Leaders's Digest #07 - 1 May 2018

LEADERS ISSUE 07

1 May 2018

DIGEST

What Now for Design Thinking?

This fortnightly publication is dedicated to advancing civil service leadership and putting it into practice contemporary leadership principles.

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PUBLICATION TEAM EDITORIAL

Editor-in-Chief Segaren Senior Editor Siti Rahanah Amat Dollah Assistant Editor Samson Tan Diana Marie Capel Graphic Designer Awang Ismail bin Awang Hambali Abdul Rani Haji Adenan

CONTENTS

ISSUE 7 I 1 MAY 2018

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DESIGN THINKING AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL

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SOCIAL RANGERS IN SERVICE DESIGN THINKING

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THINKING OUT OF THE BOX, THE INNOVATOR’S MIND

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4 ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE VISUAL THINKING

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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

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JOKES

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“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like.

Design is how it works.”

- Steve Jobs

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DESIGN THINKING AS A PROBLEM-SOLVING TOOL What Is It And Why Use It

BY SANDY CLARKE

In solving problems, design thinking repeatedly asks the most important question than can be asked in business: Why? There’s a dreadful notion that often rears its ugly head, expressing the idea that in order to achieve a goal or clear an obstacle, we need only attempt the thing once and it’s done. Personally, I blame Internet memes.

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Conventional wisdom – wrong as it’s continually proved to be – is often at the root of some shaky business philosophies, many of which are so clichéridden that any kind of intellectual pursuit in building or creating anything worthwhile gets buried in the saccharine mix of meaningless tautologies.

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One irksome example of this can be found in the oft-repeated phrase, “Fail fast and fail often.” It’s safe to presume few patients would survive if their surgeons embraced this advice. Had it been the motto of the great leader, Alexander the Great, he might well have been remembered as Alexander.

Conventional wisdom allows us to take the easy road; we don’t have to engage our brains much. There’s no need to think about what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and why. And while clichés can sound great, they are to creation and innovation what the sword of Alexander the Great was to the Persian army.

And so we arrive at our problem: How can organisations truly address the problems that they face? How can they go beyond the ideas that sound good and reach a place where real progress can be made, the kind of progress that offers solutions that last?

By embracing design thinking in our approach to problem-solving, we step outside the box and encounter two realisations: 1. PROBLEMS AREN’T ALWAYS SOLVED THE FIRST TIME This sounds obvious, right? So why do we repeatedly act otherwise, carrying the attitude that if there’s a problem, it should be fixed immediately? This shows our tendency to incline towards the quick fix when there often isn’t one.

2. DESIGN DOESN’T DESCRIBE AN ENDING, IT DEFINES A PROCESS At its heart, design thinking is about the process of problemsolving, which informs the core principles of the practice. In recognising the need for process, we step away from the quick-fix mentality that significantly limits progress.

Design thinking has some fundamental principles which allow for a deliberate, thorough and considered approach to solving problems. Think about car design. It contains an intricate process, which can include the going over and the refining of ideas, or scrapping them altogether and thinking of a new way to approach the plan. The key principles of design thinking are: OUTLINE THE PROBLEM When organisations find themselves in a seemingly endless knot of difficulty, it’s because they fail to outline or even acknowledge

problems. There’s no need for an MBA in order for us to realise that, if we don’t take the time to define what’s wrong, or if we’re not honest in our assessment, it then becomes impossible to move forward.

To become aware of problems, observation of what’s happening is key, as is asking questions – constantly. Why are we doing this?

Is there a more efficient way to refine the approach? How can we make sure the end result delivers?

CULTIVATE A NUMBER OF IDEAS One of the most crippling phrases in business is, “We’ve always done it this way.” Throw it out – it keeps you in your comfort zone, which limits your thinking and restricts innovation. Have a number of possible solutions in mind, and don’t be afraid to get creative in your ideas. Some of the best ideas have no doubt started with, “This is stupid, I know, but what if. . .” and ended up with someone declaring, “That’s genius!”

