“Design thinking” has swept the world. While there have been many methods for finding innovative yet practical solutions to business and social challenges – such as the “Creative Problem Solving” process of Osborn and Parnes – somehow “design thinking” has caught the world’s fancy like no other.
New projects create change for the managers who approve them. New products create change for the customers who buy them. Whether you’re proposing a new project to your boss or a new product to your customer – either formally in a proposal, or informally – remember: they have their own ways of approaching innovation and change.
When we asked people who visited our ATD (Association for Talent Development) Expo booth this year in Denver, “What brought you to this conference?” they commonly answered that they were looking for “what’s next”… but for different reasons:
Risk taking is essential for the growth and success of any business. Without taking risks your organization can easily become outdated and left in a dwindling market.
I was speaking with a colleague whose client was preparing a proposal for an innovative initiative, to present to their company’s executive committee. At one point, we talked about where the resistance might come from – not based on the content of the proposal, but based on the kind of innovative thinking behind the content.