The use of lateral thinkers in the Design Thinking process

Design thinking is a tool for generating innovative solutions. Lateral thinkers are sought for this purpose. Until now, it has not been clear how they can be identified and where they can be used profitably with their characteristics in the process. A first overview with criteria of the lateral thinker including assignment to different process steps helps to generate, plan and implement ideas.

The use of lateral thinkers in the Design Thinking process

The digital transformation will generate a gross value added of approximately CHF 1.42 trillion in Europe by 2025 [1]. For this reason, many companies are currently innovating and investing in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI products, platforms and big data [2]. It is therefore important for the success of a company to be able to satisfy customer needs with convincing and innovative solutions [3]. And it is of secondary importance whether these are products, services or new business models. But how can companies innovate with their employees? Can design-thin- king help? And if so: In which innovation phases should employees be deployed based on their strengths and weaknesses so that the design thinking process becomes a success? Do lateral thinkers help?

Design Thinking at a glance
The term "design" means first of all the form-appropriate and functional shaping or forming of things. This is transferred to products, services or business models. Design-thin- king helps to develop answers to existing questions. Solutions should be consistently oriented towards customer needs, which can be subjective and emotional. The Design Thinking process follows a very structured procedure and is iterative, i.e. it is repeated in loops. Unproductive steps are gone through again and again until, above all, potential customers are satisfied. Only then does it go into implementation. The Design Thinking process [4] is divided into different phases with different results, which are outlined here very briefly:

 

  1. Understanding: Topic pool and project plan are
  2. Observe: Observation and interview protocols of users and experts are available; test protocols of existing solutions are available.
  3. Synthesis: User journey and customer needs are
  4. Idea generation: Structured and evaluated ideas for the fulfillment of needs are
  5. Prototyping: Prototypes in different versions are available.
  6. Testing: Test and feedback protocol from users is available. Description of the business model based on various criteria is available.

 

At the core of the entire process are four principles:

 

  1. People and their needs are seen as the starting point for all innovation.
  2. An interdisciplinary team is put together because it is hoped that "more eyes will see more", i.e. different competences and skills.
  3. In the process, adjustments are possible at any time and you can virtually take a step back again.
  4. A creative place of work is chosen, where one can break out of the normal working day.

 

But before it starts, you ask yourself: Who's in? And that's where it gets tricky. After all, innovation naturally goes hand in hand with creativity [5] - but which people are creative or can take other perspectives and should actually participate in the design thinking process to make it a complete success? In this context, people often talk about lateral thinkers in everyday life, although it is almost always unclear what this means exactly. We would like to provide you with an initial overview.

Lateral thinkers: out-of-the-box thinking is indispensable for generating ideas
A lateral thinker thinks (a) independently, (b) originally and often their ideas and views (c) are not understood or accepted. This is the most tangible description to date. Business leaders repeatedly emphasize in the context of innovations that lateral thinkers play a decisive role. But since precise criteria have been lacking up to now and it is therefore not possible to identify such lateral thinkers in companies with any degree of accuracy, a research project conducted at the Fernfachhochschule Schweiz (FFHS) in the form of semistructured-

 

"Innovation naturally goes hand in hand with creativity."

 

In the course of the project, we conducted expert interviews with innovation experts (middle and upper management; various industries) to investigate precisely these and other questions and carried out a requirements ana- lysis [6]. The analysis focused on skills, personality traits and behaviors of lateral thinkers, their strengths and weaknesses as well as the best fit to the different phases of the Design Thinking process. In essence, the results show the following simplified picture:

 

The lateral thinker stands out primarily due to creative "out-of-the-box" thinking and can certainly be used in all Design Thinking phases. The characteristics of lateral thinking are particularly expressed in two phases: (A) Idea generation: This is where the lateral thinker comes into his own and is indispensable. He has the ability to enhance the ideas - also of the other project members - or to combine them to such an extent that ideas become even more competitive. (B) Synthesis: Despite his strength in quickly recognizing complex questions and problems, the analytical compilation of findings is in the foreground in this phase - and this is not a strength of the lateral thinker.

 

Psychological methods can support companies in making the right selection and planning of innovation teams and processes in order to achieve the desired success. This saves time and nerves and is more likely to ensure economic success.

 

 

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