Design Thinking: People and Culture in Digital Transformation
The intersection of Design Thinking and organizations undergoing major change.
Girl Scouts gardening together, 1917. https://www.loc.gov/resource/hec.08674/
Listen and Learn
In 2014 my first Needs Analysis exercise was with one of the largest Teachers Retirement Systems within the United States. I was there as a part of a large modernization project, and let me first begin with an important bit of transparency -- I had no idea what I was doing, so I had an incredibly simple strategy. I figured if I met as many people as I could, I would glean some kind of truth from the exercise. I had one week to uncover the needs, wants, and challenges of a 500-person organization in the midst of adopting Agile back when agile was the fresh new, top-of-mind methodology. My first step was to interview executives, department directors, and program managers who all told me the same thing, "You have to talk to Maeve."
Maeve had been with the organization for 20+ years as a Civil Servant and had worked in almost every department at the agency, starting in Member Services and then moving to more operations-based roles throughout the organization later. She was the person with the best understanding of both the needs of members and employees, i.e. She knew where the bodies were buried, so to speak. Shadowing her as a part of my Needs Analysis process, I learned the complex inner workings of the day-to-day and her introductions to other employees of varying levels of experience and diverse job roles was invaluable. She found me a desk in the heart of the Call Center on the windowless second floor of a 53-story, 3.5 million square foot skyscraper. There I was able to listen and learn the desired ways of working, work-arounds, and challenges of both members and those who served them.
This experience allowed me to make people-centric design recommendations which was deeply needed at an organization that serves 200,000 members.
For me, meeting Maeve was a crash course in the importance of listening and learning before taking action or making concrete decisions in any digital transformation. Every organization is unique -- comprised of a distinctive cast of characters, written and unwritten rules, and varying degrees of aged technology. Effective change, cannot happen without understanding the culture and the people that make up an organization. This formative experience was my first chance to exercise Design Thinking principles to help make meaningful change. Without a deep understanding of motivations, we are unable to build solutions that people can fully embrace and welcome into their daily lives.
Digital Transformation is for People
When utilizing Design Thinking principles, the main goal is to understand the audience you want to help. The process improvements and new ways of working that we design and build should work for people and not the other way around. When approaching a new problem space, build relationships to continually learn from one another. Whether among teammates or users, camaraderie is key to building trust and reciprocity.
Incorporating Design Thinking principles into Digital Transformation ensures:
Real, living human needs are met
You're improving everyone's way of working
The right changes are happening at the right time
Start and End with Compassion
Leading with core principles of Design Thinking, empathy and compassion, is the most effective way to built trust and foster cross-collaboration. While at it's core Digital Transformation typically focuses on leveraging new technology to improve overall service -- when paired with Design Thinking principles we can ease the tensions of change and ultimately create a transformation full of excellent human interactions and experiences. Practice active listening and note where perspectives align and diverge- both are valuable.
Ambiguity is Also Your Friend
Change is always hard and oftentimes really messy. Be comfortable with ambiguity, asking questions, and using your intuition when clear, data-driven answers evade you. Being okay with ambiguity sends a positive signal to others and sets the stage for innovation and provides plenty of space to hear new ideas, feelings, and experiences before forming a set direction. Ultimately, this encourages us to consider and test multiple solutions before settling on one. Additionally, freedom to make educated guesses and the ability to fail sets an important precedent that there is space to ideate and play.
Foster Trust and Innovation
Regardless of the role you play within an organization, approaching change or the need for change utilizing Design Thinking principles ensures better adoption and a smoother transition overall. Design Thinking focuses on deeply understanding and addressing human needs, emphasizing that process improvements should serve people rather than the other way around. By integrating empathy and compassion, Design Thinking helps ease the challenges of Digital Transformation, fostering trust and innovation despite ambiguity and the inherent messiness of change.
End Note
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As a UX Researcher, Haley values introspection, empathy, and creative problem-solving. She believes listening to your audience and understanding the market landscape is imperative to designing a lovable product.