Design Thinking in Rapidly Changing Organizations: Challenges and Alternatives
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This is an Opportunity You Can't Miss
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I believe it is important for you to know about our upcoming Certified Change Consultant training, Enterprise Agility Foundations, starting in just 5 days. This will be a great international group! The program is based on our Enterprise Agility Body of Knowledge and will be taught by industry expert Irena Pavlovska and will be conducted in English.
In today's rapidly changing business environment, companies face an increasing number of market disruptions and must adapt quickly to remain competitive. Many studies confirm the acceleration of markets, which puts pressure on people in the company and leads to the fact that many of the frameworks we know, such as Scrum or SAFe, cannot easily adapt to the new reality. That is why we started a few years ago to look for new solutions with the help of behavioral science and neuroscience of change.
The Certified Change Consultant training will introduce you to the latest theories and practices of Enterprise Agility, so you can go beyond Agile and Scrum.
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Design Thinking in Rapidly Changing Organizations: Challenges and Alternatives
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Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that focuses on people's needs and seeks to open up new perspectives. It has five fundamental principles: empathize, define the problem, generate ideas, prototype solutions, and test the solution.
It was created long ago, and I have seen professionals using it in various regions, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
While it can be a useful tool for organizations to develop creative solutions and adapt to change, it may not be as effective in organizations facing accelerated change or exponential markets, or in those where there are strong biases or where employees have been doing the same things for years.
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The world has undergone significant changes over the last decade or two, and the rapid evolution of markets has had a direct impact on the way people interact with each other and how they bring new ideas or innovations to businesses. For example, in companies facing rapid change or exponential markets, high stress can increase cortisol levels in employees, affecting their ability to analyze situations and limiting the number of perspectives they can consider. This can reduce the number of new ideas and ultimately reduce the effectiveness of design thinking.
In addition, stress can also lower acetylcholine levels, a neurotransmitter that promotes concentration, memory, and learning. This further limits the ability to innovate. Consequently, design thinking in these cases reinforces existing ideas and practices and leads to organizational myopia rather than fostering new approaches within the organization.
Enterprise Agility foundations include an understanding of the social psychology and neuroscience of change, which provides a new perspective on how individuals and groups interact and think, as well as the impact on the brain and how fast-moving change can affect innovation.
These insights can help understand the challenges design thinking can face in organizations that are changing rapidly. I'll go through each principle individually and provide my perspective. At the end of this article, I'll show you how Enterprise Agility can provide an alternative approach.
The first principle of design thinking is "empathize", that is, understanding the needs, desires, and behaviors of customers or users. Social psychology research on empathy shows that people often tend to overlook the perspectives and experiences of others, especially when they differ from their own. In companies with strong biases or a culture that has ignored customers' needs for years, it can be difficult to effectively implement this principle because employees may be unwilling to consider new perspectives or feedback that challenges their existing beliefs.
This can happen both consciously and unconsciously. People's ability to empathize with others may be limited without them being aware of it. This means that what they think is empathy is really just a connection to clients from their own cultural perspective and what their mental processes allow them to see.
The second principle is "define", which means looking at a problem or challenge from different angles and identifying the key issues. Social psychology research on the concept of problem-solving shows that people often tend to simplify problems and focus on symptoms rather than causes. In companies with a strong organizational culture or where employees have lower Mental Agility, defining a problem can be a difficult task because it requires the ability to think critically and challenge existing assumptions.
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In organizations facing accelerated change, this principle may be even more challenging, as employees may be reluctant to challenge the status quo or question existing processes that have worked well in the past.
The third principle is "ideate", which is the development of new concepts, ideas, and solutions. Neuroscience of change research on creativity shows that people are often limited by their existing knowledge and experience. As a result, and because of the bias in the DEFINE principle, this step is limited. The force of accelerated change causes employees to feel more pressure to deliver results, and they may not know how to manage their feelings during these times. This can lead again to an increase in cortisol levels and a sense of urgency, which in turn limits the number of new actions or perspectives to be evaluated because it requires the ability to think differently and challenge existing assumptions. On the other hand, low acetylcholine levels can also affect the definition phase by reducing disciplined focus. As a result of this, the ability to learn and think differently, and to challenge existing assumptions might not be present.
The fourth principle is "prototype", that is, to create a physical or digital representation of an idea. The neuroscience of change shows that people often tend to stick to their original ideas even when confronted with contradictory evidence. This may be due to psychological ownership, current organizational beliefs or processes, or power related formal or informal structures. Iterating on solutions can be challenging as it demands the capacity to switch efforts during high-pressure situations and prioritize the creation of a prototype over more pressing company objectives.
In addition, the pressures of accelerated change can make employees feel a sense of urgency to deliver results, which can make them unwilling to experiment with different solutions or iterate, and prefer to stick with familiar and more secure ways of working.
