Assignment on Design Thinking    Mickael Richardson

Challenge: As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities of our multi-business  organisation, we run a volunteering initiative, whereby employees are encouraged to offer time and  expertise in supporting CSR projects undertaken by the independent companies constituting the group.  While there are large number of employees with the right skill and those who could spare time for  these projects, the number of actual volunteers are very few. It has been our challenge to get more  people to volunteer. The various stakeholders involved in addressing this challenge include: i) Group  level CSR team – responsible for developing the program, ii) Individual company CSR teams – who  identify relevant CSR projects from several requests for help that each company receives, iii) Existing  Volunteers – who have already pledged their time for supporting the projects, iv) Non Volunteers –  employees who could possibly participate, but haven’t yet volunteered, v) Representatives from CSR  projects – who specify their requirement for effort/skills required for successfully completing their  projects.  Even though the present volunteering efforts have surpassed the targets set, since this is an  ongoing initiative, the aspiration is to tap the immense potential amongst those not on board yet.

Tool Selection and application: It my endeavour to apply the Design Thinking approach to address the  above challenge. The 4 stages discussed in this course – What Is? What If? What Wows? And What  Works? are perfectly applicable to the challenge. There are two tools that one could use in my efforts:  mind-maps and story-telling. Both mind-mapping and storytelling may be useful in all four stages, and  for all five stakeholders (as mentioned earlier) albeit with some degree of difference in application. The  reason for selecting mind mapping as a tool is because of its simplicity and ease of understanding by  participants as also mentioned in the video on mind map tool shown in Week 3. While mind mapping is  not very common amongst participants, it is intuitive and easily adopted once explained. Moreover,  there are really no mistakes that one can make in a mind map, at best some of the nodes may not be  considered relevant and ignored. Another consideration for selecting mind-mapping is because of  availability of automated tools such as www.mindmeister.com, www.mindmup.com, https://coggle.it/,  http://wisemapping.com/ etc. which are freely available and make the drawing of mind maps very easy.

Tool Application: The manner in which I intend to leverage power of mind-mapping across four stages  and five stakeholders is as follows:

Group  CSR

Team

Company  CSR

Team

Volunteer  Non Volunteer  Project  Beneficiary

What  Is?

To clearly state the  expectations from  the  group  level

program

To clearly state the  proposed value to  be delivered in the  present  projects

selected.

To  clearly  state

one’s experiences  of in terms of  inspiration,  time

spent,  activities

carried out, and  learning.

Understand  the

reasons for their  lack  of

involvement  and

concerns  that

seem to hold them  back

How  have  the

present  sent  of

volunteers  contributed  to

their projects

What  If?

To explore what  could  be  larger

impact  of  this

program  on

various  stakeholders as far  as the organisation  was concerned

To  specify  how

they could further  improve on the  variety  of  CSR

projects  they

select in order to  attract new people  into volunteering.

To  understand

from them what  more they would  have liked to do if  some  of  the

constraints  were

addressed  or

opportunities were  available

To  help  them

vocalise  what

would  need  to

happen for them  to  join

volunteering,  or

alternately  what

would  they  do

differently if they  were to join.

To  let  them

imagine  what

other  outcomes

and  value

propositions  would  be

achievable  with

the same set of  resources  available.

Assignment on Design Thinking    Mickael Richardson

Group  CSR

Team

Company  CSR

Team

Volunteer  Non Volunteer  Project  Beneficiary

What  Wows?

To identify unique  ways of leveraging  the  program  to

create  hitherto

unimagined value  to all stakeholders.

To let them specify  what would be an  ideal result that  would help them  emphasise  their

importance at the  organisation.

To  make  them

relive some of the  highlights of their  experiences which  could  act  as

inspiration  for

others.

To support them  with articulation of  what they would  consider as a wow  project which they  would  be

compelled  to

volunteer.

To help the project  beneficiaries  identify  superlative  achievement  of

their goals

What  Works?

