Weaving Design Thinking into Teams, Leaders and Organizations with Holly O'Driscoll — DT101 E51

08/04/20 • 48 min

Today’s guest is Holly O'Driscoll, the founder and CEO of Ampersand Innovation, a boutique consultancy focusing on bringing more human-centered design, innovation, strategy, and leadership development to the world. During the conversation, you'll learn about intersections between innovation and leadership, designing and facilitating innovation teams, and insights into shaping organizational innovation. Host: Dawan Stanford.

Show Summary

Holly believes her journey into design began when she was kicked out of kindergarten after only two weeks (only to be promoted to first grade) for her precocious behavior. Later, in middle school, she started her own business, renting out pens and pencils to her fellow classmates. She’s continued pushing boundaries, asking difficult questions, and challenging assumptions.

Her undergraduate degree was in Chemistry, with her future plans aimed at going to medical school, but a chance interview with Proctor & Gamble on her college campus changed her career trajectory. She ended up getting an MBA and working at P&G for 22 years, traveling all around the world servicing plants, before moving into the corporate design organization in the company, which was still in its early stages. Holly’s introduction to design thinking would also come during her time at P&G, when she returned to work after maternity leave – and it changed her life. After that first training, Holly entered a rigorous design thinking training program co-developed by Stanford d.school. She would eventually take over P&G’s North American design thinking role, and two years later, she became the head of the company’s Global design thinking.

In 2018, Holly left P&G to start her own consultancy after numerous requests from business colleagues asking her to come and do the same team training and work she was doing for P&G. Now, she’s in the process of finding ways to transition her work into the virtual space while still maintaining the same thoughtful, meaningful experience that comes from an in-person event.

Listen in to learn more about:

>> The intersection between innovation and leadership>> How our “on demand” culture can create challenges when it comes to time expectations and design thinking>> Our society’s obsession with perfection and getting things right>> The two things Holly believes prevents innovation teams from achieving their goals>> How learning design thinking is like learning a new language>> The importance of the right mindset in an organization wanting to use design thinking>> The HIPPO concept>> What Holly considers when building teams>> The facilitation exercise Holly uses to build rapport and connection in a team>> When an organization really needs someone outside the org to facilitate a team

Our Guest

Holly O’Driscoll is an industry expert in the field of Design Thinking and human centered innovation. Throughout her 20+ year career, Holly has built a reputation as a master human centered innovation strategist, trainer and facilitator having led programs in more than 20 countries. She is the former Global Design Thinking Leader at Procter & Gamble, where she led more than 250 workshops, often at the request of C-suite executives. She is the founder and CEO of Ampersand Innovation, LLC; a Design Thinking and human centered innovation strategy consultancy.

Show Highlights

[02:20] Holly’s very early start into pushing boundaries and challenging assumptions.[05:05] The chance interview with Proctor & Gamble during college that changed Holly’s career plans.[07:43] Her introduction to design thinking.[09:00] Holly’s transition from P&G to starting her own consultancy and teaching at Rutgers.[11:50] The early challenges Holly faced while facilitating design thinking[13:00] Holly talks about some of today’s challenges for design thinking because of the “on demand” business culture.[14:50] Making design thinking part of a business’s everyday mindset.[17:37] Holly’s advice for building and leading a strong team.[19:04] The two things that can keep an innovation team from being able to solve tough problems.[20:50] How learning design thinking is a little like learning a language.[21:55] The importance of leaders providing opportunities, support, and space for people to practice their design thinking skills.[25:46] Holly talks about how mindset is a key to successful, sustainable design thinking in an organization.[28:00] Choosing curiosity and the sense of being on a learning journey over being right.[30:18] The HIPPO concept and how it can affect a team.[31:09] Key leadership qualities needed to create a safe space for innovators.[31:31] The correlation between inter-team relationships, social capital, and a team’s success.[32:49] The importance of thinking about mindset and social capital when building a team.[33:01] The things Holly considers when assembling a team.[34:00] Holly’s facilitat...

