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Writer's pictureMarby Tabungar

Design Thinking for HR: A New Mindset and Process for HR Professionals

Updated: Mar 25, 2021



As technology urges the innovation of the HR process here in the Philippines, other companies are starting to become aware and interested in upgrading their process. While it is true that usage of technology helps upscale your business, you still can't ignore the fact that this is just a portion of the solution that your company needs to boost engagement and performance.


No matter how excellent the technology and tools you are using, if it doesn't hit the central core of your employee needs, your company will most likely not meet the result you're striving to achieve.


By now, you might be thinking about what innovative approach you can implement to serve the needs of both the people and the business. One of the emerging practices to drive human-centered innovation is Design Thinking.


What is Design Thinking?


Design thinking is a methodological problem-solving style used to transform a system through a human-centric approach. This helps the business to analyze real-time problems through dynamic and innovative processes. With that, you can produce a trusted solution that is feasible and effective to the majority.


Take a look at these essential features to give you more insight into how implementing design thinking in your HR operation can help your business thrive.


Employee Focus


Sadly, most companies today focus their approach on either client enticement, output, or revenue. They forget that the real backbone of their business is their people. With design thinking, you are creating a solution that prioritizes the importance of your people. It is based on their experience so that it could hit the core of their problem.


Reinvention


Since HR is usually one of the left behind divisions in most companies when it comes to innovation, investing in design thinking is a perfect opportunity to reinvent the majority of the process that needs improvement regarding all HR-related functions. It is the right time to fully transform all traditional methodology into a people-oriented structure that produces a personalized approach in dealing with particular business problems.


Output-Driven Performance


If the core problem of the people is successfully hit by the company's process, then most likely, the employees will thrive to excel and perform well in delivering better output.


Design thinking goes beyond the usual process, it places your employees as the main priority of the design, ensuring that the system is doable and realistic from both management and employee perspective.


DRIVE Design Framework


You are probably thinking that changing the process of your business is easier said than done. Well, that's technically true, it might be challenging, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible. By applying the design thinking model in your HR operation, you can smoothly transition all your processes into a system that focuses on its people.


To give you a guide in applying a human-centered design process, you may take a look at our DRIVE design framework below.


Discover


Regardless of how good you are at solving problems, if you can't determine the initial root of the challenge, then most probably, you might come up with solutions that don’t solve the real problem.


The first step in our method is discovering the actual cause of the problem and how it affects people. We believe that if we have a problem, we need to know and understand to come up with the right solution.


By putting your employees at the core of your innovation, then you are up for a solution that will work best.


Relate


If you already know the problem, it is vital to put your feet in their shoes to fully understand the kind of challenge they are in.


This is the part of the design thinking wherein you need to empathize to develop a solution that will not just solve the problem but also touch your people's hearts, making them feel that the company really cares for them.


Ideate


This is where creativity starts to take place. Now, this is the time to express your creativity to identify possible solutions based on the opportunity you discovered. You also need to be available in receiving other ideas from your peers.


No matter how small or big their idea is, you need to understand that brainstorming during this phase of design thinking is crucial to help you see different perspectives and open your mind to a broader scope of ideas.


Visualize


Design thinking also requires your skills in visualizing possible outcomes and results based on the ideated concepts. You will not just come up with a solution and implement it immediately. You have to consider how this solution will affect various factors. With that, creating a prototype is highly needed.


From the list of ideas that your team has listed, filter it down until you develop the most ambitious yet realistic human-centric solutions. It is essential that you come up with the most impactful solution from your list.


Visualizing is about experimenting. It is a continuous process of building a solution over and over again.


Evolve


This is the process where the rubber meets the road. You can never tell that your solution is adequate unless you put it into action. This part of design thinking will help you assess and analyze if the prototype you've created has a significant impact on solving the problem.


In case you are not satisfied with the results, innovate your idea, then come up with an advanced visualization process. At the end of this phase, you can carefully select a perfect solution that will help every part of the business.



Choose the Solution that You Need


With the help of design thinking, HR will have the opportunity to discover the real core of the problem, relate to that challenge, ideate possible solutions, visualize and materialize the idea, and make the necessary adjustments to develop the best possible human-centered design process.

 

If you want to know more about this framework, please contact The Team at Prevo info@prevo.org or visit our website prevo.org to assist you in your design thinking journey.


Start creating a great employee experience with us today!


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2 Comments


toyang6022
Apr 09, 2021

Good morning po, nag singned po ako for aprl microlearning series aril 9 and 16 po topics bakit po wala pa po ako na recieve na confirmation or any comments/ink na pwede po ako mag join. Salamat po, Lolita R. Penaflor

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Marby Tabungar
Marby Tabungar
Jun 09, 2021
Replying to

Hi Ms Lolita! Thanks for letting us know. You should’ve received the invite by now.

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