Creativity

is an essential skill for leaders trying to make a difference. Yet developing

the ability to think and act creatively remains a thorny challenge. While there's a
hunger for skill development, elevating creative confidence doesn't happen via
traditional modes of executive education.

Tim Brown, CEO IDEO

Design thinking was a course which initially felt out of place in our course plans.
Initially we all came into the class feeling that finally we will have a 'light' course in
our schedules. And were our expectations fulfilled, sure they were. But, instead of
the light class in which we sit back and relax, it instead translated into 10 sessions
spread out accross 2 days of pure fun along with learnings too. Primary take aways
were that I actually bonded for the first time this term with my group and also was
made to work despite my reluctance. I have never made better drawing, nor a better
sculpture and nor had a better discussion than the one I had with Prem Sir
regarding various history topics. Then there was the issue of making a prototype
and presenting our idea. This practice helped us understand the techniques of
visualisation and objective thinking.

It built skills that will enable us to uncover and act on the unmet needs of our future
customers, whether were starting our own venture or creating value within an
organization. The approaches helped us work smarter and achieve results more
quickly. We learned methodologies that give our team a common language for
innovation so that everyone can work together towards breakthrough ideas and
solutions. Today innovation is everyone's business. Whether you are a manager in a
global corporation, an entrepreneur starting up, in a government role, or a teacher
in an elementary school, everyone is expected to get lean to do better with less.
And that is why we all need design thinking. At every level in every kind of
organization, design thinking provides the tools you need to become an innovative
thinker and uncover creative opportunities that are there you're just not seeing
them yet.

In this course, we got an overview of design thinking and work with a model
containing four key questions and several tools to help us understand design
thinking as a problem solving approach. We also looked at several stories from
different organizations that used design thinking to uncover compelling solutions.
Design thinking employs divergent thinking as a way to ensure that many possible
solutions are explored in the first instance, and then convergent thinking as a way to
narrow these down to a final solution. Divergent thinking is the ability to offer
different, unique or variant ideas adherent to one theme while convergent thinking
is the ability to find the "correct" solution to the given problem. Design thinking
encourages divergent thinking to ideate many solutions (possible or impossible)
and then uses convergent thinking to prefer and realize the best resolution.

Design thinking is a formal method for practical, creative resolution of problems and
creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result. In this regard it is
a form of solution-based, or solution-focused thinking starting with a goal (a better
future situation) instead of solving a specific problem. By considering both present
and future conditions and parameters of the problem, alternative solutions may be
explored simultaneously. Nigel Cross asserted that this type of thinking most often
happens in the built, or artificial, environment (as in artifacts).
In the past, design has most often occurred fairly far downstream in the
development process and has focused on making new products aesthetically
attractive or enhancing brand perception through smart, evocative advertising.
Today, as innovations terrain expands to encompass human-centered processes
and services as well as products, companies are asking designers to create ideas
rather than to simply dress them up.
Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a process which includes the "building
up" of ideas, with few, or no, limits on breadth during a "brainstorming" phase. This
helps reduce fear of failure in the participant(s) and encourages input and
participation from a wide variety of sources in the ideation phases. The phrase
"thinking outside the box" has been coined to describe one goal of the brainstorming
phase and is encouraged, since this can aid in the discovery of hidden elements and
ambiguities in the situation and discovering potentially faulty assumptions.
The "a-ha moment" is the moment where there is suddenly a clear forward path. It is
the point in the cycle where synthesis and divergent thinking, analysis and
convergent thinking, and the nature of the problem all come together and an
appropriate resolution has been captured. Prior to this point, the process may seem
nebulous, hazy and inexact. At this point, the path forward is so obvious that in
retrospect it seems odd that it took so long to recognize it. After this point, the focus
becomes more and more clear as the final product is constructed.

Thus the workshop as a whole was a great learning experience. It not only gave us
newer dimensions to think and understand but also offered us innovative
perspectives. In todays world with changing job profiles and roles and job security
becoming an oxymoron, courses like design thinking are extremely important and
crucial in the work culture.

The Design Thinking process first defines the problem and then implements the
solutions, always with the needs of the user demographic at the core of concept
development. This process focuses on needfinding, understanding, creating,
thinking, and doing. At the core of this process is a bias towards action and creation:
by creating and testing something, you can continue to learn and improve upon your
initial ideas.

Design is about creating spaces for people to enjoy and of course, creating moments
where you elevate the spirit, but 'design for good' is figuring out a program that not
only creates better spaces, but creates jobs, creates new industry and really kind of
raises the conversation about how we rebuild.
Cameron Sinclair