Understanding the Role of Visualization in the Design Thinking Process for a HR project on Internal  job postings:

Challenge:

The Internal Job posting (IJP) process was a very problematic space in my organization. The job  postings were taking a lot of time to apply. There were manager permissions required even after  eligibility. The number of stakeholders we had for the entire process were too many and there were  so many diverse opinions. We used visual thinking to get an understanding of the how we can  approach this problem and solve it in a way that will be a win win for all the stakeholders involved.  WE needed to identify pain points and opportunities for improving the situation.

Application:

We first started by creating boxes on a white board. To draw the boxes, we gathered inputs for the  talent acquisition and the management teams to understand the existing process and how they were operating currently. We referred to the standard operating procedures, the documentation and why  there was a delay in getting the IJP on the portals. We also spoke to the stakeholders and the  employees who were affected by the process to see if we could identify opportunities that were not  captured in the documentation we had referred to, the interview processes were informal in nature.

We used sticky notes and whiteboards to get the team to write down their ideas and what they  thought would work and what we could make better, some of the questions we had from our  research and interviews were:

1) What are the things that you think should be changed from the current process to make the  process more friendly?

2) What are the things that the managers felt were challenging when an employee moved to a  different team through an IJP process?

3) What changes would they feel need to be made to make the space more friendly so that we  could retain employees and not have them leave?

We then brainstormed and came up with the some of the issues and focused on the above main  things. Employees were frustrated because they felt they did not have the freedom to apply fpr roles  they liked and it all depended on the managers approval. Managers on the other hand felt that there  were no standard timelines established by the managers of the transferring team. They also felt that  once an employee was selected, they were not interested in doing their jobs to the best of their  abilities.

We created visuals that broke down the problems and came up with solutions that we thought would  help.

1) The employee can apply for jobs as and when they complete 2 years in the organization as a part of the standard lock in procedures.

2) Employees who were interested in moving teams could inform their managers of the same  and explicitly state that they want to move without fearing backlash.

3) As the employee starts the transition to move, the manager identifies team members who  can be trained and the employee moving creates or updates SOP’s to ensure that there is no loss of knowledge.

4) The manager sits with the employees and ensures that the transition is completed.

5) The employee can apply and if selected can move in 3 months to the other project.

6) If the employee is selected an external or internal job posting is made and the talent  acquisition team ensures that the back fill is hired immediately.

7) There was no need for manager approval to be provided while applying for jobs.

Learnings that I got:

Ensuring that the process was changed without a lot of disruption and ensuring that all the  stakeholders were satisfied, keeping all the stakeholders as the focus point and ensuring that all the  problems were ensured. This also helped us to improve our learning and development mechanism  so that employees who were interested in learning new things, could do that without any push back  or discouragement. The learning team also got a design thinking project to work on improving their  platform and quality of courses and how certifications could be obtained online without resorting to  offline practices. Identify the pain points and create a story around it so as to convince all that this  was a good solution to go with.

Keeping an open mind that this might create some issues just in case and hence keeping the  options open and thinking in advance of the solutions to the anticipated issues that might arise.

What I also learnt was sometimes its important to look at the bottom of the career ladder and not just the top and design solutions satisfying only the top management but also understanding that the  agents are building blocks and important too. Also not to have tunnel vison and look at the bigger  picture.


Understanding the Role of Visualization in the Design Thinking Process for a HR project on Internal job postings : Challenge : The Internal Job posting ( IJP ) process was a very problematic space in my organization . The job postings were taking a lot of time to apply . There were manager permissions required even after eligibility . The number of stakeholders we had for the entire process were too many and there were so many diverse opinions . We used visual thinking to get an understanding of the how we can approach this problem and solve it in a way that will be a win win for all the stakeholders involved . WE needed to identify pain points and opportunities for improving the situation . Application : We first started by creating boxes on a white board . To draw the boxes , we gathered inputs for the talent acquisition and the management teams to understand the existing process and how they were operating currently . We referred to the standard operating procedures , the documentation and why there was a delay in getting the IJP on the portals . We also spoke to the stakeholders and the employees who were affected by the process to see if we could identify opportunities that were not captured in the documentation we had referred to , the interview processes were informal in nature . We used sticky notes and whiteboards to get the team to write down their ideas and what they thought would work and what we could make better , some of the questions we had from our research and interviews were : 1 ) What are the things that you think should be changed from the current process to make the process more friendly ? 2 ) What are the things that the managers felt were challenging when an employee moved to a different team through an IJP process ? 3 ) What changes would they feel need to be made to make the space more friendly so that we could retain employees and not have them leave ? We then brainstormed and came up with the some of the issues and focused on the above main things . Employees were frustrated because they felt they did not have the freedom to apply fpr roles they liked and it all depended on the managers approval . Managers on the other hand felt that there were no standard timelines established by the managers of the transferring team . They also felt that once an employee was selected , they were not interested in doing their jobs to the best of their abilities . We created visuals that broke down the problems and came up with solutions that we thought would help . 1 ) The employee can apply for jobs as and when they complete 2 years in the organization as a part of the standard lock in procedures . 2 ) Employees who were interested in moving teams could inform their managers of the same and explicitly state that they want to move without fearing backlash . 3 ) As the employee starts the transition to move , the manager identifies team members who can be trained and the employee moving creates or updates SOP ’s to ensure that there is no loss of knowledge . 4 ) The manager sits with the employees and ensures that the transition is completed . 5 ) The employee can apply and if selected can move in 3 months to the other project . 6 ) If the employee is selected an external or internal job posting is made and the talent acquisition team ensures that the back fill is hired immediately . 7 ) There was no need for manager approval to be provided while applying for jobs . Learnings that I got : Ensuring that the process was changed without a lot of disruption and ensuring that all the stakeholders were satisfied , keeping all the stakeholders as the focus point and ensuring that all the problems were ensured . This also helped us to improve our learning and development mechanism so that employees who were interested in learning new things , could do that without any push back or discouragement . The learning team also got a design thinking project to work on improving their platform and quality of courses and how certifications could be obtained online without resorting to offline practices . Identify the pain points and create a story around it so as to convince all that this was a good solution to go with . Keeping an open mind that this might create some issues just in case and hence keeping the options open and thinking in advance of the solutions to the anticipated issues that might arise . What I also learnt was sometimes its important to look at the bottom of the career ladder and not just the top and design solutions satisfying only the top management but also understanding that the agents are building blocks and important too . Also not to have tunnel vison and look at the bigger picture .