Using design thinking to solve an employee problem

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Career development. I’m sure we’re not the only ones scratching our heads about how we tackle this. The world of work and what it means to establish and develop a career is complex and personal. The very word ‘career’ is both subjective and subject to the ever-changing environment. Globalisation, technology, gig economy, career ladders, flatter structures, agile working, self-actualisation, job security, political and economic uncertainty… the list of career context goes on. One thing is for certain — the world of work and career management looks very different than it did 30 years ago and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution. As you can probably tell it’s going to be a hard one to solve!

We’ve decided to take on the challenge, but we realise this is a business problem that can only be solved if we think outside the limits of an HR mindset. So, over the next 10 weeks, we’re working with the experts at Treehouse Innovation, using design thinking principles to solve an employee problem and create a simple, people-centric, data-driven solution.

Why design thinking? Many of us are guilty of jumping straight to the solution. We have a good idea and we implement it. But we don’t stop to think about why we’re doing it and what problem the solution will solve. In some cases, there might not even be a problem to solve! Design thinking makes you slow down to go faster. You need to spend time up front identifying what the problem is, gathering research, generating ideas, prototyping, and only then do you move on to the implementation.

It’s about connecting with customers to co-create solutions for the future, not letting assumptions and past experiences inform decisions, and approaching the work as if it’s an area being explored for the very first time, even if it’s an area familiar to you.

For those of you contemplating using design thinking to solve an employee problem, we want to share our experience of the process and learnings from start to end. We’re sure it’s going to feel uncomfortable at times, stepping into the unfamiliar, but we’re up for it! Each week we’ll be blogging about the highs, the lows, the wins and the fails so if you’re keen to learn more stay tuned.

Want to know more about the design thinking process? Have a look at this 5 min video.