DESIGN thinking is a human-centred business approach to problem solving that can help local businesses to better understand customer needs and develop impactful solutions to unlock sustainable growth.
It is a structured, interactive process for solving complex business problems creatively.
The structure of design thinking has some of these key phases:
Empathise — Understand your customer’s needs, struggles and context.
Empathising with a customer focuses on in-depth understanding of your customer’s needs, culture, religion, emotions, challenges and perceptions towards products or services offered by a company.
To gather such pertinent information, the management could assign market researchers to go to the field or segment to be part of the community they want to focus on.
Gathering such information helps the organisation to develop a symbiotic relationship with its customers while fostering a strong connection with them.
Developing a symbiotic relationship leads to building of trust; ultimately customer loyalty.
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This undertaking also aids management in coming up with an effective method of problem solving.
Such valuable information positions the organisation to adequately understand the customer, incorporating their hidden needs and preferences in relation to the product or service.
Define — Clearly articulate the core issue you’re solving.
At this stage, the market researchers critically analyse the problem in a bid to come up with the best solution.
When finding a solution to a problem, it is important to define the problem accurately.
This involves examining the factors that contribute to the problem.
By gaining a comprehensive understanding of the context, researchers can identify the root causes and develop specific solutions. Identifying and understanding stakeholders is essential in problem-solving because it enables the creation of sustainable, appropriate and specific solutions by adopting buy-in from stakeholders.
There are a number of benefits that a company could reap by including stakeholders.
Here are a few:
Ownership and support
By incorporating stakeholders in the problem solving process gives them a sense of ownership, thus compelling them to support and champion the solutions, which is crucial for successful implementation.
Risk mitigation
Identifying potential stumbling blocks early can help anticipate challenges and develop strategies to address them. This helps in reducing delay and failures.
Enhanced credibility and relationships
Engaging stakeholders demonstrates fairness, transparency and commitment to their concerns. This strengthens your organisation’s reputation and positive relationship.
Alignment to the strategic goals and vision of the company
Engaging stakeholders helps in aligning goals with the broader needs and interests of a particular segment.
As a result, solutions that are more likely to achieve meaningful outcomes are achieved.
Access to valuable information and expertise
Stakeholders can provide valuable information, insight and historical context, which is essential for a thorough analysis of the problem and for developing innovative approaches.
Improved communication and trust
A clear understanding of stakeholder’s needs and expectations allows for effective and targeted communication which builds trust and ensures that everyone is in the picture so as to minimise misalignment.
Ideate — Brainstorm creative solutions without constraints.
This is when market researchers generate a lot of different ideas of problem solving while delaying judgment and criticism to a later time.
Some of the techniques which could be used for idea generation are: mind mapping, rapid ideation and question bursts and they are briefly explained below.
Mind mapping-this is a visual way to analyse ideas starting with the central concept, branching out to related thoughts.
Rapid ideation: This is when ideas are generated as quickly as possible within a set time limit.
Question bursts: the researcher asks a series of open-ended questions to challenge assumptions and uncover new perspectives on a problem.
Prototype: Build simple versions of your ideas to test quality
Since the market researchers would have understood the problem by interviewing potential users, test this prototype with potential users and gather their feedback.
Use that information to improve your design before investing time in developing a real product.
Test: gather feedback and implement improvements based on real input.
This approach saves significant time and money by finding design flaws and usability issues early in development to pave the way for early adjustments to produce a quality product.
This helps in improving product quality and functionality and appeal.
Design thinking can help businesses navigate unstable markets and build localised solutions.
In the business landscape of uncertainty, sign thinking is a mindset that can be harnessed by street vendors and corporate SMEs alike to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.
This strategy helps organisations build alongside with the customer and showing real power in the voice of the customer business model.
- Innocent Hadebe, with 25 years of experience and credentials as a John Maxwell certified business coach, serves as a trusted executive advisor through Innocent Leadership Group (ILG), empowering global leaders to think boldly, lead transformational change and turn operational complexity into measurable success
