top of page

3 Reasons Why Design Thinkers Matter to Organisations? 🌟

  • Daniel Ling
  • Jan 17, 2024
  • 5 min read

Introduction of Design Thinkers


Design Thinking is a game-changer, my friends! It's not just some fancy buzzword- it's a tool that propels brands, businesses, and individuals to new heights of success. 🌟

There are 3 areas of success that organisations require design thinkers - that I will use the gym analogy to help you understand:

Why do you go to the gym?

1️⃣ Look Good 
We exercise and build our fitness so that we look healthy and become more attractive. Fitness can help you have a better body shape and healthier outlook. 

In the same way, Design Thinking helps organisations look good by increasing empathy and understanding of its staff and customers. This builds good Customer Experience and Brand Recognition in the long term. 
2️⃣ Lose Fats
We lose excess fats when we sweat it out in the gym. In the long term, with good diet and regular exercise, you can lose weight and be leaner. 

In the same way, Design Thinking helps organisations to cut waste and increase productivity by looking at internal processes and ensuring the pain points of inefficiency are removed. 
3️⃣ Build Muscles
We work on various parts of our body to build key muscles to strengthen the main ones, and also to create new muscles. 

In the same way, Design Thinking helps organisations to think of new ways to be creative and innovate to cater better or new products or services to their customers. 

Conclusion, Design Thinking makes organisations:
Look Good - Deliver Customer Experience
Lose Fats- Cut Costs and Increase Productivity
Build Muscles- Innovation and Increase Value
Let's look at how Design Thinkers are so valuable to organisations. 👇
Let's look at how Design Thinkers are so valuable to organisations. 👇

1️⃣ Look Good- Organisations Can Build Customer Experience with Design Thinking

We exercise and build our fitness so that we look healthy and become more attractive. Fitness can help you have a better body shape and healthier outlook. 

1️⃣ Look Good - Deliver Customer Experience
In the same way, Design Thinking helps organisations look good by increasing empathy and understanding of its staff and customers. This builds good Customer Experience and Brand Recognition in the long term. 

I am so proud to be part of the OCBC family that focus so much on Customer Experience, we:


  1. Empathize Deeply: Immerse ourselves in the shoes of our customers- invite them to our office and  understand their frustrations, desires, and unspoken needs. We also head out there to observe at branches to see the actual situation. 
  2. Iterate relentlessly: Embrace failure and continue to learn from the previous versions to make a better one better. Our Group Customer Experience team have been around for 10+ years and I have been part of the pioneering design team- what we have designed in the past have and should be replaced by better versions now- and rightly so!
  3. Culture of Collaboration: Strive to break down walls and remove silos in the way of working. We empower every team member to champion the customer's voice, ensuring every touchpoint reflects a deep understanding of their journey and aspirations. We welcome everyone in the office from every other departments to have conversation with us.

OCBC deliver good customer experience by creating a culture of collaboration.
OCBC deliver good customer experience by creating a culture of collaboration.

_________________________________________



_________________________________________

2️⃣ Lose Fats- Organisations Cut Costs and Increase Productivity with Design Thinking 

We lose excess fats when we sweat it out in the gym. In the long term, with good diet and regular exercise, you can lose weight and be leaner. 

2️⃣ Lose Fats - Cut Costs and Increase Productivity
In the same way, Design Thinking helps organisations to cut waste and increase productivity by looking at internal processes and ensuring the pain points of inefficiency are removed. 

In fact, when Design Thinking first started to be introduced in Singapore- some 15 years back- it impacted first the financial industry in terms of building Customer Experience. The next impact came to the government service industry in terms of increasing productivity. 

One of my very first set of clients to learn Design Thinking courses
Mindef
NAVY
RSAF
SCDF
ICA

These are Singapore uniformed groups- where their leaders told me that they want to learn Design Thinking so that they can understand their processes better through empathy, define the root of the problem and start hacking some productivity improvements inside out. 
Not for profits.
Not for commercialisation. 
Not to improve their brand loyalty. 
Not for feel good factor. 
Just productivity. 

This is the beauty of Design Thinking. It applies to also uniformed groups who just want their staff to have a delightful working experience. This makes employees with DT so valuable to organisations in all forms of business. 

SCDF conducts Design Thinking Workshop to be productive in all their defence processes. 
SCDF conducts Design Thinking Workshop to be productive in all their defence processes. 

____________________________________


___________________________________

3️⃣ Build Muscles- Organisations Innovate and Increase Value with Design Thinking


We work on various parts of our body to build key muscles to strengthen the main ones, and also to create new muscles. 

In the same way, Design Thinking helps organisations to think of new ways to be creative and innovate to cater better or new products or services to their customers. 

I have the pleasure to lead an Experience Design team and educate Design Thinking to NTUC Income who is so hungry for innovation and delivering micro-insurance leveraging on new business model to the mass market. 

In all innovation work to create new value, we need to:
Understand the customers
Identify the opportunity
Align business goals to meet the opportunity
Ideate business model and innovation enablers
Evaluate and analyze feasibility
Hack and test it

These are some of key points- and I do not have all day to run through specifics. If you interested in an Innovation Course, especially applying AI as an enabler- please DM and sign up for an upcoming course. 🤖🤖🤖
NTUC Income conducts intensive Design Thinking sessions to innovate new micro-insurance into new market segments.
NTUC Income conducts intensive Design Thinking sessions to innovate new micro-insurance into new market segments.

Last Words

I will be adding more articles on Design Thinking throughout the year. Articles of Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test will be added periodically to give my readers a broader insights to Design Thinking.


Check out more articles via my blog: https://www.emerge-creatives.com/blog-1

Follow me on social media:


 

About the Author

Daniel Ling is a regional Design Leader, and certified Design and Agile Coach with 15 years of experience in the financial and e-commerce tech space- who moulded himself to be a “designer in a business suit”- strong in the Design Thinking process and yet relevant to the industry. He is proficient in the digital and transformational space- in the area of design leadership and management, research, strategy planning and coaching.

How to sign up for his WSQ Certification Courses

WSQ Design Thinking:

WSQ Entrepreneurship Business Planning:


Where to get Complete Design Thinking Guide for Successful Professionals

Download PDF Digital Copy here: https://payhip.com/b/hM4U

Purchase from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1514202735


Design Thinking Guide Book- Learn how to problem-solve, creative and innovative in the digital transformation, impress your boss and get you promoted



 
 
 

Comments


CONTACT US ABOUT OUR COURSES

Emerge Creatives Group LLP (UEN T10LL0638E). All Rights Reserved. 

Your details were sent successfully!

bottom of page