Published on: Thursday, February 10, 2011
Innovating When Trapped in Hostile Territory
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"'Design thinking' bridges analytical thinking and intuitive thinking to invent the future," said Roger Martin, during his
HSM Online Seminar, Design Thinking: The Next Competitive Advantage.
But finding a company with balance is rare. Companies want to be more innovative but are stymied by analysis as they search for reliability and proof. The counterbalance is intuitive thinking — "knowing" without thinking — which can't be proven and therefore can't be replicated, leaving leaders scratching their heads about what caused success or failure.
"Analytical thinking and intuitive thinking are opposed to each other in organizations," said Martin, almost preventing any movement at all. "Innovation is about advancing knowledge."
But knowledge is likely gained through either deductive or inductive logic in most business environments, and design thinking requires "abductive" logic. Deductive logic — what must be — and inductive logic — what is operative — are both analytical, whereas abductive is a "logical leap of the mind. It is design thinking using logic. Creating the future by imaging what might be happening," explained the Dean of Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
"Our path to understanding always starts with a mystery. Companies compete on solving mysteries and then invest on solving the next mystery."
The author of
The Design of Business pointed out that everyone in an organization is capable of design thinking, not just those with "designer" titles. "Business people should nurture the designer within themselves. Don't just be an analyst. There is only so much value you can bring to an organization as an analyst."
There is no data that supports analysts have better careers, and Martin suggested that everyone's personal brand include the abductive reasoning ability. But even if you are able to cultivate design thinking within yourself, most companies still don't operate from that standpoint — yet. If you are trapped in an analytical organization, Martin offers five productive steps for designing in hostile territory:
- Take "design-unfriendliness" as a design challenge
- Empathize with the "design-unfriendly elements"
- Speak the language of reliability
- Use analogies and stories
- Bite off as small a piece as possible to generate proof
Leaders have the ability start a design thinking revolution within their companies, and Martin said there are three keys to success in implementation:
- Prove it. Be able to demonstrate validity, the outcome we would want. "That is difficult because you can only prove that through the unfolding of future events."
- Change the strategy review process. Business units typically have to do PowerPoint presentations and get permission to implement strategy rather than creating dialog with company leadership. "They should discuss what could be. We currently have systems and procedures that are oriented toward reliability."
- You won't always be right and how you treat not being right is critical. "Examine failure more for learning purposes. What did we think was going to happen that didn't happen, rather than who is to blame?"
Robyn Greenspan
Lessons learned from and about six-figure leadership and executive career management