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Previous Episode

Design for Good + Gut Checks + Seeing Power with George Aye — DT101 E50

Today’s guest is George Aye, the co-founder of Greater Good Studio and an Adjunct Full Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. We talk about creating a design studio driven by social impact, how to make facing the hard, ethical questions part of how a team functions, and what it means to design and lead with a deep awareness of power and its absence. Dawan Stanford, is your podcast host.

Show Summary

George’s path to design began in England, where he studied mechanical engineering at university before being fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to work with IDEO in their Chicago office. It meant packing up and moving overseas. For George, his time with IDEO was pivotal, both to his understanding of what design was, but also for what it felt like to work as part of a world-class team.

During his time at IDEO, George was already noticing questions about the work, why we do it, and why certain projects — those with a clear social mission — engendered very different feelings in him than those without that mission. He wondered how he might focus this work on the social mission projects. Seven years on, he would leave IDEO to work at the Chicago Transit Authority, where he designed a bus and researched bus ridership.

When the political environment shifted and he was let go from the CTA, George started teaching at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was here that his idea for a design studio focused solely on the social sector began to take shape.

Since co-founding Greater Good Studio, George has continued to ask the hard questions, and encourages his team and his students to do the same. George talks about why these questions are important, the dynamics of power and how it can offer insight into people’s motivations and behaviors, and how to incorporate these discussions into the daily functioning of your design team.

Listen in to learn:

>> Some of the ethical questions George and his team tackle when approaching a potential project with a client>> Why it’s a good thing to always be asking “What are we doing, and why?”>> How questioning assumptions is essential for good decision-making>> The importance of creating a “psychologically safe” workplace>> George’s thoughts about power and understanding how it shapes behavior and outcomes>> Ways to bring learned expertise and lived experience together in teaching design>> Why the idea of “saving people” is problematic

Our Guest

George co-founded Greater Good Studio with the belief that design can help advance equity. Previously, he spent seven years at global innovation firm IDEO before being hired as the first human-centered designer at the Chicago Transit Authority. Since founding Greater Good, he has worked across complex social issues such as criminal justice, civic engagement, public education, public health and youth development. He speaks frequently across the US and internationally. George holds the position of Adjunct Full Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Show Highlights

[02:16] George talks about how he got into design via engineering.[02:54] His move from London to Chicago to work at IDEO.[03:38] George discovers a preference for projects with a clear social mission and impact.[04:50] Leaving IDEO to work for the Chicago Transit Authority.[05:13] George realizes he wanted to work at a place with a clearly stated public mission, something larger than himself.[05:52] How George got into teaching.[06:13] The ideas that drove the founding of Greater Good Studio.[07:37] Greater Good’s commitment to designing for the social sector.[07:55] George talks about Greater Good’s project vetting process and determining whether they have the right to do a project or not.[10:08] George recounts a time he and his team wrestled with whether they had a right to take on a project, and the process the team goes through during those discussions.[11:35] The ways the team interrogates a project, and how they share power.[13:14] The ethical questions George had around a project for automated vehicles.[14:27] Rigorous questioning as a normal part of Greater Good’s process.[16:37] How George handles onboarding someone new to the team and Greater Good.[18:57] Breaking through ingrained assumptions and making constant efforts to create a workplace of psychological safety.[20:20] The idea of “hosting” with regards to a team member’s career.[21:40] The impact of endings, and how they can color your entire experience.[24:44] George talks about power and powerlessness, and continuing to learn what they mean to him and how they affect the work.[26:16] Using power as a lens through which to view the world, to better understand how people operate.[27:46] The desire to understand behavior is a core component of the work Greater Good does.[28:04] Power as a framework to understand motivations and diagnose behaviors.[28:47] George gives an example from his time at CTA...

