Share an example from your own experience where an organizational leader that you have worked with either in your career, volunteer work, or any other circumstance has embodied one or both of these principles, and discuss how this helped (or hindered) gaining buy-in for organizational change.

Module 8 – Organizational Change (Discussion 7)

For this final discussion, recall the article from the Connect section at the beginning of Module 8: 1 Reason Why Most Change Management Efforts Fail (link opens in a new tab).

Consider in particular the two best practices that the author, former US Navy SEAL Brent Gleeson, identifies for building support for change: “identifying and celebrating early successes, and creating cultural experiences that support the vision”.

In a post, share an example from your own experience where an organizational leader that you have worked with either in your career, volunteer work, or any other circumstance has embodied one or both of these principles, and discuss how this helped (or hindered) gaining buy-in for organizational change.

Module 8 Organizational Change

Connect

When thinking about how to introduce Design Thinking into a team or organizational structure, who better to look for advice than a former US Navy SEAL? While not necessarily synonymous with Design Thinking, the SEALs are among the most well-trained professionals in the world, regardless of industry.

Review the article linked below, where ex-SEAL Brent Gleeson reflects on change management processes, and think about what we can take away in terms of addressing the challenges of implementing Design Thinking in professional settings.

Discuss these questions further in the practice activity at the end of the module.

1 Reason Why Most Change Management Efforts Fail(hyperlink opens in a new tab) (5 pages)

Content

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

explain the complete design thinking approach to stakeholders and articulate the importance of “trusting the process,” and

coach or guide stakeholders new to the approach through the Design Thinking process.

Shifting Mindsets

In some ways, this will be the hardest module to apply in the real world, since it is about fundamentally changing the way people look at product or service design.

Regardless of your position in an organization, if you tell someone how to do something, you will meet resistance to the approach, no matter how logical it is—that’s just human nature.

This final module will therefore introduce some specific ideas to help you get buy-in for using a Design Thinking approach that brings your stakeholders, peers, volunteers, leaders or members of your team along for the journey.

Failing to secure robust backing from key stakeholders before trying to implement a Design Thinking methodology risks alienating those whose enthusiastic participation will be essential to its success.

The study materials below provide a variety of important best practices related to these sorts of questions, which will be crucial to keep front of mind as you devise your own strategy for introducing and applying Design Thinking. Pay particular attention to the strategies aimed at building initial support for what can be a fairly radical change in outlook and approach.

As you complete this final module and reflect back on what you have learned across the course, start thinking about how you might apply these change management strategies to your own professional context. Ideally, by the time you complete the course, you will have the foundation of a workable strategy for successfully leveraging your new knowledge about the virtues of Design Thinking.

Study

Hopefully you have enjoyed the course textbook as we have worked through it. This book was chosen to highlight the power of Design Thinking as both a real tool for change and an incredibly rewarding mindset to adopt. You will read the final chapter here.

In addition, listed below are links to materials that dive deeper into some additional best practices and tools you can leverage when introducing Design Thinking to a range of stakeholders across teams and organizations.

Chapter 8: Embrace Creative Confidence: (11 pages)

From: Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All
Best Practices in Building Support for a Design Thinking Approach(hyperlink opens in a new tab) (3 pages)

How to use design thinking to change cultures(hyperlink opens in a new tab) (9 minute read)

How to Introduce Design Thinking to Your Organization(hyperlink opens in a new tab) (2 pages)

5 Ways to Introduce Design Thinking in Large Organizations(hyperlink opens in a new tab) (3 pages)

Practice

Finish up this concluding module by posting a final blog-style contribution to the discussion forum. In this graded activity, you will share some of your own experiences with gaining support for change within an organization.

To complete this activity, read the instructions and post in the discussion forum titled Module 8 – Organizational Change. To learn how to access and use the discussion forums, see Discussions under the Evaluations module.

Take Away

Well, you have made it! Congratulations on completing the final module in this course. Now the real work begins, in terms of actually implementing the process and tools, and seeking the organizational support for leveraging your skills in Design Thinking.

As you wrap up the final assignment, start to really think about how you can apply what you have learned to your real-world projects and initiatives so that you can build a culture of Design Thinking from the ground up. Good luck!
Thank you for completing this module. Before moving forward, make sure you review the Module To-Do List to ensure that you have completed all learning activities.

References

Candi, M. (March 7, 2017). How to use design thinking to change cultures. Retrieved from https://medium.com/thingsflux/how-to-use-design-thinking-to-change-cultures-9383e6c1c222

Esposito, E. (April 23, 2018). How to Introduce Design Thinking Into Your Organization. Retrieved from https://www.invisionapp.com/blog/introduce-design-thinking/

Gleeson, B. (Jul. 25, 2017). 1 Reason Why Most Change Management Efforts Fail. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2017/07/25/1-reason-why-most-change-management-efforts-fail/#1b29c03e546b

Larson, T. (2017). 5 Ways to Introduce Design Thinking in Large Organizations Retrieved from http://reveconsulting.com/introduce-design-thinking-large-organizations/

Nassar, R. (2018). Best Practices in Building Support for a Design Thinking Approach. Hamilton, ON: McMaster University.