To shortlist couple  of new programs  from  the  new

ideas.

To help the CSR  teams with a few  novel project ideas  and a completely  unique of doing  those projects.

To help volunteers  pin-point that one  compelling reason  that would make  them come back  to  join  this

initiative

To identify that  one  compelling

argument  which

will reduce their  dissonance  and

turn  them  to

volunteering.

To  establish  a

practice  that

would help them  maximise  their

results.

Insight: The insight one aims to gather from use of mind-mapping activity are the non-obvious, hitherto  unarticulated and sometimes non-connected motivations, inspirations, concerns, and other such  emotional drivers for volunteering. These insights might be leveraged for creating the right appeal for  potential volunteers and reinforcing messages for existing volunteers. One also hopes to generate  insights that might help measure actual impact of volunteering on completion of projects. This will be  very useful for project managers as well as policy creators in an organisation, to assign credit to the  volunteers in order to reward or recognise them meaningfully. Further, insights from this activity could  also help match the nature or diversity of projects with the type of employee skills within the  organisation, so that more people will find volunteering easier. Finally, insights from this exercise could  also be used to identify – i) interesting new project ideas, ii) novel ways of participating in existing or  known projects, iii) filtering out un-intended misconceptions about volunteering etc.

Alternate Approach: As mentioned in the tool selection paragraph, the tool of storytelling could also be  used powerfully for achieving similar results and insights. Program managers could be asked to narrate  stories of how and why they chose to draft the program in a certain manner. These would lead to  exploring what other ways could they have achieved similar result (if they had chosen different  initiatives), or what other results could they have planned for (if the selected initiatives were  maintained as is). Volunteers could have narrated stories of their experiences and helped create  emotionally compelling drivers for others to join the volunteering initiatives. Non-volunteers could have  been requested to tell stories of failed attempts of volunteering that they might have heard from others  and which resulted in they not volunteering themselves. The reason this tool was not considered was  due to the difficulty faced by common folks in converting their experiences into stories that can be  narrated impactfully. Most participants would have to be trained to help them capture their emotions  into stories and make them engaging enough for others. Most importantly my own confidence of  conveying the usefulness of how story-telling might be best used in developing insights was limited.  Hence, this tool was reserved for a later date when one would develop enough expertise and  experience.