DEVELOP THE BEST IDEAS Decide on the best of the bunch and set about refining these ideas. Like all promising plans, ideas need to be nurtured in order to grow. How would such an idea be put in place? What steps would be taken to see it through?

Are there any foreseeable stumbling blocks? How can they be overcome? What will the end result look like if we implement this?

Why this idea over the others? By taking the time to invest in an idea, it sets up a solid foundation on which to carry out the final step.

EXECUTE Design thinking, in a nutshell, is the process through which a business eventually arrives at a better outcome or overall state than before. It’s a process which starts with consideration and ends with determination.

With your best idea now firmly in place, it’s important to commit the time and resources required for implementation if goals and objectives are to be achieved. By committing all efforts to focusing on the execution, success in any endeavour becomes much more likely.

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g n i k Thin e h T f Out O

x o B

The Innovator’s Mind

BY RAJ KUMAR

Thinking out of the box seems to be a favourite but overused phrase by bosses today. But who and what is the “box”? How does one “think out of the box”?

Well, the term is reportedly to originate from the famous “nine dots puzzle”.

The instructions that come with the puzzle are to link a square of nine dots using four straight lines or fewer without lifting the pen or pencil and without tracing the same line more than once.

(See Figure 1)

During a trip to Chiang Mai, he left his glasses in the airplane and realising the high price of the glasses he started wondering why this technology should cost as much as an iPhone.

He started to study the eyewear industry with three of his classmates and found that the industry was monopolised by an Italian company called Luxottica.

Gilboa and his friends decided to be different with the goal of bringing stylish, affordable glasses to the masses and doing it with a conscience.

They started a company called Warby Parker that manufactures and sells simple and stylish frames with high-end lenses through the web for only US$95.

The company experienced incredible success with US$10mil sales in the first year, a net promoter score of 88% (higher than Zappos and Apple), at a receiving rate of 10 orders every five minutes.

The story is an incredible story but how does one systematically think out of the box?

To begin with, we need to understand that the “box” is more complex than just being dots on a piece of paper.

From my experience, a typical box in today’s competitive environment has six sides that create mental barriers or what I call thinking traps.

As seen in Figure 2, I realised these sides are defined as education, industry, experience, assumptions, culture, and history.

Figure 1: Nine dots puzzle In solving this puzzle, most people will confine themselves within the imaginary box made by the dots. But the answer to solving this puzzle is to think out of the imaginary box.

Later, the term “think out of the box” became equivalent to looking for solutions from outside the usual thinking patterns.

Innovators who disrupted different industries used these types of solutions to start their business.

Dave Gilboa, an MBA student of Wharton Business School, is an innovator who disrupted the eyewear industry by thinking out of the box.

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Figure 2 Let’s analyse how Gilboa broke out of the thinking trap, and how we can learn to think out of the box and be innovative.

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1. EDUCATION

People are trained to think in a certain way by the education system. Some of the concepts explained in most MBA modules were developed a long time ago and has never been challenged.

For example, the MBA curriculum discourages students from entering monopoly industries but Gilboa challenged this point and entered an industry monopolised by Luxottica.

He studied the needs of both customers and non-customers, and innovated a brilliant way to challenge Luxottica’s business model by creating value for consumers by simplifying the entire purchasing process.

2. INDUSTRY

In many industries, the boundaries are set and structured by big players while all the other companies have to play by the “rules” (structuralism).

This limits the thinking of leaders and makes it difficult to think of new ways of doing business to reconstruct the market boundaries.

This is when innovators like Gilboa can take advantage of the situation and disrupt the industry.

In the eyewear industry, the boundaries were set by Luxottica. All the manufacturers could do were to follow these “rules”.

But Gilboa eliminated partnerships with brands, reduced the number of different designs, started to sell the products through e-commerce, and created a virtual try-on programme, a free home try-on programme and a mobile store which resulted in the delivery of high quality eyewear at a low price.

