Canadian HR Reporter

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014 CANADIAN HR REPORTER & STRATEGIC CAPABILITY NETWORK Technology has turned the world of business upside down over the past half century, according to Mark Leung, director of Rotman DesignWorks at the University of Toronto. And in order for companies to enjoy continued profi tability and longevity, it's important for lead- ers to return to a human-centred approach to innovation, he said. In a world of near-constant change and disruption, design thinking helps businesses create or improve a culture of greater eff ectiveness, said Leung, speak- ing at a recent Strategic Capability Network (SCN) event in Toronto. "Design (thinking) is just a hu- man-centred approach to prob- lem-solving," he said. "It's about putting the person... at the centre of your decision-making process." Design thinking wasn't on the radar 10 years ago, said Leung. But, today, innovation is linked to design under the premises of empathy, creativity, collaboration and understanding people fi rst. "We're moving away from the traditional sense of design where you think of making things pret- ty," he said. "A lot of the thinking of what goes into creating such beautiful products and designs can be brought into services and experiences, where you're bring- ing all the touchpoints of your organization into one seamless product unto itself — that diff er- entiated experience." Why is it important? e average lifespan of a Fortune 500 company is currently 20 years or less, a far cry from the 1960s when the world's largest organiza- tions were profi table for 60 years, said Leung. Technology, robotics and auto- mation have played a major role in changing the landscape, em- powering workers and consumers with more information than ever before, he said. For instance, today's job search- ers are able to locate a specifi c company's salary ranges, pro- motion schedules and internal culture reviews through a simple web search. "Organizations can't neces- sarily dictate what customers do anymore," said Leung. " ey have to develop a deeper level of un- derstanding or insight into what makes people tick. You have to develop that street-level customer intimacy." "We're living in a different world now. ere's constant social change… ere's going to be a call for greater transparency. Govern- ments in particular are developing policies to actually address some of these new emerging trends and phenomena." No one is immune to disrup- tion, he said. "We can put our heads in the sand and not do anything about it, or we can actually embrace it and understand it, and innovate from that. What we've learned is just being big and being fast isn't enough anymore. We, as organi- zations and practitioners, need to develop a deeper level of insight and create that agility to be able to take advantage of those learnings." e landscape of technology is changing constantly, said Michael Clark, director of business devel- opment at Forrest in Toronto, prior to Leung's presentation. "Design thinking has come into its own amongst this chaos," he said. "Design thinking integrates intuitive and analytical ways of thinking — empathy, creativity, experimentation." "In a human capital perspective, design thinking moves HR away from building programs and pro- cesses into that new state we're all reaching for right now, which has to do with creating employee ex- periences that are compelling and joyful and simple, but of course do actually drive towards more pro- ductivity and engagement." e design process Every innovative solution requires ingredients of desirability, fea- sibility and viability, said Leung. e fi ve-step process behind de- sign thinking is intended to spur workers to creativity and collabo- ration, and works as follows: 1. Empathize: Design thinking starts with walking a mile in cus- tomers' shoes and understanding their points of pain. Strive for less talking in favour of more listen- ing in an attempt to feel, rather than simply checking off boxes. 2. Reframe: Effective design thinking looks at the user's un- met needs alongside workplace eff ectiveness. 3. Ideate: is step is the creative process which imagines new possibilities. 4. Prototype: Make your ideas tangible. 5. Test: Try out your ideas to gauge success. "It's quite a simple process to follow," he said. "It's also an it- erative process. It's not linear, not static. You're constantly jumping from one box to another as your learning evolves." Toronto's Princess Marga- ret Cancer Centre was a recent benefactor of design thinking, said Leung, who was on a team redesigning the facility's chemo- therapy experience. e process began with a clear choice to research using patient empathy over data, with design- ers choosing to see the experience through a cancer patient's eyes — a "sobering experience," he said. "Quite quickly by empathiz- ing, in a matter of an hour or two, you realize that patients are actu- ally physically and mentally beat down before they even get their treatment." From there, the design process was reframed beyond simply cre- ating a beautiful space to "helping patients turn lost time into found time," said Leung. Ideation included input from patients, staff and clinicians, be- fore a prototype was created in an empty space within the hospital, where role-play ensured effec- tiveness prior to fi nal implemen- tation. A sophisticated blueprint was also created, defining the patient experience in detail, from home to hospital to checkout. Success was inevitable, he said. "Everyone bought into this be- cause they had a say in the actual design." Key takeaways After leading SCN attendees through a 30-minute mock de- sign-thinking process, Leung said the process works on a scalable timeline that could run anywhere from 10 minutes to six months in length. Going forward, he recom- mended the following for HR practitioners employing design thinking: Get out of the offi ce: Listening to your users in a friendly space is a good start to the process, he said. "Go get a coff ee, or go to their workplace and just have a chat." Create with your users: Seek out early input on your ideas and iterate quickly, said Leung. De- sign thinking is not a solo mis- sion. "As human beings, we're not as self-aware as we think we are. Sometimes, we need that third party to give a more objec- tive lens." Perfection comes later: Go for quick wins, not home runs, he said. Strive to minimize the risk of failure and get better answers via prototypes. Human capital, by design Design thinking cuts through change and disruption to guide businesses towards an eff ective culture BY MARCEL VANDER WIER Credit: Google Street View Toronto's Princess Margaret Cancer Centre was a recent benefactor of design thinking.

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