Luka Stanic

johnsondavid@hotmail.com

Design Thinking Reflection: Storytelling

Challenge

In my organization, I am responsible for business development in the EMEA region, but apart from my  core role and responsibilities, I “wear many hats”, e.g. organize business conferences and events,  manage alliances and accounts, create collateral, etc. I work with clients, partners, internal teams,  external teams and various stakeholders, day in, day out and addressing diverse groups with different  goals, backgrounds, challenges, needs and wants has always been a known challenge, not only for me. I  needed to communicate more efficiently with different stakeholder groups, structure messages and key  takeaways better, create build up and align meeting participants, regardless if they are from Marketing  or IT, around a single vision of the problem we are trying to solve.

Selection

Unfortunately, I have limited opportunities under the circumstances of COVID-19 global pandemic and  lockdown to practice my new design thinking knowledge acquired during the course, however, luckily,  storytelling is a design tool I can practice every day on infinite Zoom meetings and it can be applied to  multiple contexts. Apart from the reason mentioned above, we learned from both Barry and  the Chief Learning Officer of Mars Inc. how storytelling is an important design tool and a tool that has  been increasingly leveraged in the business world as every product, service, solution and institution has a  story behind it. A good story in a nutshell is more than just conveying a message that has logic, it has a  larger emotional connection and purpose or i.e. it creates a cause that according to the CLO of Mars Inc.  “ignites people and unites people”. Hence, storytelling makes a difference between problem solving and  creating a cause; it is about taking listeners on a journey where human beings and their experience are  front and center. We as humans respond to stories, which can aid us in gaining deeper empathy of the  present and developing vivid images about the novel future that we are trying to create together. To  sum up, I agree that storytelling is a powerful tool to capture listeners’ attention and bring stakeholders  of different background together around a common definition of a problem, using clear structure,  empathy, problem statement and reflection.

Application

Although, storytelling is typically used in “What wows?” stage, where it is a powerful design tool to share  ideas generated during “What if?” stage, I applied storytelling in a different context, what might be  considered as “What is?” stage of the design thinking process. Furthermore, the example that I would  like to share was on a recent stakeholder call and my application of storytelling revolves around the  notion of aligning stakeholders around a common definition of the problem and the criteria of a solution,  which we heard numerous times from Barry, is a prerequisite for success.

We have been developing client-facing web and mobile apps for one of my clients for almost a year now  and it is time that the apps go live, which requires coordination of multiple stakeholders and a launch  plan. Therefore, I was invited by my client to the app launch kickoff stakeholder meeting with 15

Luka Stanic

johnsondavid@hotmail.com

stakeholders, most of which were from external marketing agencies; the meeting lasted for 1.5 hours  and of course, nothing actionable came out of the meeting. Most of the external stakeholders had  limited knowledge about the apps, but more importantly, they had no clue about the process, what  problems we were trying to solve and the vision behind our solution. The next stakeholder call we had  with a smaller group and I kicked us off with sharing a compelling story behind the app that had a clear  structure and build up, including context (what was the current state both related to the market and  client that motivated us to take action), vision (one sentence vision of the problem we are trying to  solve), internal and external project goals, overview of the app year-to-date (what have we developed,  tech stack, features, etc.) and lastly, the possibilities for the future, since the launch is just the beginning  of the journey. Having everyone aligned around a clear vision and criteria of building a launch solution,  enabled us we moved into the “What if” phase, where we are currently looking creatively at all the  possibilities and generating ideas on how we are going to launch the app.

Insight

Storytelling truly is a game changer for me with anything that has to with communication and content,  whether it is creating a presentation and presenting or communicating to different stakeholders. Overall,  I think the benefits of storytelling speak for themselves. We have all been on numerous boring  conference calls, uninteresting webinars and dull presentations that we leave exhausted, whereas  hearing a compelling story, on the other hand, is completely different, it moves us, intrigues us and  inspires us; we leave energized and ready to support its cause. As the CLO of Mars Inc. mentioned in the  lecture that most business leaders nowadays are bored with 90% of their everyday conversations, this is  especially where storytelling can make a pivotal difference. In my example above, having all the  stakeholders aligned around the same vision and definition of the problem we are trying to solve,  enabled us to move faster, make meetings actionable and above all, move into the “What if” phase and  generate some great “outside the box” ideas, which the marketing stakeholders would never had done  based on the limited information and insights they received from the client.

