Innovate. Transform. Lead. Three verbs that resonate now more than ever, pushed by this fast and changing world, as much a generator as it is a devourer of ideas. The emergence of the latest technologies makes innovation urgent for those companies and professionals who wish to survive an increasingly uncertain future.
However, “thinking outside the box” is not that simple. It requires something that artificial intelligence, at the moment, cannot replace: creativity and empathy, human connection. Putting the user, the person, the human being, at the center, becomes vital, now more than ever. Actually, it always was.
In the early 2000s, General Electric industrial designer Doug Dietz went to the hospital's pediatrics unit to see its newly installed MRI scanner. But upon seeing for the first time a little girl on her way to use him crying, he realized that he had failed. Little she was terrified by the look and noise of that huge machine. The scanner worked perfectly, but his patients did not want to use it: Dietz was shocked when, while investigating, he found that about 80% of children had to be anesthetized to be able to undergo this test. It was an unbearable experience. How was it possible that something that was supposed to save lives was so scary? “To a child's eyes, the scanner looked like a giant stapler,” Dietz described.
This veteran engineer realized that his product was not finished: its design was not adequate. He researched, asked questions, gathered data, listened to stories, detected the need, put himself in the shoes of his end user and brought together a multidisciplinary work team to brainstorm ideas. The result? A colorful design of the machine and the entire resonance room that made the children's imagination fly, proposing adventures on a pirate ship, a canoe, a submarine... Dietz turned his scanner into a joyful and memorable experience. Sedation rates dropped to a minimum and even children suggested to their parents to “play again tomorrow.” This seemingly “simple” change represented a huge advance in that area of medicine and, of course, a success for his company, which won the International Design Excellence award for the project.
The methodology that Dietz used for this process has a name: Design Thinking. It is known for being the method they use to innovate in Silicon Valley. Companies like Apple or Dyson use it to design their products. “Design Thinking is a structured process of creative problem solving, which builds a bridge between what we dare to imagine and what we are capable of building. Thanks to the collaborative dynamics inherent to the process, we can arrive in express times from an opportunity to a specific innovation project,” explains Juan Prego, expert in communication, leadership, creative thinking and innovation and managing partner at Actitud Creativa, a leading consulting firm in the development of Creativity applied to Innovation in Spain.
But if I myself had to say what Design Thinking is, I would summarize it in four words: “a change of mentality.” It causes you to review yourself, proposes a personal challenge and inspires you to be more creative, to develop your heuristic capacity. You venture on a journey in which you realize that, to innovate, you need others. As in life itself. Not only to know your need, but because the process to create is participatory. Because together, we think better. For Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the famous Palo Alto product design consultancy, the “human gaze” is fundamental in innovation. Empathy becomes the most effective way to create services and products that truly improve people's lives.
All this that Juan Prego could say, I say it, since together with other colleagues from Grupo Godó I have obtained the International Certificate in the use and application of the Advanced Design Thinking innovation process from the hand of Actitud Creativa. Like us, more and more organizations around the globe (without being technological giants or at the epicenter of innovation like Silicon Valley) incorporate this methodology into their teams to solve problems and identify truly differentiating and valuable opportunities. And perhaps even more important: transform your corporate culture. Go from staring at your navel to putting your users at the center of your daily operations.
In fact, even schools incorporate the method in their students to encourage their creativity. The advantages of Design Thinking are enormous: “it expands our way of thinking and allows us to come up with new ideas that are not only original, but also have a positive impact on people,” explains Prego, who has recently introduced the method. in companies such as Indra, Coface or Aldi, as well as Grupo Godó. “Organizations that approach change from a traditional perspective do not achieve the same level of impact on their users, but above all, they do not achieve the same agility and commitment from their teams. That is, they do not take advantage of the full potential of their organization,” he maintains. To incorporate Design Thinking, a company only needs to have “the courage to incorporate new ways of doing things, new ways of exploring and seeing the world around us,” comments the professional.
There are countless versions of the Design Thinking process, because the path to innovation is not a straight line. However, more than 15 years of experience and an in-depth study of this discipline allowed Juan Prego to refine the method and summarize it in a program that goes from Design Thinking to Design Doing, that is, applying the idea to the world. real. This is how he explains it himself: “What we seek is to go beyond traditional teaching based on cases and well-known examples; We design learning experiences that are true immersions in applied innovation. And, as in any immersion, it is impossible to come out of it the same as you entered. We don't just present concepts: we facilitate the creation of real projects that solve current challenges. We distill and synthesize the best tools from each version of Design Thinking into a format that is both deep and accessible. The result is re-equipped professionals, with new techniques and tools, but above all with a renewed mentality and projects that are ready to take off and achieve a significant impact on their environment.”
It is assumed that in a company dedicated to journalism for 142 years there is something we know how to do: investigate and ask. And that is the great basis of Design Thinking. There is also another art that we master: storytelling. The ability to tell stories that connect. And, while we're at it, I'll say more. No one beats us enthusiasts. “During that hard process we faced impossible times, labyrinths that in the end did have a way out, we stimulated our creativity and hallucinated, ideated and converged. Some of us had to make a radical change and start again, but it was all worth it,” declares Sergio Fernández Marín, Digital Director of Godó Vertical Media. The company will invest in the project that it carried out in record time with its colleagues, a new product that incorporates artificial intelligence processes. Whether it succeeds or not, the user will say so.
Be flexible, team up, imagine, don't give up. Listen, analyze, take the right time and take risks. Get out of your comfort zone, navigate the roughest waters and finally discover that island that no one has reached before. In short: to transform you have to innovate, and to innovate you have to take action. Perhaps, we have to think of it as a good pirate story, as it was for Doug Dietz.
