Posts from the ‘Innovation and Creativity’ Category

Design Thinking; A Relevant Innovation Process for Organizations

This morning, I had the opportunity to do a session on innovation and design thinking for a cohort of 12 leaders in the NYC Department of Education’s Chancellor’s Fellowship program.  Rather than teaching innovation and design through the review and discussion of intellectual concepts, I decided that the leaders would be better served by “learning by doing.”

I started the session by introducing a definition of innovation.  For a buzzword like “innovation,” with an infinite number of definitions, I wanted to share something simple and also something that builds on common elements.  Below is the definition I used with the group, and it is similar to Fresh Consulting’s perspective on innovation.

Innovation is the application of new thinking to a problem or need, which creates value

Innovation is not just about novel ideas; it is about embedding novel ideas in a working system, organization or marketplace.  Innovation implies that the new thinking is being put to use, whether in the form of a product, program, service, process or business strategy.

Design thinking is one answer on HOW to innovate.   Traditionally, we might think of design thinking as relevant for creatives and engineers who are looking to create new products.  For example, products such as the Swiffer, the Herman Miller Aeron chair, as well as the iPod, iPhone and iPad are all great examples of products resulting from great design process.

Over the last fifteen years, however, design thinking has become a relevant and useful toolkit for innovating in a variety of organizational contexts beyond just the conceptualization of new physical products.  Design thinking otherwise known as “human centered design” is about empathizing with your clients or end users, and digging deep into their needs in order to build creative and relevant solutions.    

Diverse organizations, such as JetBlue, Cirque De Soleil, and Fidelity Investments are actively using design thinking to envision and plan for the future, build new products and also better structure their operations to meet customer needs.  And because the field of education is so human centered, it is an ideal environment to which to apply design thinking methodologies.

So what did I do with this group to teach this group design thinking?  I used the Stanford Design School’s crash course in design thinking.  Stanford Design School generously makes their materials available so that the public can apply this toolkit to powering better solutions for customers and also to address complex global challenges, such as climate change, clean water and sanitation systems.

In this 1.5 hour workshop, leaders had to redesign the gift giving experience for their partner and learn design thinking by following the design model:

Empathizing with their partner’s past experience of gift giving

Defining a tangible problem that they wanted to tackle to help enhance their partner’s gift giving experience

Ideating in visual drawings what are potential ideas or solutions that could address the outlined problem

Prototyping a 3D representation of the idea that has the most emotional resonance for their partner

Testing their concepts with their partner and iterating based on corresponding feedback from their partner

Design thinking forced the group to get out of the typical tendency to present recommendations to stakeholders after investing a considerable amount of time  thinking about and analyzing a given problem on our own.    Design thinking forced an ongoing conversation between designer and user, and enabled consideration of a broader number of ideas through a faster iteration cycle.   Finally, design thinking allowed participants a new way to think and dialogue creatively, which is to think by drawing and building vs. the usual cycle of thinking in words and then in visuals.

One individual left saying they hope to use this type of exercise with their teams to ensure they are appropriately considering the user’s needs in designing user interfaces.  Another said she was relieved to know she could innovate more collaboratively with others earlier in the process, as opposed to feeling like it was up to her to come up with a brilliant solution on her own.  Indeed, innovation is a team sport, whereby “genius” solutions emanate from careful observation and empathy and reflection about  those you are trying to serve.

In closing, I will encourage you to

1. Observe your customers more often in their natural environments

2. Ask more thoughtful questions to get at needs, values and behavior

3. Brainstorm more visually and test your ideas with stakeholders and users more often and more quickly.
Why not be a designer in your own line of work? It sounds so much more fun, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A single dandelion may produce 2,000 seeds per year…most will fall on hard, unyielding pavement, there to lie fallow…The important thing is that every spring, every crack in every pavement is filled with dandelions.”

