Peer Graded Assignment

1. Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information

I’m a change management consultant that’s been hired by a leading Events Promoter. Despite once

being a dominant force in the industry it has started to experience a slow decline. The company has

experienced declining sales, high turnover, the delivery of events hasn’t been up to mark as is

evident from customer refund requests and complaints on social media/public platforms.

2. Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is

and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture

references)

I’m choosing visualization as a tool to frame the problem. ​Visualization is a collaborative process, it

can communicate both abstract and concrete ideas, drawing mental imagery can also help people

be inspired and put them in a state to manifest the imagery.

In terms of the 5 stages of design thinking, Visualization utilizes empathy by taking into account all

the stakeholders needs, feeling, emotions in an illustrative way, it utilizes Define, participants can

use illustration to frame the problem, it utilizes Ideate, participants can visually express their

solutions, it utilizes Prototype by designing what an idea structure would look like and finally allows

you to Test, being an iterative process, feedback loops can help to refine the design of the prototype

3. Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g.,

what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).

I organized a town hall, bringing together all the stakeholders required to build a new framework that

can improve future outcomes; Sales, Marketing, Operations, HR, Finance, Procurement and Clients.

I then created 7  cross-functional teams and chose a young member on each team to become the

captain while being supported by a department head.

First step, draw a straw man graphic and hand it over the each team to develop, teams have the

following themes:

● Engagement - I would recommend my company as a great place to work

● Leadership - The leaders at my company have communicated a vision that i understand and

have asked me to contribute to

● Enablement - I have access to the learning and development I need to do my job well

● Alignment - I receive appropriate recognition when i do good work and feedback my

outcomes are misaligned

● Development - My manager (or someone in management) has shown a genuine interest in

my career aspirations”

This was done to be able to understand the status quo, the sentiments and aspirations of those

present.

Second step was to doing a fun team building event to get the participants energized, we then

discuss the results of the first exercise and started a group discussion where each team had to now

develop a straw man model using sticky notes and whiteboard which incorporated the following

elements:

● What would make your company a great place to work

● What vision would you like to set out out for your company

● What areas of your work would like to to receive mentorship and training on

● What incentives would you need to do a better job

● Are you empowered at this organization and do you see yourself growing

4. Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your

challenge (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about

design thinking more broadly).

The survey and the work groups helped to identify three bottlenecks in the organization:

● Problem: The majority of employees recognized that the poor execution on the event level

was reason behind declining sales, this was starting to affect the market reputation of the

company and this was affecting their sense of pride in their work

● Solution: One work group designed a model where the company had a customer centric

culture with a strong CRM system to capture information about customers, wish them for

birthdays, reward customers who were loyal and regular customers. Another work group

designed a system where Chatbots engaged with customers on the website. Another work

group proposed an incentive system for the marketing and sales team based on Net

Promoter Score

● Problem: Only 20% of employees knew the vision of the company and a further 40% felt that

the leadership of the organization did not take their feedback into account or refer to actual

data when creating the vision statement

● Solution: Two work groups proposed vision statement designs incorporated actions that can

help employees turn the vision into reality another work group proposed a vision statement

that is relatable and that has a majority consensus from employees

● Problem: A lack of accountability and failure implement policies and procedures into action.

E.g. Procurement Department personnel complained that despite requesting the Operations

Department for a minimum three supplier bids the Operations team did not follow protocol

and tended to choose their preferred supplier who on most occasions was more expensive

than going market rate

● Solution: Three work groups designed a model where the procurement process was moved

online and that the minimum number of bids had to be submitted for the system to give the

operations team an approval and the approval would have to be submitted to finance to clear

the funds.. This took away any element of manipulation, favoritism or human error from the

process.

Visualization played a key role in giving the participants the flexibility to think outside the box,

explore ideas in a more creative fashion and take each other's feedback into account when

designing a better process.

5. Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool

you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why

A tool I would definitely use the next time is storytelling. The events industry thrives on creating

unforgettable experience and positive energy - which in turn has a positive impact on the people

putting together the events and those who part with their money to experience it. So it is very

relatable.

Using a story, the participants can shine light on areas of improvement in an entertaining and

non-confrontational way, get creative with their ideas and solutions. The stories can be cautionary

tales, tales of redemption and tales of a group of people overcoming impossible barriers. Hence the

tool can be inspirational and aspirational.

