"Design" is the most misunderstood word. The moment someone mentions Design to a layman, it triggers a visual of a fashion designer or maybe someone who has ideas to make something look good aesthetically. However, design is a thought process, it is a way of viewing the world.
When you are a corporate that is stuck between all the processes set by the company, it is very important to step out of the process and take a look at the company through a different lens to come up with solutions that would beat the system. In such situations it really helps in getting an external resource to have a look at the internal processes to do an audit- be it your manufacturing process or HR Process, business process etc. Every industry is different with different problems and challenges, however, the mindset to solve those problems and challenges could be common. Design Thinking gives us a non-linear way of solving and sorting those challenges.
In today's day and age it is not knowledge that we are seeking, as knowledge is so easily accessible through a click of a button - it is about understanding how to think and giving your thought a process to think with the available knowledge resource. Design thinking just gives a very rough guideline to that thought process that will lead to 'out of the box' thinking- I don't call it ideas, I call it perspectives. Ideas and solutions are just a by product of getting multiples perspectives on the challenge.
You can try this simple activity to understand my point-
Place 2 chairs opposite each other- Sit one of the chairs -Close your eyes- Think about an unresolved situation with a friend/boss/colleague/wife/husband/father/mother/just about anybody -Imagine that the other person is sitting in front of you- Think about the conflict you had with this person and revisit the time - see what you were seeing then- feel what you were feeling then- what was the conversation?- Can you hear the person speak? - Is it an image in your mind or a motion film?- spend at least 3 minutes thinking and revisiting the situation
Now, get up from that chair and walk around and shake off that feeling- Now sit on the opposite chair - Imagine you are the other person and you are looking at yourself sitting on the opposite chair- Revisit the same situation through the perspective of the other person- See what he was seeing- feel what he was feeling- experience the entire situation through his eyes- Spend at least 3 minutes thinking and revisiting the same conversation through the other person's perspective.
I am not telling you what you would gain- But it would be like a new mindset !
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