Assignment on Design Thinking Mickael Richardson Challenge : As part of the Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR ) activities of our multi - business organisation , we run a volunteering initiative , whereby employees are encouraged to offer time and expertise in supporting CSR projects undertaken by the independent companies constituting the group . While there are large number of employees with the right skill and those who could spare time for these projects , the number of actual volunteers are very few . It has been our challenge to get more people to volunteer . The various stakeholders involved in addressing this challenge include : i ) Group level CSR team – responsible for developing the program , ii ) Individual company CSR teams – who identify relevant CSR projects from several requests for help that each company receives , iii ) Existing Volunteers – who have already pledged their time for supporting the projects , iv ) Non Volunteers – employees who could possibly participate , but have n’t yet volunteered , v ) Representatives from CSR projects – who specify their requirement for effort / skills required for successfully completing their projects . Even though the present volunteering efforts have surpassed the targets set , since this is an ongoing initiative , the aspiration is to tap the immense potential amongst those not on board yet . Tool Selection and application : It my endeavour to apply the Design Thinking approach to address the above challenge . The 4 stages discussed in this course – What Is ? What If ? What Wows ? And What Works ? are perfectly applicable to the challenge . There are two tools that one could use in my efforts : mind - maps and story - telling . Both mind - mapping and storytelling may be useful in all four stages , and for all five stakeholders ( as mentioned earlier ) albeit with some degree of difference in application . The reason for selecting mind mapping as a tool is because of its simplicity and ease of understanding by participants as also mentioned in the video on mind map tool shown in Week 3 . While mind mapping is not very common amongst participants , it is intuitive and easily adopted once explained . Moreover , there are really no mistakes that one can make in a mind map , at best some of the nodes may not be considered relevant and ignored . Another consideration for selecting mind - mapping is because of availability of automated tools such as www.mindmeister.com , www.mindmup.com , https://coggle.it/ , http://wisemapping.com/ etc . which are freely available and make the drawing of mind maps very easy . Tool Application : The manner in which I intend to leverage power of mind - mapping across four stages and five stakeholders is as follows : Group CSR Team Company CSR Team Volunteer Non Volunteer Project Beneficiary What Is ? To clearly state the expectations from the group level program To clearly state the proposed value to be delivered in the present projects selected . To clearly state one ’s experiences of in terms of inspiration , time spent , activities carried out , and learning . Understand the reasons for their lack of involvement and concerns that seem to hold them back How have the present sent of volunteers contributed to their projects What If ? To explore what could be larger impact of this program on various stakeholders as far as the organisation was concerned To specify how they could further improve on the variety of CSR projects they select in order to attract new people into volunteering . To understand from them what more they would have liked to do if some of the constraints were addressed or opportunities were available To help them vocalise what would need to happen for them to join volunteering , or alternately what would they do differently if they were to join . To let them imagine what other outcomes and value propositions would be achievable with the same set of resources available . Assignment on Design Thinking Mickael Richardson Group CSR Team Company CSR Team Volunteer Non Volunteer Project Beneficiary What Wows ? To identify unique ways of leveraging the program to create hitherto unimagined value to all stakeholders . To let them specify what would be an ideal result that would help them emphasise their importance at the organisation . To make them relive some of the highlights of their experiences which could act as inspiration for others . To support them with articulation of what they would consider as a wow project which they would be compelled to volunteer . To help the project beneficiaries identify superlative achievement of their goals What Works ? To shortlist couple of new programs from the new ideas . To help the CSR teams with a few novel project ideas and a completely unique of doing those projects . To help volunteers pin - point that one compelling reason that would make them come back to join this initiative To identify that one compelling argument which will reduce their dissonance and turn them to volunteering . To establish a practice that would help them maximise their results . Insight : The insight one aims to gather from use of mind - mapping activity are the non - obvious , hitherto unarticulated and sometimes non - connected motivations , inspirations , concerns , and other such emotional drivers for volunteering . These insights might be leveraged for creating the right appeal for potential volunteers and reinforcing messages for existing volunteers . One also hopes to generate insights that might help measure actual impact of volunteering on completion of projects . This will be very useful for project managers as well as policy creators in an organisation , to assign credit to the volunteers in order to reward or recognise them meaningfully . Further , insights from this activity could also help match the nature or diversity of projects with the type of employee skills within the organisation , so that more people will find volunteering easier . Finally , insights from this exercise could also be used to identify – i ) interesting new project ideas , ii ) novel ways of participating in existing or known projects , iii ) filtering out un - intended misconceptions about volunteering etc . Alternate Approach : As mentioned in the tool selection paragraph , the tool of storytelling could also be used powerfully for achieving similar results and insights . Program managers could be asked to narrate stories of how and why they chose to draft the program in a certain manner . These would lead to exploring what other ways could they have achieved similar result ( if they had chosen different initiatives ) , or what other results could they have planned for ( if the selected initiatives were maintained as is ) . Volunteers could have narrated stories of their experiences and helped create emotionally compelling drivers for others to join the volunteering initiatives . Non - volunteers could have been requested to tell stories of failed attempts of volunteering that they might have heard from others and which resulted in they not volunteering themselves . The reason this tool was not considered was due to the difficulty faced by common folks in converting their experiences into stories that can be narrated impactfully . Most participants would have to be trained to help them capture their emotions into stories and make them engaging enough for others . Most importantly my own confidence of conveying the usefulness of how story - telling might be best used in developing insights was limited . Hence , this tool was reserved for a later date when one would develop enough expertise and experience .