‘Design thinking is win-win for all’

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‘Design thinking is win-win for all’

Wednesday, 25 December 2019 | Sanjib Biswas

‘Design thinking is win-win for all’

It is a process that creates a balance between art and science, human intelligence and data-driven logic, to arrive at innovative solutions to business problems, says Professor Sanjib Biswas

In recent years, an increasing number of organisations are shifting towards a unified business framework where they can combine elements of innovation and creative problem-solving to drive strategic decisions and leverage competitive edge. It is here where design thinking comes into the picture.

What is design thinking?

Design thinking borrows its principles from a designer’s toolkit, albeit in the context of business ideas and action. It is a process that creates a balance between art and science, human intelligence and data-driven logic, and structure and disorder to arrive at innovative solutions to business problems. It is an approach with empathy, experimentation and analytical thinking at its core. So, products, services and/or processes are designed keeping the needs of customers first while integrating technology and creativity to determine the success of business.

Some of the biggest companies in the world like IBM, Google, Apple, Nike and Infosys, among many others, are focusing on design-thinking led frameworks to tackle some of the most complex business problems. In fact, design thinking has now emerged as a cultural ideology in organisations across the world.

Today, businesses operated in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) markets. The customer demands, behaviour and expectations have undergone a massive transformation; rapidly-advancing technology has changed the way of doing business, and globalisation has led to intense competition. Businesses are struggling to keep pace with these changes. In order to stay relevant, organisations have to continuously take risks and innovate their business offerings to keep customers happy without compromising their growth, profitability and overall bottom line.

Design thinking is an apt answer to this dilemma. It benefits the organisation in a number of ways:

  • It empowers organisations to innovate, reimagine and reinvent themselves within the resources available at their disposal.
  • It helps organisations to stay leaner, younger, more-resilient and more-agile, no matter what market scenarios are in play.
  • Being a multidisciplinary approach, design thinking seeks the expertise of different functions of business to draw different perspectives to a problem. This encourages collaboration among employees. 
  • Since design thinking has a high focus on innovation, it gives an opportunity to employees to go beyond their comfort zone, think outside the box, present their ideas and put their most creative foot forward to find a solution.
  • When employees get autonomy to experiment and make decisions through design thinking, they feel valued, engaged and motivated. They are less likely to quit.
  • Design thinking encourages employees to continuously upgrade their skills and expand their knowledge by learning new tools and technologies. In turn, it helps organisations to improve and innovate their offerings in accordance with the needs of the target audience. It further leads to higher profitability and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

As you can understand, design thinking is a win-win situation for all stakeholders — organisations, employees and customers.

How can aspiring management professionals learn design thinking?

While design thinking has a lot to do with creative thinking, it follows certain principles and techniques. You can learn design thinking by enrolling in related workshops or online courses. If you are looking to join a business school offering management programmes, make sure that the curriculum is inclusive of a module on design thinking.

Design thinking is the future of business and a prerequisite parameter in hiring prospective employees. If you want to land a rewarding job and boost your career advancement opportunities, it is imperative that you learn this skill.

The writer is Assistant Professor, Calcutta  Business School

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