SETH GODIN, in the book, Poke the Box

Seth Godin draws an inspiring analogy between a dandelion’s life cycle and the process of innovation in his pocket-sized manifesto, Poke the Box.  How often have you had what you thought was a great idea, but just failed to launch? Whether it was fear of failure, time constraints or some other barrier, it can be easy to be paralyzed by our inner critics.  Seth turns the innovation challenge on its head with the dandelion metaphor.  Instead of expecting all of our efforts to succeed, we should anticipate that most of our “seeds” will lie fallow and just a few will eventually succeed.

In all of his writings, Seth is consummately encouraging individuals to think of themselves as leaders and innovators who have large contributions to make.  Great coaches are those who see potential in others beyond what they might expect from themselves.  And thus, Seth Godin is a remarkable coach to all of his readers who have ever wanted to launch a company, write a book, and/or make a great contribution in their field.   Seth also is a guru around creating memorable customer experiences, marketing effectively using technology and social networks and also in redefining the way we should come to view our jobs–not as a job–but as a meaningful opportunity to add value and challenge the status quo.

In both my one-on-one coaching and my leadership development programs, I frequently draw on the concepts and resources from Seth Godin.  Currently, I am leading a series of sessions on the topic of “Turning Failure on It’s Head; The Innovation and Leadership Challenge.”  In this offering, individual contributors, managers and executives alike have the opportunity to read Seth Godin’s Poke the Box paired with the April 2011 Harvard Business Review article,  “Strategies for Learning from Failure.”   In an hour and a half live session, individuals re-examine their own beliefs and associations with failure, gain new understanding of different types of failure, and also have the opportunity to reflect on new strategies locally, which would encourage risk taking and a psychologically safe environment for the “right” kinds of failure.

In conclusion, I have two questions for you.  1.)  How can you “plant” more seeds as you wrap up 2011?    2.) How can you support others around you as a leader and encourage more risk taking and a culture where it is safe to fail, continually adapt and eventually succeed?

 

 

 

Your Daily Life as an Artist’s Canvas

Just as I enjoy water infused with a little pomegranate juice or lemonade, I think life with creativity adds that extra satisfying flavor and zest.  Typically, when you think about  ”being creative,” artistic pursuits like creative writing, painting and photography come to mind. When challenged, however, to view our daily moments, habits and interactions as our unique art, creativity becomes much more expansive.

SO, what does it mean to live life artistically or creatively, moment to moment?  Of course, each of us will need to carve our own “masterpiece” in that regard, but here are a few ideas to get your started:

Add new color, spice or dimension to your routine.  Whether your getting dressed for work, crunching numbers in excel, or cooking Monday night dinner, try adding new ingredients and/or combining things in a new way.  You might not add fuschia to your excel headings, but you can certainly find simple and creative ways to spice up what feels mundane.

Turn your ideas on their heads. Edward DeBono, the famed creativity expert, suggests that we create provocative statements to help our brains get out of patterned way of thought, and invent fresh approaches and ideas.   So whatever it is you take for granted to be the “right order or “right way” to do something, turn it around and look at the possibilities in what seems absolutely ridiculous. For example, the idea that the “passenger directs the driver,” led to a discount cab company in London where local passengers tell new cab drivers the route to go.  Pick up the book, Serious Creativity, by Edward DeBono to learn more.

Play like a child.  The more time I spend with my 1-year old, the more I find myself playing like a kid again.  You may not  balance a milk bottle on your head and walk an imaginary tight rope or rock out to Music Together tunes for toddlers as I do these days, but I encourage you to incorporate your own version of play in your life.  Maybe you take a salsa class; maybe you buy some watercolors and make a birthday card; or maybe you play (or make up) a board or card game.

Observe like Jane Goodall.  Whether you’re commuting to work, analyzing your office environment, or traveling in a foreign land, an anthropologist’s lens can be a healthy way to stay present, positive and curious.   Finally, and most important, it is sure to bring you lots of material to write about when you finally sit down to write that book of yours.