It’s fair to say that, even though it’s a relatively new concept in the world of HR, human-centred design has quickly become an accepted approach to problem solving. It does what it says on the tin – human-centred design develops solutions from a people perspective. Earlier this year we blogged about incorporating design thinking principles into the way we work. Human-centred design is a ‘sister’ process to design thinking.
Our clients typically come to us because they recognise a need for change. Historically, consultants would come in, understand the issues through the narrow lens of the business leaders and then deliver a solution that fits with the organisation’s pains.
I’m sure you’ve seen it before – “let’s hold a workshop so staff can engage with the issue and get on board with the solution.” In essence, the consultants ‘help’ the organisation make changes that are aligned with the assumed issues pin-pointed by the business leaders.
Unfortunately, studies have shown that change initiatives have a dismal track record (you’re probably aware of Harvard Business School professor John Kotter’s claim that nearly 70% of large-scale change programmes fail to meet their goals). Much of this is due to failing to engage staff with the organisation’s need for change.
So how is our approach different? At Beyond Performance, we believe that change begins as soon as we start working with you. Of course, we begin by understanding the issues through the lens of business leaders. But then we dig deeper.
We know the right techniques and questions to ask to get under the skin of the issue. Without context, any solution sits in isolation and won’t be something that staff can easily connect with. Part of successfully bringing people on the journey comes down to ensuring that they understand what it means to them within their context. Our next step, more importantly, is to engage with employees to see issues from their perspective. We do this in a way that creates ownership. Staff start to identify with the need for change, feel they can contribute to the process and ultimately feel empowered to drive any change themselves. We often find that employees agree with the issues, have greater insights into the core need for change —and they have their own great ideas to bring to the table.
Clients are seeing the impact of this process and the way that it’s helping us to design effective solutions. Most importantly, we’re seeing human-centred design start to deliver sustainable change at a much earlier stage of the project.
If you’re keen to find out more about our approach, contact Mary at mary@beyondperformance.co.nz or call 021 336 949.