The fifth principle is "test the solution". It involves evaluating the prototype with users to gather feedback and improve the solution. Studies in social psychology have found that individuals often have an excessive level of confidence in their ideas if they have been successful in the market previously. It's important to remember that market behavior and demand in exponential markets may be very different from those in linear markets, where the company may have been successful before.
Obtaining and using feedback and iterating on solutions can be challenging in organizations with a strong culture or with employees who possess less adaptability or Mental Agility, especially in a fast-paced environment. This is because the process requires the ability to confirm other points of view to take a different direction.
When you're collecting customer feedback, it's important to consider sensing the markets as well. The approach to sensing fast-growing markets varies and can affect the accuracy of the conclusions drawn from the feedback if the right techniques are not used. That's why we developed The Five Sensing Method, a robust framework that is part of Enterprise Agility, which we'll discuss in more detail in the future.
It's crucial to keep in mind that a lack of appropriate organizational structures for accelerated change may make individuals feel unsafe, which may result in less willingness to engage with ideas that contradict those received from the market. This can also lead them to be unwilling to experiment with different solutions and prefer to stick with familiar ideas.
The pressure of accelerated change and cortisol levels can also lower acetylcholine, which affects the ability to discipline focus, and take risks. As you can see, Design Thinking can help companies develop innovative solutions and adapt to change.
However, in companies facing accelerated change or exponential markets, it can reinforce biases and make employees unable to deal with their emotions, leading to a different way of working the brain that lowers Mental Agility and reinforces existing ideas, instead of allowing the company to redesign products or business models to innovate.
In my book Leading Exponential Change, published in 2018 (get it for free here), I discussed similar concepts and ideas when I refer to Design Thinking. With the emergence of the new foundations of Enterprise Agility, we now have the opportunity to explore new techniques and frameworks that can help change professionals overcome these barriers to influencing innovation in places exposed to accelerated change. This is what we have been doing at Enterprise Agility University for the last few years.
These new approaches can also improve human responsiveness to drive better outcomes. Building an always ready, always responsive, and always innovative organization (the Three Universal Outcomes of Enterprise Agility).
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Enterprise Agility models, which incorporate organizational psychology, neuroscience of change, and concepts of companies facing exponential change can offer valuable insights into the challenges that design thinking methods are facing. An effective way to improve the Design Thinking outcomes is to incorporate the Arrow model, which includes important elements such as neurodiversity and neuro exponential profiles.
By using the Arrow model, companies can create a culture where neurodiverse employees are understood and integrated to explore different perspectives and feedback, ultimately challenging their existing assumptions and leading to improved outcomes.
These allow for a more comprehensive approach and can assist organizations in leading when exposed to accelerated change by providing tools to enhance human responses and attain better outcomes. Specifically, the Arrow model can help overcome limitations in cognitive diversity and neurodiversity and increase new ideas and innovation.
Another model that can improve organizational flexibility in times of accelerated change is the use of reframing techniques that can improve employee neuroplasticity, or what we call Mental Agility. These techniques not only help employees better manage their emotions, resulting in lower cortisol levels and a better perspective, but also help them work more efficiently in the face of accelerated change.
In Enterprise Agility, Mental Agility is the foundation for all other dimensions of agility. Companies with employees with lower levels of mental agility have a hard time coming up with new ideas and innovating in a fast-paced environment. to overcome this, techniques and tools have been developed to help employees improve their neuroplasticity and achieve better results.
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(c) EA Model, Enterprise Agility University
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As you can see, while Design Thinking can be an effective tool for organizations to develop creative solutions and adapt to change, it may not be as successful in companies undergoing accelerated change or those with entrenched biases and employees with limited cognitive flexibility.
The latest approaches to Enterprise Agility also integrate insights from social psychology and the neuroscience of change to offer a new perspective on how individuals and groups interact and think, and how these interactions affect the brain and how rapid change can impact innovation and the achievement of desired outcomes. Enterprise Agility shouldn't be confused with other market approaches such as Business Agility or models developed by other groups or institutions.
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This understanding can help organizations recognize the limitations of design thinking in the face of rapid change and find new models and solutions for an accelerated world. If you need more information about Enterprise Agility and new foundations, please contact me or Enterprise Agility University. We'd be happy to help you.
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Leading Organizational Change
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As a change consultant or leader, you understand the value of staying ahead of the competition and driving organizational success. That's why we are dedicated to providing the most innovative and effective training in organizational change and Enterprise Agility, helping you take your career beyond Scrum and Agile. With our cutting-edge models, you'll have the knowledge and skills you need to lead your organization to success. Don't miss this opportunity to elevate your career and drive lasting change. Join us and see the impact of true Enterprise Agility in action.
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