Design Thinking in HR: 6 Important Steps

Creating a space in which people want to work efficiently is today one of the critical HR objectives. There are less and fewer employees who are inspired only by a healthy workplace, stylish design in the office and flowers on the windowsills. These options are still needed, but they are not enough.

People tend to feel part of a unique system. They estimate not only the resources received from the company but also their condition during their stay at the workplace. A comfortable atmosphere, a minimum of stress, and involvement in something significant are the factors that today largely shape loyalty to the company.

An HR manager in such conditions is increasingly taking a proactive position, developing a positive experience with the staff in the organization, starting from the stage of recruiting and ending with leaving the company.

Design thinking is one of the tools that you can use. A technology that allows you not only to manage processes in a company effectively but also to form a unique employee experience. At the same time, a human is in the center as a critical participant in the system, the one for whom it exists.

Learning to think like a designer will help a few questions:

1. What does an employee feel while working for the company?

2. What is the experience of the company’s work experience?

3. What role does HR play in making employee experience?

All questions are open and provoke the creation of a non-standard individual response. Continually working on them, HR involuntarily turns into an architect of employee experience. The influence of average generally accepted trends decreases. It becomes possible to manage staff expectations, influence employees, based on their knowledge and key needs that are relevant "here and now."

A company that knows what staff needs and wants to give it will always be more attractive to potential candidates.

How to develop design thinking

Design thinking in practice is a specific process that can be decomposed into stages. Following each of them enables an HR-manager to learn how to effectively think and act, manage the expectations of their employees, and shape their experience in the company.

Next will be presented a sequence of steps that make it possible to move away from the patterns and develop design thinking.

1. Watch

Learn to take yourself beyond the processes that occur in the company. Be involved, however, strive to take the position of an observer. Always answer the questions: "What other information do I need to figure this out? What is the problem? Who influences the situation and how? "

2. Empathize

Strive not only to study the behavior of employees but also to find out how they evaluate the company. The primary task is to understand the motives, to identify the factors that influenced the formation of experience and then again go to the questions: “What are our employees? What do they care? What do they want to get from this company? ”

At this stage, we are not talking about giving the staff everything they want. The company's business goals and common sense should still come first. At the same time, an understanding of the needs of personnel will enable them to manage their condition more effectively, will provide an opportunity to increase involvement, will form an understanding of which employees the company needs to achieve the best results.

3. Develop imagination, visualize

Knowing what your employees need, imagine what tools and resources are required for this. Mentally, and better with the help of charts and tables, work through the "picture," which will show what kind of results the company and staff can get. Match the reality and what changes are needed.

It is possible that at this stage, some wishes would be impossible. However, it will be possible to see which processes within the company require changes.

4. Create examples

When you get a visualization, think about what will allow you to create a process model in real time. It is essential to be able to verify the correctness of one's thoughts, to test them in the context of the company's current business objectives. Ask yourself again the questions: "How can I test myself? What processes in the company can be changed now? Which staff member can help with this? ”

5. Test

You already know about the needs of colleagues, analyzed the processes in the company. Build a change model of one of the methods, provided that the staff is involved in it, with the perfect employee experience.

In fact, at this stage, something like a focus group may appear. Perhaps it will include employees whose perfect experience has already been formed. If there are no such specialists or they cannot be combined to solve one task, stop at those who are more loyal to the company.

Considering business opportunities, show them the willingness to meet one or more of the current essential needs. Analyze what changes in the work and relation to the company causes such an approach. It is vital that a demonstration refers to the actual receipt by an employee of any significant good (tangible or intangible).

6. Keep balance

Always work on keeping an atmosphere of trust in the team. The mutual involvement of staff and companies in the development of each other can be a strong driving force for business. On the contrary, attempts by any of the parties to give the other a little less, if no one notices, in the long run, will destroy any achievement.

In general, design thinking allows you not only to see the process but also to focus on the person who creates it. The spotlight becomes a person who can change much faster than any prescribed sequence of actions. Understanding the motives that influence the changes in the employee’s experience will enable the HR manager to predict changes in the organization and manage them, being a full-fledged business partner.

Melisa Marzett is a writer who has been freelancing for more than 10 years. She currently writes for Find Essay Writing Service. She combines work and travel and enjoys simple things.