DESIGN THINKING FOR

INNOVATION

PEER-GRADED ASSIGNMENT: Reflection

By: Farooq Tanbir

AUGUST 12, 2021

INSTRUCTOR: Ashley Barbosa

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Challenge:

I work in the HR department of the VoiP (Navy’s Child and Youth Program).

There were a few challenges that I’ve observed over time that can leave a bigger impact or

organizational development if continued for a long time. The major challenge that the HR

department of Navy’s Child and Youth Program faces is the lack of knowledge and awareness among some of the

employees, i.e. their lack of understanding of the resource policies and procedures, despite the fact

that all of the organizational policies are available to each and every employee. The policies and

procedures are also available on the company’s website. Other than that, there are awareness

workshops held by the organization every year in order to keep employees updated with all of the

policies and procedures. The dissemination of information also continuously takes place through

various different communication channels. Another challenge followed by this one, is the

employees’ failure to respond to the procedures required of them on time despite sending them

continuous reminders about the procedures. An example of these challenges is employees’ failure

to produce annual declarations, entering job objectives, and completing the performance

evaluations in the time given to them.

Selection:

For the particular challenge addressed above, mind mapping can be the best possible tool in

overcoming the challenge by helping employees understand the procedures. Mind mapping is used

as an effective tool to think as well as analyze ideas. Therefore, it can be used to instill the

procedures in employees’ mind in a more impactful manner.

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Application:

As part of the application of the mind mapping tool, I will start by gathering all the employees and

by gaining their attention over the main concept, i.e. HR policies or procedures of the Navy’s Child and Youth Program. I

will write down the main key word “HR Procedures” in the middle of the screen to grab maximum

attention of the audience (employees). After that, I will start linking all of the different facets or

elements that come under the ‘procedure’ domain, such as procedures for annual declaration,

procedures for writing job objectives, and procedures for performance evaluation, etc. all of these

sub procedures will be linked to the main heading of “procedures” in the center of screen. After

that, I will take up one procedure heading at a time, for example ‘job objectives’ and I will start

linking all of the steps and procedures (in small phrases) involved in defining job objectives.

Similarly, I will do this for all other individual procedures by linking their sub procedures with

them in the same manner. At the end, I will organize all the ideas and links by connecting them

with the main central concept that is under consideration (HR Procedures). The whole purpose of

this exercise is to help employees understand the HR procedures in a simple yet detailed form. The

use of small words or phrases will further help them in remembering them for future reference and

to recall them easily whenever and wherever required.

Insight:

After applying the mind mapping tool for employees’ awareness and understanding of HR policies

and procedures, the employees became more confident in linking different procedures with one

another and making logical sense out of them. The results proved out to be fruitful, as the

employees could easily remember and apply the procedures whenever required, instead of causing

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any delays due to lack of knowledge. Their overall performance improved and the results also

positively impacted the organizational outcomes.

Approach:

Based on the results obtained from implementing the mind mapping tool. I am convinced to use

the same tool in future whenever I need to make any change by delivering the required knowledge.

This tool not only helps in remembering the themes and ideas, but also aids in making logical sense

out of different ideas. Similarly, it improves employees’ critical thinking by constantly engaging

them in brainstorming and idea generation.

