In March 2018 I wrote a blog on the 7 thoughts to support innovation, click here for the full article https://www.level7live.com/7-thoughts-to-support-innovation/ with a slight, tongue-in-cheek nod to and attributed to the famous 5-boys chocolate advertisement of the early 1900’s
Design Thinking is a problem-solving process aimed at solving ill-defined, wicked problems, problems that have many possible solutions. Design thinking offers a structured approach to thinking and action and facilitates logical, creative and innovative thinking. Lately it has occurred to me that to be an effective problem-solving and embrace the process of design thinking is not enough, we need to approach our problem-solving activities with a particular frame of mind, something that I am calling a Design Thinking Mindset.
I thought it might be useful to revisit the seven thoughts to support innovation and reflect on whether they are still relevant and in particular do they offer any insight into how to go about developing a design thinking mindset. In this blog I will revisit the first thought – Inspiration. I suggested that inspiration is connected to being able to trust your intuition and intuition is inextricably linked to imagination. The quote I used to exemplify this was:
‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will get you everywhere.’ Albert Einstein
Inspiration arguably runs through any aspect of the design thinking process. As a facilitator of design thinking I might need to inspire the people I am working with to help them to get onboard with the process or idea of the moment. Then there may be times when I need to look deep within myself and tap into my internal reservoir in order to inspire my own creative capacity.
My view why I think design thinkers need to show and to cultivate the capacity to inspire is that the wicked problems are described as ill-defined and ambiguous and they often exist within uncertain conditions; inspiration may be something that can provide a degree of certainty to the people and to the problem itself. Something worth reflecting on further.
My suggestion to develop your inspirational qualities is to cultivate your intuition, know it, acknowledge it, listen to it (it may not always be right!) and be courageous to act on it.
Dr Gill Stevens