brainstorming
can be a great tool, due to it’s easy and funny and every member provide quickly his ideas to deal with challenges. Despite of this, our experience doesn’t show the same, this ideas use to be poor, vague and mediocre.

¿Does it mean people don’t know how to think? ¿They are not creative? ¿They are a closed-mind team? Not at all, the great inconvenient is the confidence.

If we don’t built a confidence culture, people will only provide obvious ideas afraid of being judge. If every member trust on the rest, they will provide new ideas and proposals. This trust will be very rewarding because in the divergence stage, where we need the explorer mind, there are not good neither bad ideas. Ideas will be evaluated later on the convergence stage, where is located the most analytical part of the Design.


Check how to work with

Divergence Thinking Vs Convergence Thinking in Design Thinking.


As a summary remember this tips:
1. Empathy is the best lace to make your team stay together, make your customer be the focus to think through him.
2. Let teams be independent, let them learn how to manage different situations and you’ll see how they get more involved in the challenge.
3. Individual leadership may change to groupal leadership. Every member is responsible of the project success, for better and for worse.
4. Diversity is the best team’s virtue. The biggest challenge is to learn how to listen and learn from our colleagues without discriminate neither judge.
5. Without confidence people won’t open their minds. Build spaces for the total divergence.


(1) Design Ladder