War for Innovation — Part 1

Think well & Design your Business

I have been a Business Designer for 6 years now. They keep asking me about Design Thinking and why I take it so seriously. Well, all businessmen keep talking about Strategy & Innovation however, they don’t understand the reflection of their own behaviours on their decisions. Featured as a thought leader, Jeanne Liedtka rightly quoted

⍘ It addresses the biases and behaviors that hamper innovation.

What Total Quality Management did for the Manufacturing sector, Design Thinking is going to create that massive effect in Innovation in the current era of Business. If you’ve heard someone say “That’s how we do things here”. You need to realise immediately why the organization’s efforts are falling short & the same attitude answers the question as to — Why does this place need Design Thinking?

Design Thinking is a subtler way to address human biases & behavioural norms which time & again block the habit of Imagination in any organisation. A tactic to encounter new obstacles & generate exceptional trade-offs for their efforts.

Think well… But How ?

It all starts with a Need for Change. Firstly, if you don’t realise the need. It will never exist in your people’s priority. Remember, we all have the same 24 hours of time which shouldn’t be spent on opposing views & divisive debates.

Every organisation goes through the same bell curve and the management’s goal for continuous change is what keeps the company ahead of competition. Let’s look at it from this perspective : When we are trying to solve a problem, the most obvious questions to define the problem will lead to the most conventional solutions.

Step 1 : Don’t get impatient.

Step 2 : Ask interesting questions.

Step 3 : Incorporate User-driven Criteria

Step 4 : Bring Diverse Voices & Keep Criticism out of the room

A company trying to innovate is like a parent having a baby. You can’t determine the traits of the baby unless he/she is born. Innovation always comes along with Uncertainty and Risks. You and I would never think or imagine our baby to be Ugly. Then, why don’t we do the same for our company. Keeping the Ugly ideas away can manage this tension.

A lot of managers find “Killing the creative idea” easier than Building a Portfolio of Ideas. Building this portfolio of ideas will lower the risks and costs involved due to uncertainty.

Design your Business with Employees

There’s a perspective that Change will create Chaos. Bet you. It will…! However, I would still call this perspective as Human Bias towards change. Involving a lot of people to drive Innovation in a company is definitely the right move, but dangerous too. Every Individual expects a different trade-off for his/her efforts towards driving change. If it’s Money for a young man, it might be prestige for another.

Design Thinking is the right social technology that can address these behavioural obstacles. The counterproductive biases and the stuck old thoughts can be countered only if the Leaders are willing to.

Conclusion

If you’re planning to start your own business or running an existing business, you need to think through these biases & behavioural obstacles. To do this as a leader you might first have to win their hearts, win their commitment, unleash their creative potential & radically improve processes. Design Thinking shall get around your peoples behavioural norms & unlocks the exercise of Imagination. All of this at a subtler level. In the Part 2 of this blog we shall explore in detail on structuring this approach for your organisation.

What’s your take on Designing your Business with Design Thinking ? Comment below.