The link between Neuroscience and Design Thinking
Having spent time over the last year — in between completing my studies in organisation development and change and consulting work — to explore, interrogate, and discover the implications of trends that are shaping the future, my research has led me to gain insight into the leading organisational factors that will enable future business competitiveness, and consequently to acquire a sound understanding of the drivers that are shaping the new world of work.
While still in the early stages of my journey into the future…it has thus far been nothing short of exhilarating, inspiring and astonishing as to just how radically technology innovation is already transforming the way we live, work and socialise. Albeit equipped with a deeper understanding that the age of automation, robotics and cognitive intelligence i.e. IBM Watson will indeed transform the way we live, so too has my awareness increased of the risks that disruption will create for the sustainability of organisations and businesses, and the very economies they’re dependent on.
Thus, while technology disrupts industries globally, people will remain, and the need for human equilibrium has never been more important than today as we race ahead on our voyage to exploring the outer limits of science and technology. The human element is brought sharply into focus when embarking on re-organisation design. My recent immersion in the science of design thinking — against a backdrop of organisation development and change — has elicited a growing appreciation for the role that neuroscience can play in Human Centred Design (HCD).
Championed by IDEO as one of its leading protagonists, with the launch of its HCD Toolkit in 2009 (and a revamped Field Guide to Human-Centred Design in 2015), HCD focuses on developing products and services to realise user experience benefit.
To this end the design thinking process: EMPATHISE >DEFINE > IDEATE>PROTOTYPE> TEST centres on three behaviour domains: framing, risk, choice, and is fuelled by two thinking systems: unconscious (System1) and conscious thought (System2). Both types of thinking generate response, crucial to the innovation process.
More structurally, we can refer to these types of thinking as algorithmic and reflective thinking. As human beings have the ability to interpret, process and simulate information in more than one way, we actually have the ability to think multi-dimensionally, or in scientific terms known as Pivot Thinking. This can assist people to re-frame business challenges to develop customer-centred solutions rather than focusing on the constraints of a problem.
While design thinking does indeed require creativity and problem solving capabilities, moreover a divergent mind-set that seeks to find solutions through questioning versus a convergent mind-set that centres on facts will result in the development of products and services that are better suited to solve customers’ problems.
As design thinking gains traction in management consulting, it is important for those tasked with re-engineering organisations to be fit for future purpose to “keep in mind” that the cognitive processes required for this approach must take into consideration what lies behind how human beings process information, make choices and take decisions.
References: http://dschool.stanford.edu/; www.designkit.org/resources/1
