8 Common Misconceptions About Design Thinking
Creating a culture of creativity is becoming a priority for organisations all across the globe, with 82% of companies believing that there is a strong connection between creativity and business results. Design Thinking is being used as a vehicle to foster this creativity and drive growth. However, many misconceptions still exist in the corporate world about design thinking.
Here are 8 common misconceptions about design thinking:
Peter Drucker famously said, “you can't manage what you can't measure”. Companies often fall into the trap of implementing a new methodology but failing to measure its success. Design thinking is often implemented within organisations but not measured, however there are several ways the success can actually be measured.
Here are a few ways to measure the ROI on design thinking:
Give it some time and use these measures to see if design thinking has ‘moved the needle’.
Design thinking isn’t just a gimmick, it is actually leading to some incredible outcomes. For example, Bank of America was able to gain 10 million new customers after applying design thinking.
Bank of America was looking for a way to increase the use of their savings accounts by customers. They applied the design thinking methodology and started engaging with customers to uncover insights. They found out that that people liked the act of saving more than the actual amount they save. For example, customers would get the same good feeling if they deposited $50 a month compared to $600 at the end of the year.
From this insight Bank of America developed the round-up concept, a product that allows customers to save with every transaction that they make. As a result, customers are able to get that same good feeling after every transaction. The outcome was staggering with Bank of America gaining over 10 million new customers and $1.8 billion in savings for them.
Here are five more success stories from companies like Nike, Starbucks and Nordstrom.
Even though the value of design thinking is clear, it is still hard to define as part of a business strategy. Good news - there are statistics out there that show the positive impact made by design thinking in business. In a study conducted by The Design Management Institute, design-led companies in the United States outperformed the S&P by over 200% (2015). The below chart outlines the success of design-centric companies such as Apple, Starbucks and Nike, compared to the S&P 500.
Applying design thinking principles has played a pivotal role in these companies staying ahead of their competition.
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The WorkFlow podcast is hosted by Steve Glaveski with a mission to help you unlock your potential to do more great work in far less time, whether you're working as part of a team or flying solo, and to set you up for a richer life.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we’ve reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON’Ts.
