Design Thinking, Innovation and Team DNA

Using “Team DNA” to better manage complexity, innovation and execution.

Heard of "Design Thinking" yet? If not, you will soon. More and more corporate and military leaders hail “Design Thinking” as a tool for framing and solving complex problems in an increasingly complex world. Channelling raw creativity to quickly find practical solutions and innovate in a competitive environment (despite ongoing complexity and turbulence) is what it’s all about. It requires thinking “non linear” as a “designer” would to achieve real world objectives that “linear thinking” may not suit when high levels of complexity and uncertainty are present.

The 2010 IBM commissioned “IBM CEO Survey” has found that “less than half of global CEOs believe their enterprises are adequately prepared to handle a highly volatile, increasingly complex business environment, according to a major IBM survey of more than 1,500 Chief Executive Officers from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide.” Furthermore “Eighty-four percent of CEOs interviewed said they expect the level of complexity to grow significantly over the next five years, but only 39 percent believe their organisations are equipped to deal with it successfully – the ability to innovate being one the largest leadership challenges identified in eight years of research.”

“Design Thinking” sets out to deal with complexity as a new way of “thinking about thinking” rather than being a simple set of functions or steps. It is a tool for quickly turning raw creativity into practical outcomes (often cleverly simple ones) that can solve complex problems. Mastering this new paradigm for delivering innovation amidst the fog of complexity can give you a competitive edge. Effective teamwork and harnessing “Team DNA” is crucial to making “Design Thinking” useful.

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