December 24, 2016

Desiree Mazza Newtown, CT USA

Coursera : Design Thinking for Innovation Jan. 2, 2017

Challenge and Selection

Coming from a family who were Joseph Campbell gurus, members of AA and  writers, Storytelling is a revealing tool of connection, information, and shared  insight.

After 40 years in management in Finance and Accounting for Vessel owning  and operating companies, I joined a small Maritime Asset investment company.  This was the first time I was on the other side of the deal. Instead of asking for  investments for operating Vessels, I was now on the financer investor side. The  president had called for an off site conference to work on our deal closing  process and ask all of us to contribute new ideas that could improve closing  portfolio deals. He asked for each employee to contribute 3 ideas no matter  how crazy the ideas were.

Application

As a new employee, I decided that for me to contribute anything of value, I  needed to have more information about the company’s deal procedures. Like  any small busy office, free time to explore is rare, except lunchtime. Most days  we have a choice to eat at our desk, go out or eat in the conference room. The  off- site conference was 3 weeks away, and I needed to get as much  background information as possible, so I started asking anyone to come have  lunch with me in the conference room, that I didn’t want to mess up the  paperwork on my desk. Slowly within the first week, most of the 15 employees  were having lunch together from 30 minutes to an hour in the conference  room.  I put together several prompt questions in my head to encourage  employees to tell their experiences on past deals. Whenever there was a lull in  the conversation, I would use one of my prompts, i.e. “What was the best or  worst deal you ever had, and followed up with what made it so great or  horrible?”.  Eventually the funny, euphoric, and disaster stories came pouring  out. My favorite one was an 11th hour hold on wire transfers because an Owner  purchasing a vessel did not want to pay for 50 pounds of ghee butter in the  stores onboard the ship. One lunch lasted 2 hours as we heard the stories of 3  past costly deals. The natural sharing of experiences became a midday stress  relief. After lunch I would quickly write on post-it notes the highlights of each

story. Days before the conference, I put together common themes of the story  telling including my perspective from my past history of being on the other side  of the deal table. I combined the paraphrased story quotes to present to the  conference, highlighting the common areas where the specific procedures were  key to the success or common roadblocks that kept repeating themselves.

As a new employee I was essentially an outsider, and I wasn’t able to provide  answers, but I was able to contribute a non threatening spot light on common  key components from both sides of the deal process.

Insight and Approach

The story sharing was a wealth of information, that revealed several times  international funds were delayed during investment closings, late information  that rendered a deal dead with much expense to tales of Ship owner’s  disagreements on last minute inventories while partaking in several shots of  vodka. Even though I was a new employee I was able to fully participate by  building a library of my colleague’s own stories that exposed both great  strategies and bottlenecks. Another team member commented,  “we have been  doing these deals for so long, the same way, we never noticed we could simply  modify a step to avoid self imposed struggles or that it was possible to find  problem information earlier”.

As a result of the conference discussion on the focused areas the team came up  with ideas to supplement deals with emergency financing if foreign funding got  delayed: pre-closing check lists to prevent last minute missing term  information, avoid disagreements before asset transfers and change accounting  reporting to provide timely information and documentation to identify dead  deals earlier.

I do not come from a design thinking background, but have realized that  design thinking tools can be used even for the smallest projects. Anyone  regardless of position or experience can apply design thinking tools to find  improvement.  I found people love to share their own history, with humor and  to this day most of us still have lunch together in the conference room. I plan  to continue to incorporate and explore the tools I have learned as I pursue my  midlife career, and volunteer work.


December 24 , 2016 Desiree Mazza Newtown , CT USA Coursera : Design Thinking for Innovation Jan. 2 , 2017 Challenge and Selection Coming from a family who were Joseph Campbell gurus , members of AA and writers , Storytelling is a revealing tool of connection , information , and shared insight . After 40 years in management in Finance and Accounting for Vessel owning and operating companies , I joined a small Maritime Asset investment company . This was the first time I was on the other side of the deal . Instead of asking for investments for operating Vessels , I was now on the financer investor side . The president had called for an off site conference to work on our deal closing process and ask all of us to contribute new ideas that could improve closing portfolio deals . He asked for each employee to contribute 3 ideas no matter how crazy the ideas were . Application As a new employee , I decided that for me to contribute anything of value , I needed to have more information about the company ’s deal procedures . Like any small busy office , free time to explore is rare , except lunchtime . Most days we have a choice to eat at our desk , go out or eat in the conference room . The off- site conference was 3 weeks away , and I needed to get as much background information as possible , so I started asking anyone to come have lunch with me in the conference room , that I did n’t want to mess up the paperwork on my desk . Slowly within the first week , most of the 15 employees were having lunch together from 30 minutes to an hour in the conference room . I put together several prompt questions in my head to encourage employees to tell their experiences on past deals . Whenever there was a lull in the conversation , I would use one of my prompts , i.e. “ What was the best or worst deal you ever had , and followed up with what made it so great or horrible ? ” . Eventually the funny , euphoric , and disaster stories came pouring out . My favorite one was an 11th hour hold on wire transfers because an Owner purchasing a vessel did not want to pay for 50 pounds of ghee butter in the stores onboard the ship . One lunch lasted 2 hours as we heard the stories of 3 past costly deals . The natural sharing of experiences became a midday stress relief . After lunch I would quickly write on post - it notes the highlights of each story . Days before the conference , I put together common themes of the story telling including my perspective from my past history of being on the other side of the deal table . I combined the paraphrased story quotes to present to the conference , highlighting the common areas where the specific procedures were key to the success or common roadblocks that kept repeating themselves . As a new employee I was essentially an outsider , and I was n’t able to provide answers , but I was able to contribute a non threatening spot light on common key components from both sides of the deal process . Insight and Approach The story sharing was a wealth of information , that revealed several times international funds were delayed during investment closings , late information that rendered a deal dead with much expense to tales of Ship owner ’s disagreements on last minute inventories while partaking in several shots of vodka . Even though I was a new employee I was able to fully participate by building a library of my colleague ’s own stories that exposed both great strategies and bottlenecks . Another team member commented , “ we have been doing these deals for so long , the same way , we never noticed we could simply modify a step to avoid self imposed struggles or that it was possible to find problem information earlier ” . As a result of the conference discussion on the focused areas the team came up with ideas to supplement deals with emergency financing if foreign funding got delayed : pre - closing check lists to prevent last minute missing term information , avoid disagreements before asset transfers and change accounting reporting to provide timely information and documentation to identify dead deals earlier . I do not come from a design thinking background , but have realized that design thinking tools can be used even for the smallest projects . Anyone regardless of position or experience can apply design thinking tools to find improvement . I found people love to share their own history , with humor and to this day most of us still have lunch together in the conference room . I plan to continue to incorporate and explore the tools I have learned as I pursue my midlife career , and volunteer work .