1. Foster team synergy and inclusivity
2. Speed up innovation cycles
3. Leverage empathy and user centricity
4. Navigate Ambiguity
5. Reduce Risk
6. Leverage collective expertise
7. Mould meaningful employee experience

Leadership is a challenging proposition in a world of change, ambiguity, and disruption coupled with the burden of expectations. As organisations become more dynamic with newer developments and challenges globally, leaders need to find solutions and leverage newer methods of problem-solving to benefit their businesses. It might be important to cultivate a collaborative and agile environment at work, employing practical tools to enhance development approaches. 

Design thinking refers to a strategic process by which concepts are developed. It is a user-centric solutions-based approach. It can refer to many different things, but it most commonly refers to the techniques, methods, and tools used to develop user-centric goods, services, solutions, and experiences. Leaders can use design thinking to develop organizational strategy, improve adaptability and overall leadership. Design thinking can be helpful even if you don’t develop a product by making use of its principles and fundamental concepts. There are some advantages of employing design thinking in your organisation. Here are seven driving forces behind design thinking that you can leverage to help you become a better leader.

1. Foster Team Synergy and Inclusivity

Design thinking leverages the power of collaboration across teams to solve complex problems with a multidisciplinary approach. Collaboration and team effort towards a common goal will help foster team synergy where all members feel they have a say in the organisation’s workings. It also promotes inclusivity of team members where they feel heard and respected. This is where the role of a facilitator becomes significant as they spearhead the process. A leader needs to maintain the right mix of employee opinions and mindsets to ensure that collaboration becomes pleasant with hurdles that are overcome with relative ease. A clash of ideas may take place, and hierarchies may set in. Effective management and quick resolution of conflicts is the responsibility of a leader. In the design thinking ideation process, it is essential to ensure that the discussions do not turn personal, and no idea should be disregarded since even failed attempts shape more prominent upcoming solutions. Hearing what employees think can also be scary for a leader and it takes courage to accept criticism. Collaboration and team inclusivity make the team agile and highly responsive. In a dynamic world full of challenges, the team will navigate through it collectively.

2. Speed up innovation cycles

The accelerated rate of change in the world caused by advancements in technology demands strategies that can fetch faster solutions. As we advance in terms of business with more dynamic audiences, products and services, the complexity of problems increases too. Design thinking is the right tool for simplifying processes, finding human-centred issues that are worth solving and looking at problems from multiple angles (holistic). Design thinking enables teams to collaborate, fail faster in the ideation process, and minimise the risk of failing in, bigger ways, later on, thus improving the speed and agility of the employees and the organisation while maintaining an overall sense of direction and purpose. 

3. Leverage empathy and user centricity

Design thinking helps find the right solutions based on the needs of real people. It is a human-centred approach to solving problems that stems from a deep understanding of user experiences, behaviour, and emotions. Employees working on developing something need to get rid of their own preconceptions of the service or product and develop empathy for the user. The user need not always be the end-user like that in product designing but could be anyone as per the organisation, needs, and roles. For example, in an HR setup, the customer can be the employees or teams that report to the HR rather than an end customer with whom the HR has no contact. Developing empathy in HR processes to make it hassle-free for employees would require a good understanding of the needs of the employees. This is why I reiterated earlier that design thinking is not only about developing products. 

4. Navigate Ambiguity

Design thinking is often used to tackle complex problems that do not have a fixed solution or answer. These are known as wicked problems or design problems, which means that these problems are highly ambiguous and often interconnected to other issues. A good solutions approach will uncover more design challenges in context and relation to factors. A solution crafted for an Indian market may not work in Japan. A solution that works well today may not work tomorrow. Design thinking is divergent in its approach with a strong focus on ideation in its initial stages as opposed to other convergent approaches. In design thinking, problems aren’t taken at face value. Instead, they’re re-interpreted and re-contextualized in order to find a solution. A strong leader will be able to navigate ambiguity with the team and create an environment where a large number of hindrances and loopholes are identified, complex issues are broken down into smaller ones and dealt with. Superior problems need superior solutions. Uncertainty is inevitable in innovation; it is how you deal with it that counts.

5. Reduce Risk

Organisations can build a plethora of options to deal with uncertainty and reduce risk. Many organisations feel that the time required to carry out design thinking activities (brainstorming, observation, discussion, etc.) is a waste of time and money. However, taking the time to observe and collaborate actually helps teams to come up with the right decisions, which will cost way less time and money than it will cost if they fail at a higher rung in the process ladder. In fact, companies like Microsoft and IBM have begun to see positive results employing the design thinking methodology. Failing faster is beneficial and reduces the risk of significant failures. It is easier to spot potential issues with a smartphone for an end-user to leverage empathy than to remake the smartphone after receiving negative feedback from users.

6. Leverage Collective Expertise

Design thinking creates environments for multidisciplinary teams to work together blending expertise and ideas. Bringing the right people together can mean breathing life into creative ideas and innovations. 

7. Mould Meaningful Employee Experience

Good leaders take care of their employees. It is the people that drive business. Design thinking can be employed to tackle unnecessary workplace complexity by putting the employee experience first. Design thinking will help place the employee at the centre of strategies that train, assess performance or learning among others. Complex obstacles and hassles become a barrier to growth and productivity leaving the employee dissatisfied, stagnated, or overwhelmed. Design thinking lends structure and encourages better decisions. The principle of design thinking is behaviour and needs, and this stands true for employees and the workplace too. Distinct employee divisions and segments have their unique needs. The better you understand your employees and the more you push them forward, the better they perform.

Design thinking has begun demanding attention with companies employing and reaping its benefits. Check out our course on design thinking here.

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