Exploration phase: observe and listen

A multidisciplinary team made up of people from varied backgrounds, such as designers, accountants, engineers or psychologists, observes human behaviour, considers a problem they have, and mulls a solution.

The team should have no more than ten members; the more diverse, the better: different backgrounds, ages, cultures, and seniority. Define together the major challenge facing the company; from high costs to employee engagement or a product that is now obsolete in the post-pandemic world. Then investigate what’s behind the problem. Explore the suppliers, the customers, the processes. Look at the details. For example, look into how the customer has changed their behaviour. Are they buying another product? Are they buying it differently? Ask questions. Take pictures, record answers and meet with the team to analyse the findings.

Ideation Phase: brainstorm multiple ideas

In the second phase, ideation or creation, think of how the team could solve the problem. Here is where the tool SCAMPER is very useful. As per The Innovation Answer Book by Teresa Jurgens-Kowal, SCAMPER is an acronym used to trigger alternate associations of existing solutions in addressing a problem. Use it to find different approaches to the problem. It can be like a virtual brainstorming.

Substitute: can you substitute or exchange parts, material or components of the existing solution? Many companies, for example, are replacing permanent human resources and employee development departments with consultants to reduce fixed costs and improve training quality. Other companies are taking the opposite approach and using current employees to do jobs that would otherwise go to a contractor in order to reduce project costs.

Combine: can you combine different steps or processes? Telehealth is a solution that is combining experts, new technologies like Zoom or Facetime and apps to make health checks more affordable and accessible. Another combination in manufacturing is TPM (total productive maintenance), which combines the skills of the maintenance department and operators to prevent problems and reduce idle hours.

Adapt: can you adjust a specific task or product for better output? Many ideas in a company were ideated during informal conversations. Working remotely that kind of interaction is less frequent or not possible. Many companies have created virtual spaces where employees can meet. From an informal breakfast on Zoom to Slack channels, or specific tools like StarMeUP, these intimate connections can still be promoted only by making small adjustments to the current communication process.

Modify, minimize, or magnify: how can you adjust the whole process? Two-hour meetings online are more disengaging than face-to-face gatherings. Can you minimize them to a 30-minutes meeting? Or can you turn 4-hour learning modules to 15-minutes smaller pieces that can be delivered online?

Put to another use: use products for another purpose, recycle waste or choose a different target market. Let’s take Airbnb. It has a booking system that is now almost obsolete because nobody can travel. Can Airbnb pivot their system to provide home-office spaces for parents that need to focus? Can single people rent rooms or desks during the day through the same app?

Eliminate: this is my favourite, so simple and still so hard to accept. Can you remove parts or eliminate unneeded resources to improve a process? How many things were you keeping that now seem irrelevant? Have you found yourself noting you didn’t need broken tools, old-fashion clothes or duplicated steps? Use the 5S method to sort needed from unneeded. Now not only booking rentals but also a doctor or coaching appointments have gone online, eliminating the process of waiting or various emails back and forth discussing the best time for a meeting.

Reverse: rearrange parts or reverse the process. The command and control process would require the C-suite to come up with solutions for problems. Now, agile teams require that solutions come from the bottom-up. The ones that know the processes better are the employees, why not let them figure it out? It is the first change to a successful design thinking.

Implementation: iterate until you solve the problem

And the last stage is implementation. At this point, you should have tons of ideas. Ten team members by 7 Scampers, that’s around 70 ideas minimum! Prioritize and test these ideas quickly. Use pilot teams or focus groups to try them out and see what works best. Contact a coach to help you facilitate meetings to make them more effective if needed. Iteration is part of the process, so implement them right away and make adjustments as needed.

In Japanese, to write the word crisis they use two signs: danger and opportunity. Maybe, this is the time for your company to fight the threat and find creative ways to unleash this opportunity.