Design Thinking for Innovation

Joan Gordo

Challenge

I am responsible for the digital strategy at a building materials company, which is an 072 years old  company and has a very traditional culture. It is a quite successful company, so is hard to convince  the management to try new strategies.   The challenge is to start our digital transformation journey  and becoming a customer-centric company.

Selection

I decided to use the Storytelling tool to have conversations with the CEO, the C-Suite and the  directors of the company. Within a change management strategy, storytelling is a great way to  generate awareness, desire and knowledge.   It is key to identify the different audiences, their  individual interests and concerns, in order to design a story that attracts their attention and foster  their curiosity to learn more. The story should include interesting questions, data, facts, experiences  and anecdotes.

Application

I used a story to prepare the different audiences before having a strategy and project priorities  workshop.   The story included what are the origins of the digital era, what is the main challenge  which is related to culture and not to technology;  what has happened in our industry and in our  company;  what are possible strategies to follow; what is the dilemma of exploitation vs exploration,   where I included the story of Nasa and Space X,  I used a video with an interview with Elon Musk  and the NASA director, as well as a video with all the iterations and failures that SpaceX did, to show  the experiment, fail fast and learn culture.    The story also included online demos of what our  competitors have done in the digital arena. Finally, I included facts and data of an ethnography  research of our customers including a video of one of them.  I presented the story in individual  conversations with the top management in order to let them learn the topic at their own pace, and  to have the opportunity to observe their individual reactions.

Insight

As I was presenting the story, the CEO and the C-Suite were showing a good level of interest in the  topic, they were complementing the story with anecdotes of their own.   I observed that they were  making the story of their own, and I anticipate that they will start making comments to other  directors in different forums, which will be very valuable to generate interest in their direct reports.

Approach

I decided to tell the story in individual conversations, before having the first group meeting.   It was  hard to find the time in their agendas and it took more time than having all of them in the same  session at the same time. However, this approach let me observe their individual reactions, as well  as their individual interests and concerns. I will start replicating this practice the use it in more  projects.


Design Thinking for Innovation Joan Gordo Challenge I am responsible for the digital strategy at a building materials company , which is an 072 years old company and has a very traditional culture . It is a quite successful company , so is hard to convince the management to try new strategies . The challenge is to start our digital transformation journey and becoming a customer - centric company . Selection I decided to use the Storytelling tool to have conversations with the CEO , the C - Suite and the directors of the company . Within a change management strategy , storytelling is a great way to generate awareness , desire and knowledge . It is key to identify the different audiences , their individual interests and concerns , in order to design a story that attracts their attention and foster their curiosity to learn more . The story should include interesting questions , data , facts , experiences and anecdotes . Application I used a story to prepare the different audiences before having a strategy and project priorities workshop . The story included what are the origins of the digital era , what is the main challenge which is related to culture and not to technology ; what has happened in our industry and in our company ; what are possible strategies to follow ; what is the dilemma of exploitation vs exploration , where I included the story of Nasa and Space X , I used a video with an interview with Elon Musk and the NASA director , as well as a video with all the iterations and failures that SpaceX did , to show the experiment , fail fast and learn culture . The story also included online demos of what our competitors have done in the digital arena . Finally , I included facts and data of an ethnography research of our customers including a video of one of them . I presented the story in individual conversations with the top management in order to let them learn the topic at their own pace , and to have the opportunity to observe their individual reactions . Insight As I was presenting the story , the CEO and the C - Suite were showing a good level of interest in the topic , they were complementing the story with anecdotes of their own . I observed that they were making the story of their own , and I anticipate that they will start making comments to other directors in different forums , which will be very valuable to generate interest in their direct reports . Approach I decided to tell the story in individual conversations , before having the first group meeting . It was hard to find the time in their agendas and it took more time than having all of them in the same session at the same time . However , this approach let me observe their individual reactions , as well as their individual interests and concerns . I will start replicating this practice the use it in more projects .