Approach

I am very much looking forward to trying out the new design thinking knowledge and tools learned  during this course and already have a couple of thoughts related to the existing project:

-  Storytelling – by leveraging storytelling on the first stakeholder call could have saved us some  time and effort

-  Ethnographic research – reflecting upon a project lifecycle of more than a year long, if I could  redo the ideation phase of our project, I would had applied ethnographic research on end-users  to capture their unarticulated needs, rather than relying only on project stakeholders

-  Journey mapping – plan to apply it on end-users once the apps will be live to have a better  understanding how they interact with the apps and what we can improve/streamline


Luka Stanic johnsondavid@hotmail.com Design Thinking Reflection : Storytelling Challenge In my organization , I am responsible for business development in the EMEA region , but apart from my core role and responsibilities , I “ wear many hats ” , e.g. organize business conferences and events , manage alliances and accounts , create collateral , etc . I work with clients , partners , internal teams , external teams and various stakeholders , day in , day out and addressing diverse groups with different goals , backgrounds , challenges , needs and wants has always been a known challenge , not only for me . I needed to communicate more efficiently with different stakeholder groups , structure messages and key takeaways better , create build up and align meeting participants , regardless if they are from Marketing or IT , around a single vision of the problem we are trying to solve . Selection Unfortunately , I have limited opportunities under the circumstances of COVID-19 global pandemic and lockdown to practice my new design thinking knowledge acquired during the course , however , luckily , storytelling is a design tool I can practice every day on infinite Zoom meetings and it can be applied to multiple contexts . Apart from the reason mentioned above , we learned from both Barry and the Chief Learning Officer of Mars Inc. how storytelling is an important design tool and a tool that has been increasingly leveraged in the business world as every product , service , solution and institution has a story behind it . A good story in a nutshell is more than just conveying a message that has logic , it has a larger emotional connection and purpose or i.e. it creates a cause that according to the CLO of Mars Inc. “ ignites people and unites people ” . Hence , storytelling makes a difference between problem solving and creating a cause ; it is about taking listeners on a journey where human beings and their experience are front and center . We as humans respond to stories , which can aid us in gaining deeper empathy of the present and developing vivid images about the novel future that we are trying to create together . To sum up , I agree that storytelling is a powerful tool to capture listeners ’ attention and bring stakeholders of different background together around a common definition of a problem , using clear structure , empathy , problem statement and reflection . Application Although , storytelling is typically used in “ What wows ? ” stage , where it is a powerful design tool to share ideas generated during “ What if ? ” stage , I applied storytelling in a different context , what might be considered as “ What is ? ” stage of the design thinking process . Furthermore , the example that I would like to share was on a recent stakeholder call and my application of storytelling revolves around the notion of aligning stakeholders around a common definition of the problem and the criteria of a solution , which we heard numerous times from Barry , is a prerequisite for success . We have been developing client - facing web and mobile apps for one of my clients for almost a year now and it is time that the apps go live , which requires coordination of multiple stakeholders and a launch plan . Therefore , I was invited by my client to the app launch kickoff stakeholder meeting with 15 Luka Stanic johnsondavid@hotmail.com stakeholders , most of which were from external marketing agencies ; the meeting lasted for 1.5 hours and of course , nothing actionable came out of the meeting . Most of the external stakeholders had limited knowledge about the apps , but more importantly , they had no clue about the process , what problems we were trying to solve and the vision behind our solution . The next stakeholder call we had with a smaller group and I kicked us off with sharing a compelling story behind the app that had a clear structure and build up , including context ( what was the current state both related to the market and client that motivated us to take action ) , vision ( one sentence vision of the problem we are trying to solve ) , internal and external project goals , overview of the app year - to - date ( what have we developed , tech stack , features , etc . ) and lastly , the possibilities for the future , since the launch is just the beginning of the journey . Having everyone aligned around a clear vision and criteria of building a launch solution , enabled us we moved into the “ What if ” phase , where we are currently looking creatively at all the possibilities and generating ideas on how we are going to launch the app . Insight Storytelling truly is a game changer for me with anything that has to with communication and content , whether it is creating a presentation and presenting or communicating to different stakeholders . Overall , I think the benefits of storytelling speak for themselves . We have all been on numerous boring conference calls , uninteresting webinars and dull presentations that we leave exhausted , whereas hearing a compelling story , on the other hand , is completely different , it moves us , intrigues us and inspires us ; we leave energized and ready to support its cause . As the CLO of Mars Inc. mentioned in the lecture that most business leaders nowadays are bored with 90 % of their everyday conversations , this is especially where storytelling can make a pivotal difference . In my example above , having all the stakeholders aligned around the same vision and definition of the problem we are trying to solve , enabled us to move faster , make meetings actionable and above all , move into the “ What if ” phase and generate some great “ outside the box ” ideas , which the marketing stakeholders would never had done based on the limited information and insights they received from the client . Approach I am very much looking forward to trying out the new design thinking knowledge and tools learned during this course and already have a couple of thoughts related to the existing project : - Storytelling – by leveraging storytelling on the first stakeholder call could have saved us some time and effort - Ethnographic research – reflecting upon a project lifecycle of more than a year long , if I could redo the ideation phase of our project , I would had applied ethnographic research on end - users to capture their unarticulated needs , rather than relying only on project stakeholders - Journey mapping – plan to apply it on end - users once the apps will be live to have a better understanding how they interact with the apps and what we can improve / streamline