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A Founder, senior leader or People & Talent team must have a defined methodology or strategy for talent engagement, hiring and growth. We use our extensive experience of human-centred hiring and combine this with human-centred design principles, resulting in a powerful ideation session that delivers actionable and sustainable outcomes for your people.
<aside> <img src="/icons/book_gray.svg" alt="/icons/book_gray.svg" width="40px" /> In 2024, the majority of People, HR and Talent teams face a combination of challenges, which include an ever-evolving and competitive talent marketplace, choosing the technology to enable improved candidate and employee experience, and the drive to adopt new ways of working, as their own role is disrupted by new innovations.
As human-beings we have ideas everyday and we are continually absorbing - either consciously or subconsciously - this information determining whether we take action (or not).
Facing the challenges and harnessing the ideas generated by your team requires time and space to explore, and by doing so, it presents an opportunity to fully realise improved outcomes and actions.
Our Ideation Session is designed to deliver actionable ideas and owners combined with a sustainable approach to people and talent innovation.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> The Ideation Session will take you on a journey through a human-centred design thinking process, which typically has six phases; i). understand, ii). observe, iii). define point of view, iv). ideate, v). develop prototype, vi). and test.
The British Design Council refer to this process as a “double-diamond model’, where the first three phases encompass the ‘problem space’ and the next three are the ‘solution space’
Here is a summary of each phase in the micro-cycle:
<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> During the Ideation Session, we focus on the human beings that are the potential users of a solution; a key principle in the design thinking approach.
By exploring the feasibility, desirability, and viability of a prototype, we start to make decisions on whether the invest of people, time and budget, results in an innovation the user will find beneficial.
In the context of innovation, we explore the needs of the customer/user (desirability), focus on profitability (viability), and technical implementation (feasibility) of the solution.
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The intersection of viability, feasibility, and desirability is where innovative solutions are formed for the benefit and positive impact of your people. **
“Design thinking is a human-centred approach to innovation that draws from a designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of the people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success” - Tim Brown, President and CEO of IDEO
<aside> <img src="/icons/book_gray.svg" alt="/icons/book_gray.svg" width="40px" /> People, HR and Talent teams in startups and scale-ups recognise the value and importance of People, Culture & Diversity.
This might sound obvious, however, I’d encourage you to reflect on the fact that a focus on processes, procedures, technology, role scope(s), career progression, remuneration or on-boarding, are all valuable, and yet, the simple truth is:
“a healthy culture, a diverse workforce, and happy people, are fundamental to business growth and success.”
Here are some resources that provide facts and data:
The challenge for People, HR and Talent teams, is to be able to unlock the ideas and solutions that can have the most meaningful impact.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/book_gray.svg" alt="/icons/book_gray.svg" width="40px" /> The Session Objectives are to focus on input and outcomes, which requires the individual and group to arrive at the session with a “beginner’s mindset”.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/brain_gray.svg" alt="/icons/brain_gray.svg" width="40px" /> As human-beings, we have ideas everyday and we are continually absorbing - either consciously or subconsciously - this information determining whether we take action (or not).
The Ideation Session requires one element of preparation for the participants, “a beginner’s mindset”.
What is meant by a beginner’s mindset? - here are the basic rules…
“If your mindset is unprejudiced…it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind, there are may possibilities, but in the expert’s mind, there are few.” Shunryu Suzaki
<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> A typical Ideation Session Agenda combines three key segments:
<aside> <img src="/icons/binoculars_gray.svg" alt="/icons/binoculars_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Here is an example of a standard Ideation Session Agenda; we can bespoke activities based on the group and individual requirements.