3. EXPERIENCE

People in senior positions tend to use the phrase “based on my experience”. It is a dangerous phrase because the context of their experiences might not be applicable in today’s situation.

Relying extensively on those experiences will limit their focus and prevent them from accepting new ideas.

Having no experience in the eyewear industry helped Gilboa to have an open mindset and look at the business model from a different angle.

He started selling glasses online at a time when only 1% of glasses were sold online.

Gilboa also overcame the challenge of the need to try on glasses before purchasing by introducing the “virtual try-on programme”, which allows customers to upload their facial photo on the website and see how the different glasses fit.

He added a free “home try-on programme”, through which customers can select five pairs of glasses which Warby Parker would then send them for a five-day free trial period.

4. ASSUMPTIONS

In solving problems, we often rely on perceptions, which can be useful in some situations, but we should be careful not to be too

dependent on them.

Assumptions shape our world and how we see it, and sometimes they should be challenged, as the assumptions could be incorrect.

Simply ask “why”, and “why not”, and challenge these implicit assumptions.

In the eyewear industry, the assumption was that there was no way to compete with Luxottica due to their strong monopoly.

Many newcomers had tried and failed.

But by challenging this assumption, Gilboa created a very successful business. He asked the right questions.

5. CULTURE

Culture can often be a thinking barrier. Some companies have created or inherited a rigid culture that doesn’t easily embrace change.

This prevents the business from growing and adapting to different situations.

Learning from other cultures can help a company to grow and find new ways of success.

Gilboa found that more than one billion people don’t have access to eyeglasses and started the culture of giving back to society through the “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” initiative.

Warby Parker donates funds from the sale of these glasses to nonprofit partners that provide training to low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries in order to sell eyeglasses at an affordable price.

This has created a fan following for the brand due to its social responsibility.

6. HISTORY

Innovators don’t need historical reference. They look at patterns in history and discover new ways of solving problems that had existed for a long time.

Other players in the eyewear industry tried to challenge Luxottica but failed. Gilboa studied the patterns, learnt from the mistakes of others, and created a successful business.

In conclusion, we now have an idea of what the box represents and being aware of it is a great start to thinking out of the box.

Don’t let your education, industry situation, experience, assumptions, culture, and history stop you from creating and implementing a great innovative idea.

Raj Kumar is vice-president of Global Consulting for UCSI Consulting Group and is a Blue Ocean Strategy Expert and helps companies around the world to reconstruct market boundaries. Visit www.ucsiblueoceanstrategy. com for more info.

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Social Rangers In Service Design Thinking Design thinking is no easy task, yet this multi-disciplinary, innovative way of solving problems can develop and transform the future

BY MANDY CHOONG MUN YEE

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Service design thinking has become an innovative approach used by companies and organisations in business strategy planning and to create innovative solutions.

Although the practice of service design is still making its debut, the service industry is not. The service industry covers almost every aspect of our daily lives, in either tangible or intangible ways, from buying products in shopping malls to taking public transport or studying with an education provider.

DISCOVERING SERVICE DESIGN So, what does a service designer do? Normally, when a problem or issue arises, for example when patients at the general hospital complain about the long wait for check-ups, the service designer is one of the first to be called up to try and address the problem.

The service designer would collaborate with people from other disciplines and carry out research before identifying the factors that are causing the delay, and then going on to design a solution.

What they do is to basically connect the end-users (people who are going for the check-ups) and the service provider (the hospital) in more effective ways to make sure everything runs smoothly, and therefore users are provided with a pleasant experience which in turn would help build trust.

In a competition organised by Genovasi, my group and I acknowledged the potential of design thinking in shaping society and creating a better future.

Among all the creative entries, our idea was awarded the best prize for the category of encouraging social entrepreneurship. Our team (there are five of us) were second-year students from KBU

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International College, pursuing our degree for graphic design.

It was the very first time we had been introduced to the concept of design thinking. During a workshop at the Genovasi’s headquarters in Petaling Jaya, we were taught how to formulate effective solutions to common problems.

