DESIGN THINKING FOR INOVATION IN BUSINESS

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Dulce Da Silva – gday@hotmail.com                                               1

Dulce Da Silva   gday@hotmail.com

Challenge & Selection

When I first got in touch with the Design Thinking approach, one of the first things that  really interested me was the tool of Storytelling. As a Logistics Performance  Coordinator, my team is responsible for consolidating the numbers regarding budgets,  results and expenditures, trends, consolidate the main KPIs and all the reporting for  the Logistics area.   I used to feel very frustrated when we were showing all the leaders and the decision  makers the numbers and presentations in a way that was only informative. I felt that  somehow we were failing to tell a good story that could change the way they  understand how the Logistics Team could contribute, for example, to achieve a better  result, to understand how the teams could be challenged or even how logistics could  increase the Service Level provided to the customers.  When my team and I started to discuss the better ways to inspire our leaders to see  the Logistics process not only as a necessary cost, but also as a competitive path to  deliver value to the customers, we started to put ourselves in their position and that’s  when the Storytelling tool seemed to be appropriate. We challenged ourselves to try  to imagine how they would react to the information that we were showing, how they  could connect with a subject that they don’t have a technical understanding, where  were the pain points that would need their intervention, so that the presentation and  the reports would change from an informative tool to a moment of sharing experiences  and an inspiration to new ideas.

Application

The first time we applied the Storytelling tool for the purpose of building a different  Presentation for a better engagement of the Business Leaders was a Logistics Follow  Up Meeting that we have regularly with the Vice President and his Directors. My team  and I sat previously together with the Business Performance team – that was always  providing on a daily basis presentations and other reports to those leaders – and  discussed the overall perception that they have about their particular approach with  other subjects and how they better react to information and interact with it. In that way  we could use their inputs to build up an experience that could interest the leaders, that  would change the presentation from a technical perspective to a more business  focused and to show them our challenges in a form that they would contribute and feel  part of the solution.

Insight & Approach

When we started the presentation, the leaders’ reactions to it were instantaneous. We  started it by telling the story about the impacts on the Company’s results – cost  reduction, overall performance and always connecting with the EBITDA terms, so that  they could follow everything on their particular language – then we talked about the  Projects and New Ideas and how they interact with the Business. We also brought  images and videos to give a better idea of the technical concepts that we shared so

DESIGN THINKING FOR INOVATION IN BUSINESS

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Dulce Da Silva – gday@hotmail.com                                               2

that they could have a better understand on why that information was so important. We  also left questions to be addressed by them in that specific forum. For example, we  were trying to develop projects that the Law Department was not prioritizing, the we  shared with the leaders the simplicity of the change we wanted to make by presenting  in a map that we were trying to change the billing point of a process to reduce the  travelled distance, impacting in an important cost reduction, they immediately got  involved and wanted to ensure that the project would be prioritized at that moment.  The insight was very clear for my team and I and we really understood that before we  use the Storytelling approach, we were trying to tell the leaders a story that was making  sense to us, but was not including them to design our strategies or even making an  effort to make that information understandable to them. When we changed the way we  showed the data, changing the perspective in a way that brings them to a dialogue and  simplify the discussions so that they got a clearer understanding of our challenges and  how they could contribute to solve them, the meetings started to be very inspiring and  strategical.  So after this first excellent experience that we had, the Storytelling tool became  essential to conduct every report and presentation that my team created. We also  started to get a good reputation on that field and we felt more enthusiastic to do a job  that is really useful and that creates a good expectation on the audience because they  feel curious now on how we are planning to share the information on the next time!


DESIGN THINKING FOR INOVATION IN BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Dulce Da Silva – gday@hotmail.com 1 Dulce Da Silva gday@hotmail.com Challenge & Selection When I first got in touch with the Design Thinking approach , one of the first things that really interested me was the tool of Storytelling . As a Logistics Performance Coordinator , my team is responsible for consolidating the numbers regarding budgets , results and expenditures , trends , consolidate the main KPIs and all the reporting for the Logistics area . I used to feel very frustrated when we were showing all the leaders and the decision makers the numbers and presentations in a way that was only informative . I felt that somehow we were failing to tell a good story that could change the way they understand how the Logistics Team could contribute , for example , to achieve a better result , to understand how the teams could be challenged or even how logistics could increase the Service Level provided to the customers . When my team and I started to discuss the better ways to inspire our leaders to see the Logistics process not only as a necessary cost , but also as a competitive path to deliver value to the customers , we started to put ourselves in their position and that ’s when the Storytelling tool seemed to be appropriate . We challenged ourselves to try to imagine how they would react to the information that we were showing , how they could connect with a subject that they do n’t have a technical understanding , where were the pain points that would need their intervention , so that the presentation and the reports would change from an informative tool to a moment of sharing experiences and an inspiration to new ideas . Application The first time we applied the Storytelling tool for the purpose of building a different Presentation for a better engagement of the Business Leaders was a Logistics Follow Up Meeting that we have regularly with the Vice President and his Directors . My team and I sat previously together with the Business Performance team – that was always providing on a daily basis presentations and other reports to those leaders – and discussed the overall perception that they have about their particular approach with other subjects and how they better react to information and interact with it . In that way we could use their inputs to build up an experience that could interest the leaders , that would change the presentation from a technical perspective to a more business focused and to show them our challenges in a form that they would contribute and feel part of the solution . Insight & Approach When we started the presentation , the leaders ’ reactions to it were instantaneous . We started it by telling the story about the impacts on the Company ’s results – cost reduction , overall performance and always connecting with the EBITDA terms , so that they could follow everything on their particular language – then we talked about the Projects and New Ideas and how they interact with the Business . We also brought images and videos to give a better idea of the technical concepts that we shared so DESIGN THINKING FOR INOVATION IN BUSINESS UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA Dulce Da Silva – gday@hotmail.com 2 that they could have a better understand on why that information was so important . We also left questions to be addressed by them in that specific forum . For example , we were trying to develop projects that the Law Department was not prioritizing , the we shared with the leaders the simplicity of the change we wanted to make by presenting in a map that we were trying to change the billing point of a process to reduce the travelled distance , impacting in an important cost reduction , they immediately got involved and wanted to ensure that the project would be prioritized at that moment . The insight was very clear for my team and I and we really understood that before we use the Storytelling approach , we were trying to tell the leaders a story that was making sense to us , but was not including them to design our strategies or even making an effort to make that information understandable to them . When we changed the way we showed the data , changing the perspective in a way that brings them to a dialogue and simplify the discussions so that they got a clearer understanding of our challenges and how they could contribute to solve them , the meetings started to be very inspiring and strategical . So after this first excellent experience that we had , the Storytelling tool became essential to conduct every report and presentation that my team created . We also started to get a good reputation on that field and we felt more enthusiastic to do a job that is really useful and that creates a good expectation on the audience because they feel curious now on how we are planning to share the information on the next time !