Challenges:

I joined my Organisation as a manager for my research firm. As I spent few months with my  team, I found out that despite hard work and slogging day and night, people were unable to  perform as expected by the firm. Although the ownership and accountability in the team was  high, the motivation to deliver excellence was challenging for the team members, especially  among junior colleagues. As a result, the productivity of the team was decreasing which  started reflecting in the quality of work delivered to the clients, few months down the line.  The value delivered by the team started to deteriorate and the leadership of the firm was  having hard time to understand what is causing the problem in the team

Selection:

The problem seemed complex. That’s why I used design thinking to dissect where the  problem was and generate ideas to boost motivation and productivity of the team, as well as  foster culture of trust and leadership. I used ethnographic interview to understand the  challenges to team’s productivity and motivation. And then used mind mapping tool to find  patterns and behavior that was causing threat to the team’s motivation to deliver values.  Mind mapping tools helped me to generate insights from ethnographic interviews of my team  members, to fathom a common pattern that was causing threat to people’s performance and  delivering outcome from their respective roles

Application:

I made a questionnaire with the help of Human Resources (HR) team to interview people  from across the level from a beginner level to a mid-level team members. My team size was  30. Hence, the interview was first conducted on a one-on-one basis, and then the interview  was followed in a group of 5-6 people consisting a mixture of people across levels. In one- on-one interviews, team members were given assurances whatever they said will not be  held back against and encouraged them to be more honest and open in their answers. The  questions that was asked included what are the issues they faced in their personal and  professional life, what matters them in work, what passionate them, what are their fear and  anxiety in the workplace, what was causing demotivation to work (many more questions  were also asked related to the problems faced by team members in their day-to-day work).  After interviewing all of them, I and HR team sat together to cull out issue themes using mind  mapping tool, and breaking those issues into specific problems that directed us to the real  issues and concern faced by the team. This helped us to brainstorm potential innovative  solution that could improve the performance of the team members and delivery outcome

Insights:

While interviewing the people, from a bird’s eye-view it was found that lack of skill sets,  culture of punishment, and deficiency of empathy was the major reason behind the threat to  team members’ problems. But using mind mapping tool it was discovered that the problem  appears to be deep

1. It was not lack of skill set, but it was lack of confidence during an engagement project  that was causing the problem. There were new engagements that was coming in the  team that required team members to gain confidence in equipping themselves to new  skills which they were unable to do so due to absence of proper learning and  development programme. In addition, some team members’ interest areas were not  being taken into consideration, and was forcefully allocated projects which did not ignite  passion and motivation to do well

2. When team members were unable to perform well, instead of equipping and helping  them they were undervalued and mocked  3. The team members were never appreciated and rewarded for the work they performed,  and was paid lower compensation as compared to what the firm’s competitors paid to its  employees  4. There was lack of empathy in the team to understand each other’s problems, as well as  lack of flexibility which prevented employees to have a work-life balance   5. There was no transparency in the team, and the communication channel seemed to  have been blocked among team members, HR and leadership of the firm   6. Some people were not being promoted to the higher level for many years, despite  exhibiting exceptional performance

With the help of HR team, we developed a series of learning and development programme,  that brought confidence to the strengths of the team members, created greater empathy and  ownership, and helped team members demonstrate leadership in their day-to-day work. I  together with the leadership of the organisation exhibited genuinity in the careers of the  employees through frequent catch-ups, and coached them to move above the ladder or take  up roles or projects which they were passionate about. The team members were appreciated  for their exceptional performance through rewards and recognition, which motivated  employees to strive for excellence

Approach:

While mind mapping tool helped us to gain insights to the problem and construct related  innovative solutions, it took a long time to make the leadership (CEOs, HR Head, CFOs, and  Directors) understand the real-specific problem faced by the team members to help us in  executing the innovative solution we discovered with the help of HR team.