We were taught that a solution sometimes does not need to be fancy or complicated, it should be user-centric and practical. We applied what we learnt from the workshop, into the Weekend Heroes project.

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP According to our chosen brief, we

recognised that the challenge of this project was to cultivate a network of social entrepreneurs and to also create a system to support and encourage their growth.

Before stepping into data research, it was very important for us to get an understanding of social entrepreneurship and what social entrepreneurs do.

To summarise, social entrepreneurs are people who use innovative business techniques to solve societal problems, and who do not normally focus on profit.

For example, the Embrace project, founded by Jane Chen has solved the troubling issue of newborns dying of hypothermia in developing countries by creating a low-cost baby incubator called the Embrace Warmer.

Another example is the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Programme), founded by Richard Barth that runs on a simple idea: Keep kids longer in school so they can learn more. KIPP provides education services to kids from underserved communities with one goal – to bring everyone to and through tertiary education level.

OUR STRATEGIC THINKING PROCESS We contacted a few local social entrepreneurs to collect information. We were so privileged to have the chance to speak with the chief executive officer of Leaderonomics, Tandemic and representatives from SOLS 24/7.

Sharing their insights, we witnessed their driving force to contribute to society. These social entrepreneurs are fighting for a change so the world can be a better place.

Some even have prejudices on volunteerism.

To promote social entrepreneurship, we needed to encourage people to do social acts by:

• allaying their worries on volunteer work.

• rewarding them for contributing.

To this end, we created a system called the Weekend Heroes.

THE WEEKEND HEROES CONCEPT Weekend Heroes is a non-profit organisation which serves to connect the public with social enterprises.

The name itself suggests a concept of doing good during the weekend, which helps to allay people’s worries about their commitment to social activities.

Working adults are apprehensive of over-commitment. They do not want social work to interfere with their daily routines.

Therefore, the idea is to contribute only on weekends.

However, nothing starts without clear understanding. Participants are first encouraged to learn by watching videos and reading articles written by professionals on social entrepreneurship.

Next, they are referred to social entrepreneurship activities that are being organised by individuals or groups in their vicinity, and may register to participate.

For every participation and engagement, participants would gain points which are tallied by the Weekend Heroes Ranking System.

This point system builds up their personal portfolio which can later be downloaded in document form and used as supplementary information for job interviews or to secure loans.

Through implementation of this system, we hope to change public perception towards social work, and therefore widen the chances of social enterprises in connecting with underserved communities.

“IT WORKED!” During the Genovasi competition, our idea

was recognised by judges from strong backgrounds, and we were very honoured.

However, working in non-profit centred companies also brought them difficulties, such as funding issues, manpower difficulties, etc.

When I was preparing for the presentation of the Weekend Heroes idea, I was not very confident as it seemed too simple: encouraging people by rewarding them, and helping entrepreneurs by connecting them with people.

But to see their commitment to serve the community, we were inspired even more to work harder to create a system that would support them.

However after winning the category, my group and I realised that a solution does not need to be fancy or complicated to solve issues.

After knowing the entrepreneur’s side of stories, we wanted to listen to the voice of the community. We conducted random interviews and discovered that a huge number of people do not know what social entrepreneurship is.

Moreover, we discovered that Malaysians are constantly busy with their jobs and have no time or inclination for social work.

The evolving economy nowadays has made it possible for service design thinkers to transform the world!

Mandy Choong Mun Yee was the team leader for a group of students which won the RSA x Genovasi Malaysia Awards in the ‘Encouraging Social Enterprise’ category. She learns and practices design thinking and believes it can aid in shaping a better society.

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Corporations are constantly looking at the big picture when it comes to aligning their strategies, where one segment of a business influences the other. This is where visual thinking becomes an important tool, as it enables tacit assumptions to be turned into explicit information, allowing for clearer insight.

