How can you create a culture of design thinking?

Whenever we ideate, we will always, now, I mean absolutely always, have a "blue sky ideation" session where anything goes. Nothing is too random, strange or abstract here. When ideating, we, as creatives, know that removing the roadblocks of time, cost, and money creates the best ideas. However, not every client can afford to shoot their car into space for a stunt. So, how can you create amazing ideas but still deliver great quality concepts to the client? These blue sky ideas are refined, voted on by the team, and then distilled to answer the brief. This ultimately results in great collaborative creative solutions that allow all team members to learn, explore the edges of marketing and design, and get passionate about the work they do.

Simplify the language: Ditch confusing jargon like "empathy mapping" and "ideation." Use plain English like "understanding what people need" and "coming up with creative ideas." Explain complex concepts in simple terms. Break down the design thinking process into clear steps (e.g., observe, understand, imagine, build, test).

Reward all lessons, learnings, and advancement - regardless of whether they come from success or failure (and maybe even more-so if they come from failure). The most important thing you can do to foster curiosity and experimentation is to create a safe space in which to do those things. People shut down when they are afraid, and being curious requires openness, adventure, and not being afraid of the dark. Make sure people always have a soft space to land -

Reward open ideation and fast failure. By doing this, you encourage a culture of experimentation and risk-taking, which are essential in fostering creativity and innovation. Failing fast can help you uncover unforeseen challenges early on, giving you more time to address them and ultimately increasing your chances of success.

When building teams, I've always aimed to have a team capable of understanding and executing tasks across an array of platforms. What does that mean? If we have a project manager who really wants to animate, why not use their skills to build trust and enhance the team's experience? Or a developer with a cool site idea – they do understand the technical limitations best... Having teams that can respectfully engage in cross-collaborative design thinking ends up making team members feel more valued and strengthens personal bonds. Also, partnering with people you wouldn't usually work with can create magic. The first time my business partner and I ideated, I gained an entirely new perspective from an engineer. Give your people a chance.

"Good" design thinking strives to bring people together, rather than creating a designer-led, esoteric process. Doing so requires multidisciplinary dialogue and understanding -- something which skilled design thinking coaches and advocates from within each discipline can enable. By adhering to the process and evangelizing the process, a shared process and language will start to emerge. Then, the hard work begins! Well crafted solutions and innovations are truly possible when different perspectives within an organization are brought to the table, amplified, heard, understood, and synthesized.

Focus on the benefits: Highlight the advantages of design thinking in everyday language. Show how it helps to create better products, services, and experiences that people actually enjoy. Use relatable examples: "Do you hate your confusing remote control? Design thinking could help create a simpler one!"

Make it engaging: Use visuals like infographics, comics, or short videos to explain the process. Share real-life stories of how people used design thinking to solve problems (e.g., a student designing a more accessible playground). Offer interactive exercises or mini-challenges where people can try out design thinking themselves.

Everyone has assumptions (that's OK) -- so make note of them because they're going to keep popping up throughout the process! Then, go out and actively challenge all of them through in-depth customer interviews, observational research, and deep listening. See what sticks, changes, fades. Only when we can hold our judgement and assumptions can we begin to listen and consider a more customer-centric POV.

Our product designers work continuously to educate our entire organization on the principles of design thinking. We practice these principles in our product design process, prioritizing empathy, emphasizing feedback and iteration, and creating a safe space for experimentation and failure. Our efforts play an important role in helping our organization embrace a design-centered approach, driving innovation and customer-centricity.

When possible, consider getting feedback from a diverse set of people, not just those within your organization or your team. Too often, teams iterate within themselves or their organizations, and the feedback they receive can be in a vacuum or echo chamber. Finding people that have no connection to your work or ways of thinking ensures a "fresh" perspective to examine your solutions. They'll be more likely to tell you what they're really thinking if they have no stake in it.

Keep it bite-sized: Don't overwhelm people with too much information. Offer easy-to-digest content like short articles, videos, or online quizzes. Focus on helping people apply design thinking to small, everyday challenges. Show them how it can be used in their personal lives, not just work.

Emphasize the fun: Frame design thinking as a creative adventure, not a boring process. Use playful language and visuals to make it more engaging. Highlight the collaborative aspect of design thinking and how it's about working together to come up with solutions.

To foster a culture of design thinking, one must prioritize open communication, lead by example in demonstrating design thinking principles, and empower cross-functional teams for collaborative problem-solving. Training and workshops help build design thinking skills, and celebrating innovation reinforces its importance. Visual tools aid brainstorming, and embracing iteration and learning from failures is crucial. Clear metrics demonstrate impact, and user-centricity should be a core value, with success stories inspiring others to adopt the approach.

Frame design-thinking as core value of your company and brand. Present it as a differentiator that your customers benefit from in the form of exceptional products. This will help incentivize your entire organization to understand, adopt and reinforce design-thinking.

Promote a culture of design thinking by fostering a mindset of experimentation and risk-taking, celebrating learning from failures, and continuously adapting to changing needs and perspectives. Embrace diversity in thought for holistic problem-solving.