Post-IT Notes are one of the favoured tools in an Ideation Session
<aside> <img src="/icons/flashlight_gray.svg" alt="/icons/flashlight_gray.svg" width="40px" /> We use a combination of Session Activities to explore the ideas and insights, such as:
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<aside> <img src="/icons/sailboat_gray.svg" alt="/icons/sailboat_gray.svg" width="40px" /> The Sailboat
The Sailboat activity is a metaphorical exercise used to explore a team's current situation, desired outcomes, and potential obstacles. Participants draw a sailboat on a piece of paper, with the boat representing their goal or desired outcome and the wind representing driving forces or helpful factors. They then add anchors, representing obstacles or challenges that could hinder progress. Through discussion, the team identifies strategies to harness the wind (positive factors) and reduce the impact of anchors (challenges), guiding them towards their goal.
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The starting point of The Sailboat activity….a blank canvas ready to be populated with ideas.
<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Problem Statements
Problem Statements are concise, clear descriptions of the challenges or opportunities that a team aims to address through the design process. They articulate the specific issue or need that the team will focus on solving. Crafting effective problem statements requires understanding the context, stakeholders, and desired outcomes, ensuring that the team remains focused and aligned throughout the design process.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" alt="/icons/drafts_gray.svg" width="40px" /> How Might We…
How Might We... (HMW) statements are open-ended questions that invite creative brainstorming and problem-solving. They reframe problems as opportunities for innovation by prompting participants to explore potential solutions. HMW statements typically start with "How might we..." followed by a verb and a subject related to the problem at hand. By posing these questions, teams can generate diverse ideas and approaches to tackle the identified challenges.
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<aside> <img src="/icons/map-pin-alternate_gray.svg" alt="/icons/map-pin-alternate_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Empathy Maps
Empathy Maps are visual tools used to understand users' needs, desires, behaviours, and pain points. They help teams develop empathy by putting themselves in the users' shoes and gaining deeper insights into their experiences. Empathy Maps are typically divided into sections representing what users see, hear, think and feel, say and do, and pain points and gains. By completing these sections based on research or interviews with users, teams can identify opportunities for innovation that truly meet users' needs.
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An Empathy Map helps to rapidly connect ideas with Users to ask the questions, “…what do we want the User to Hear, Think & Feel, See, and Say & Do, when they engage with the solution?”.
<aside> <img src="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" alt="/icons/light-bulb_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Prototyping
Prototyping involves creating quick, low-fidelity representations of ideas or solutions to test and iterate upon. Prototypes can take various forms, such as sketches, models, or mock-ups, depending on the stage of the design process and the level of detail required. Prototyping allows teams to visualise concepts, gather feedback from stakeholders or users, and refine their ideas before investing significant time and resources in development. It's a crucial step in the iterative design process, enabling rapid experimentation and learning.
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Our Human-Centred Ideation Session generates innovative ideas through a series of Session Activities. By deeply understanding user needs, desires, and pain points, your People & Talent team will start to understand the user and how to design solutions to meet their needs.
Through empathetic exploration and creative ideation, we encourage the team to craft solutions that resonate with users (their candidates and/or employees), leading to improved people & talent experience, products and services, that truly have an impact of the user and their journey.
Our Ideation Session delivers tangible outputs by focusing on Session Outcomes that reflect the human-centric ideas.
Each outcome is meticulously crafted, explored, discussed, challenged, and tested within the Ideation Session; this starts the process of taking the idea from concept stage to a workable MVP.
Combining the workable MVP with a advocacy-map of the business leaders and teams, that will be key to the adoption and implementation of the solution, the People & Talent team begin to agree actions and sponsors.
The final part of the Ideation Session requires the People & Talent team to agree on actionable steps to implement the generated ideas and outcomes into real-world solutions.
These actions are guided by a human-centred approach, prioritising user feedback and iterative testing to refine and improve the solutions continuously.
By taking concrete actions based on the outcomes, People & Talent teams can drive meaningful change and create products and services that truly resonate with their target audience
<aside> 💬 Are you thinking of recharging your talent and people strategy in 2024? Our Human-Centred Ideation Session is proven to generate ideas and actionable solutions that will supercharge your people strategy, talent retention, and boost your culture and diversity goals.
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