Top Skills for Design Thinking Facilitators
Over the last decade, Design Thinking has risen from being a novel framework for creativity to becoming a cornerstone for developing corporate strategy. It is an iterative process that seeks to understand users, challenge assumptions, and create solutions that deliver exponential returns. Design Thinking is used by some of the world’s most innovative companies, including Google, Apple, and Amazon, to address difficult problems and increase customer engagement.
Many organizations are actively looking to implement Design Thinking and opt to use a facilitator to expedite the process. A facilitator is an extension of the team and can significantly decrease the time needed to learn and adopt the framework. When adding a Design Thinking facilitator to your team make sure to look for more than just an understanding of the process and tools used in practice. Spend some time to ensure that they will add value to the team by looking for the following skills.
Empathetic – The entire basis of Design Thinking is having empathy for your customer. The secret is not stopping at defining the customer journey but going deeper to really understand the motivations behind their actions. What are the customers’ foundational values, what influences their decisions, and what are the moments that matter? Remember, humans are not logical beings, and we make our decisions based on emotional connection.
Systems Driven – A great Design Thinking facilitator will have roots in process design, systems engineering, and understand the various elements that form to create an unforgettable experience. Experiences are driven by multiple variables including the story, visuals, sounds, smells, and more.
Curious – In order to create a solution that puts a dent in the universe, you have to have an unnatural level of curiosity. The best Design Thinking facilitators are always asking why, why, why – focused on finding the root cause for any issue.
Iterative – Design Thinking is focused on creating solutions, getting them into the hands of the customer, and working to understand how they can be improved. The best Design Thinking facilitators are well versed in the old Nike term of “Just Do It” and are comfortable bringing an imperfect product to market.
Creative – Last but not least, the facilitator must be creative or better yet have creative confidence. Creative confidence is not about who is the most artistic or can think outside of the box. It’s the simple matter of if an individual can take a blank sheet of paper and start to define their ideas. An idea has to start somewhere, and the best facilitators know how to get it started.
Stonehill is a strategy and innovation consultancy. We work with some of the world’s leading brands to design products, services, and experiences. Our solutions drive revenue and increase bottom-line margins. Design Thinking is the foundation for everything we do and helps us ensure that the customer is central in each step of our process. If we can help you adopt Design Thinking or create new products give us a call at 813-444-1984.