Hence, next time it would be good to use visualization activity to communicate the key  components of the problems and innovative solution discovered as clearly and simply as  possible. This is because explaining an idea through visualization reduces the possibility of  unmatched mental models. For example, we told leadership to execute “work from home”  policy for the team members to gain flexibility and increase productivity, the leadership  formed a notion that work from home could be equivalent to no work at all. Had we used  some visual elements, it would have been easy to break the pre-conceived notions


Challenges : I joined my Organisation as a manager for my research firm . As I spent few months with my team , I found out that despite hard work and slogging day and night , people were unable to perform as expected by the firm . Although the ownership and accountability in the team was high , the motivation to deliver excellence was challenging for the team members , especially among junior colleagues . As a result , the productivity of the team was decreasing which started reflecting in the quality of work delivered to the clients , few months down the line . The value delivered by the team started to deteriorate and the leadership of the firm was having hard time to understand what is causing the problem in the team Selection : The problem seemed complex . That ’s why I used design thinking to dissect where the problem was and generate ideas to boost motivation and productivity of the team , as well as foster culture of trust and leadership . I used ethnographic interview to understand the challenges to team ’s productivity and motivation . And then used mind mapping tool to find patterns and behavior that was causing threat to the team ’s motivation to deliver values . Mind mapping tools helped me to generate insights from ethnographic interviews of my team members , to fathom a common pattern that was causing threat to people ’s performance and delivering outcome from their respective roles Application : I made a questionnaire with the help of Human Resources ( HR ) team to interview people from across the level from a beginner level to a mid - level team members . My team size was 30 . Hence , the interview was first conducted on a one - on - one basis , and then the interview was followed in a group of 5 - 6 people consisting a mixture of people across levels . In one- on - one interviews , team members were given assurances whatever they said will not be held back against and encouraged them to be more honest and open in their answers . The questions that was asked included what are the issues they faced in their personal and professional life , what matters them in work , what passionate them , what are their fear and anxiety in the workplace , what was causing demotivation to work ( many more questions were also asked related to the problems faced by team members in their day - to - day work ) . After interviewing all of them , I and HR team sat together to cull out issue themes using mind mapping tool , and breaking those issues into specific problems that directed us to the real issues and concern faced by the team . This helped us to brainstorm potential innovative solution that could improve the performance of the team members and delivery outcome Insights : While interviewing the people , from a bird ’s eye - view it was found that lack of skill sets , culture of punishment , and deficiency of empathy was the major reason behind the threat to team members ’ problems . But using mind mapping tool it was discovered that the problem appears to be deep 1 . It was not lack of skill set , but it was lack of confidence during an engagement project that was causing the problem . There were new engagements that was coming in the team that required team members to gain confidence in equipping themselves to new skills which they were unable to do so due to absence of proper learning and development programme . In addition , some team members ’ interest areas were not being taken into consideration , and was forcefully allocated projects which did not ignite passion and motivation to do well 2 . When team members were unable to perform well , instead of equipping and helping them they were undervalued and mocked 3 . The team members were never appreciated and rewarded for the work they performed , and was paid lower compensation as compared to what the firm ’s competitors paid to its employees 4 . There was lack of empathy in the team to understand each other ’s problems , as well as lack of flexibility which prevented employees to have a work - life balance 5 . There was no transparency in the team , and the communication channel seemed to have been blocked among team members , HR and leadership of the firm 6 . Some people were not being promoted to the higher level for many years , despite exhibiting exceptional performance With the help of HR team , we developed a series of learning and development programme , that brought confidence to the strengths of the team members , created greater empathy and ownership , and helped team members demonstrate leadership in their day - to - day work . I together with the leadership of the organisation exhibited genuinity in the careers of the employees through frequent catch - ups , and coached them to move above the ladder or take up roles or projects which they were passionate about . The team members were appreciated for their exceptional performance through rewards and recognition , which motivated employees to strive for excellence Approach : While mind mapping tool helped us to gain insights to the problem and construct related innovative solutions , it took a long time to make the leadership ( CEOs , HR Head , CFOs , and Directors ) understand the real - specific problem faced by the team members to help us in executing the innovative solution we discovered with the help of HR team . Hence , next time it would be good to use visualization activity to communicate the key components of the problems and innovative solution discovered as clearly and simply as possible . This is because explaining an idea through visualization reduces the possibility of unmatched mental models . For example , we told leadership to execute “ work from home ” policy for the team members to gain flexibility and increase productivity , the leadership formed a notion that work from home could be equivalent to no work at all . Had we used some visual elements , it would have been easy to break the pre - conceived notions