Reflection: Design Thinking for Innovation

Challenge & Selection

The tool I have chosen for this reflection is storytelling as most of the challenges I face in my professional life as a consultant, data scientist, and trainer have to do with either people or data and storytelling is an element which is useful in both areas.

When I work with clients, the topics we work on usually revolve around change management and innovative (or at least novel) approaches to problem-solving and, at least in my experience, people often are at least somewhat reluctant to change their behavior and ways of thinking. This might be due to the fact that they are lacking knowledge or skills on how to properly assess and address the problem at hand or due to their personality traits and attitudes. When I use stories of how other people overcame the challenges at hand, they tend to be more open about the topics that we are discussing as they are more emotionally engaged and do not feel as if they are “forced” to change or learn something new.

When I work with data, I need a way of communicating my results to the relevant stakeholders. Instead of just presenting tables and numbers, I try to approach it as a storytelling scenario to get my message across. This usually works as people’s attention is captured more than it would be the case with less interestings ways of presenting the respective results.

Application

One example when I used a storytelling approach was when I wanted to promote a project I was taking part in on social media and wanted people to take something away from my content as well. My solution to this challenge was to combine marketing content with a tutorial on how to analyze social media data. In other words, I applied the method of storytelling in combination with data analysis to show how we as a community work together, who our community members are, where we are from, and what we are interested in. This was a fruitful approach as people not only learned about our project but could use the code I included in my content to apply it to their own communities.

Insight & Approach

Generally speaking, this course helped me to become more conscious of how to apply design thinking tools and methods in my daily work. While I was aware that the method of storytelling can be used to impact people and foster creative thinking and innovation, I never intended to do so in my early works and rather used storytelling as a simple way to communicate what I did in my analyses and how people can use and adapt my code to fit their own needs. Over time I learned how to apply the method more systematically and to be more clear and specific with the main message I want to convey in my written work. This

also applied to my work as a consultant where I try to use stories more intentionally to help them overcome barriers to change and adopt a more flexible and agile mindset.


Reflection : Design Thinking for Innovation Challenge & Selection The tool I have chosen for this reflection is storytelling as most of the challenges I face in my professional life as a consultant , data scientist , and trainer have to do with either people or data and storytelling is an element which is useful in both areas . When I work with clients , the topics we work on usually revolve around change management and innovative ( or at least novel ) approaches to problem - solving and , at least in my experience , people often are at least somewhat reluctant to change their behavior and ways of thinking . This might be due to the fact that they are lacking knowledge or skills on how to properly assess and address the problem at hand or due to their personality traits and attitudes . When I use stories of how other people overcame the challenges at hand , they tend to be more open about the topics that we are discussing as they are more emotionally engaged and do not feel as if they are “ forced ” to change or learn something new . When I work with data , I need a way of communicating my results to the relevant stakeholders . Instead of just presenting tables and numbers , I try to approach it as a storytelling scenario to get my message across . This usually works as people ’s attention is captured more than it would be the case with less interestings ways of presenting the respective results . Application One example when I used a storytelling approach was when I wanted to promote a project I was taking part in on social media and wanted people to take something away from my content as well . My solution to this challenge was to combine marketing content with a tutorial on how to analyze social media data . In other words , I applied the method of storytelling in combination with data analysis to show how we as a community work together , who our community members are , where we are from , and what we are interested in . This was a fruitful approach as people not only learned about our project but could use the code I included in my content to apply it to their own communities . Insight & Approach Generally speaking , this course helped me to become more conscious of how to apply design thinking tools and methods in my daily work . While I was aware that the method of storytelling can be used to impact people and foster creative thinking and innovation , I never intended to do so in my early works and rather used storytelling as a simple way to communicate what I did in my analyses and how people can use and adapt my code to fit their own needs . Over time I learned how to apply the method more systematically and to be more clear and specific with the main message I want to convey in my written work . This also applied to my work as a consultant where I try to use stories more intentionally to help them overcome barriers to change and adopt a more flexible and agile mindset .