Next Episode

Designing for Healthcare vs Sick Care + The Emergency Design Collective — DT101 E52

Nick Dawson is the co-organizer of the Emergency Design Collective. In today’s episode, we talk about healthcare innovation labs, how to think about opportunities in healthcare, healthcare versus sick care, and launching the EDC to support the COVID-19 response. Show Host: Dawan Stanford

Show Summary

Nick Dawson grew up with a father who worked in healthcare and hospitals. As he entered college, he was convinced that he absolutely didn’t want to work in the same field. But the technology used in the local hospital intrigued and interested him enough to accept an internship in the IT department there. While immersed in how hospitals work, Nick discovered his interest in complex systems and their challenges. His internship turned into a lifelong career that led him into design and innovation for healthcare.

While working as a healthcare performance improvement consultant for a large healthcare conglomerate, Nick needed to travel frequently by air. During his business travel, he witnessed a failing airline’s poor treatment of its employees; this was the nascence of his interest in the idea of re-designing healthcare’s patient and staff experiences. He realized that experience is something people and organizations must always create with intention and thought, and something that must be centered on those who are living and working in the experience.

Experience design, healthcare and the ability to wrestle with complexity drives his work. Examples include designing the Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub, and his recent co-founding of the Emergency Design Collective, which focuses on re-thinking how we approach healthcare, helping businesses and organizations design their work spaces to support the health and wellbeing of their employees, and on creating a “public health design” core curriculum.

Listen in to learn more about:

>> The challenges of designing for innovation in hospital environments>> Designing the Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub>> The unique collaborative aspects of clinical hospital teams>> Creating a flexible work environment and power dynamic in teams>> The “product” of healthcare>> How everything in our life is connected to, and has an influence on, our health>> The social determinants of health>> The Emergency Design Collective and its work>> Ways to rethink how we work and function in order to design for good health

Our Guest

Nick Dawson has been at the forefront of bringing design innovation to healthcare. He started and led the design innovation program at Johns Hopkins before joining Kaiser Permanente to lead innovation nationally. Nick chaired the Medicine X program in the Stanford school of Medicine until 2019 and worked with the Obama White House to bring patient-centered design to policy making and healthcare priorities. In April 2020, Nick left KP to co-found the Emergency Design Collective — a group of doctors, designers and public health experts using design to respond to urgent public health crises.

Show Highlights

[03:00] Nick’s start in healthcare and design.[04:19] Nick discovers his interest in complex systems problems.[04:28] How a hospital is like a miniature city.[05:23] Nick’s witnessing of an airline’s financial failure leads to a revelation about experience.[09:00] Learning from and listening to patients about what they need and want from their healthcare.[10:57] Why it can be challenging to innovate in healthcare.[11:29] Why healthcare is a risk-averse industry.[12:05] Nick’s focus on re-centering the work from the hospital to the communities, patients, and staff it serves.[12:51] Advice for overcoming people’s resistance to change.[13:31] The dilemma of how to help people embrace change and innovation instead of resisting it.[15:00] How hospital staff reacted to the launching of the Johns Hopkins Sibley Innovation Hub.[17:15] Nick talks about building the Sibley Innovation Hub team and working to create a welcoming space.[18:27] The unique characteristics of teams and teamwork in the clinical hospital environment versus the management side of healthcare.[19:39] How Nick disseminated power among his team members.[21:59] Nick’s thoughts on the “product” of healthcare.[22:50] The concept of a social needs emergency room existing upstream of clinical emergency rooms.[23:05] The interconnectedness of every part of our life with our health.[23:20] The social determinants of health.[24:18] What it means to design “upstream” of healthcare.[27:23] Some opportunities for people who want to act and serve not just in response to the current COVID-19 crisis, but also in the future as systems begin to change.[28:07] The Emergency Design Collective and the “new normal.”[28:27] Nick’s thought on education and how it might change.[29:15] What might happen if every corporation started to think of itself as an H corp and prioritizing health?[29:30] How the current global pandemic is potentially re-shaping th...