Mastering the art of visual thinking is crucial when it comes to designing viable new business models or ideas. It becomes a powerful tool that can exponentially increase the success of any forward planning by simply allowing for a better, clearer and more easily comprehended view of the thinking process.

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THE VALUE OF VISUAL THINKING

ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE VISUAL THINKING

BY IMRAN HASHIM

A lot of businesses are already familiar with the use of visual techniques (diagrams and charts). It helps in communicating and clarifying messages within reports and presentations. Strangely, visual techniques are the less popular medium used to discuss, explore and define business issues. It is not common to sit in meetings with executives drawing on a white board. Visual thinking can add tremendous value in the strategic process. It enhances strategic inquiries by making the abstract concrete, by illuminating relationships between elements and by simplifying complex ideas. We will explore the four elements of effective visual thinking that will guide you throughout the process of defining, discussing, and refining business models.

1. UNDERSTAND THE ESSENCE Capturing the big picture For some, the big picture may not be clear until you actually put it in drawing. A simple sketch outlining all the business elements can immediately enable viewers to see the big picture. It should be balanced – providing just the right amount of information for quick and easy comprehension; nothing too distracting. A complex enterprise model – processes, systems, structures – can be simplified with the use of visuals. Take the example of RollsRoyce where jet engine units are leased by the hour rather than sold; it is the big picture, rather than the individual pieces, that is compelling.

Seeing relationships Understanding a business model requires a combination of knowledge of the individual elements and familiarity with the interdependencies between elements. While this is relatively complex, it is easier to grasp the concept when expressed visually; especially when it involves a web of elements and interconnections. In the example of low-cost airlines, drawings can effectively show why a homogenous fleet of airplanes is crucial to keeping maintenance and training costs low.

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2. ENHANCE DIALOGUE

Collective reference point Using visuals is a powerful way to improve dialogue. It offers some sort of a tangible and persistent object, and provides a reference point. Our human mind can hold only a limited number of ideas in short-term memory thus leveraging on visuals is essential for effective discussion with quality results.

Play A visual business model provides the rare opportunity for a strategic playtime. With all the elements visibly outlined, you can create multiple possible scenarios from a combination of situations. For example, what would happen to your business if you eliminated the least profitable customer segment? Would eliminating unprofitable customers enable you to reduce resources and costs and improve services to profitable customers?

A visual model helps you think through the systemic impact of modifying one element or another.

4. IMPROVE COMMUNICATION

Shared language Visuals also carry a universal vocabulary and grammar that improves the understanding process. With one common familiarity amongst various parties, it becomes a powerful enabler of focused discussion about business elements and how they fit together. In an organisation with levels of reporting structures and functional areas, a shared visual language is critical in generating powerful idea exchange and enhances team cohesiveness.

Joint understanding In an organisation with various departments, it is not uncommon to find a silo approach –people from different parts have strong understanding of their part, but not necessarily a solid grasp of the whole business. Visualising business models as a group is the most effective way to achieve shared understanding where everybody involved can have a better view of the different components and develop a collective understanding across the company.

3. EXPLORE IDEAS

Create company-wide understanding They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is particularly true in communicating a business strategy in order to get everybody to understand its business model and this is crucial because everybody can potentially contribute to its improvement and align with the strategic direction. It will also encourage shared understanding.

Selling internally and externally A story can be presented in visuals – it adds powerful reinforcement to the pitch. This increases your prospect of gaining support from others, especially if they can personally identify with the visuals.

Good visuals may not be the deciding factor but it can improve chances of success in getting the message across.

Seeing the big picture Traditionally, visual thinking is linked to the arts discipline only.

This has changed radically. Today we are seeing an explosion of new, creative business ideas that appeal to all. Visual thinking is no longer the exclusive territory of the creative types. Businesses, regardless of the industry they are in, may learn new strategies by adopting visual thinking in developing new ideas for the business.

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The best preparation for tomorrow

is doing your

best today H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

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Change your thoughts and you change

your world Norman Vincent Peale

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MAY 1

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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY

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