Enhancing Design Maturity in Organizations: Why it’s Needed and What Challenges Exist
Background
During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are trying to enhance their innovation capabilities to tackle the increasing challenges in an uncertain world. Design has been considered one of the leading disciplines to drive innovation and transformation in organizations and has already been applied to many sectors and topics. According to the Forrester report of 2019, many industries have already started to understand the business value of design. However, while design processes and methodologies have been implemented and are being used in many places, their efficiency or effectiveness might not be the same, even when adapting the same processes or methodologies.
After completing two key design-led transformation projects with different large financial institutions in APAC recently, I deeply resonated with the impact of design maturity on organizations. People might know about design thinking tools and methodologies, but the mindset of design thinking is the foundation for using those tools to unlock the value of design.
Design thinking is a trend and a good starting point for organizations that would like to transform their business. However, design thinking is intentionally designed in a simplified way to democratize it to a wider audience, particularly non-designers. Many people misunderstand and misinterpret it, leading to a perception that it is too high-level or generic. According to the Design Maturity Model proposed by Renato Feijó (2010), there are several stages that organizations need to go through to become design-led organizations. Additionally, Nielsen’s Design Maturity model (2021) resonates and supplements this by stating that it usually takes seven years to reach Stage 3 (Invested), but progress slows down at higher levels. It takes approximately thirteen years to transition from Stage 3 (Invested) to Stage 5 (Engaged), and typically twenty years to reach the final stage from Stage 5 (Embedded). While design thinking might be helpful for the first few stages, when moving to later stages, the selected design thinking champions in the organizations need to delve deeper into the mindset of design thinking.
The 2019 ‘New Design Frontier’ report published by Invision claims that when design takes center stage, it can directly impact tangible business results, such as revenue, cost savings, time to market, and valuation. However, not all design dollars are equal, and simply adding more designers to the team won’t necessarily solve the problem. It’s crucial to create a culture of design within organizations and to nurture design thinking mindsets in employees’ daily work routines. The report found that only 5% of the surveyed companies are empowering design for the greatest benefits (Level 5 — Embedded), while 41% have significant room for growth (Level 1 — Interested), even though nearly 80% of companies include design in their projects often or almost always.
Many design institutions have published criteria to assess design maturity, including culture, strategy, process, and outcomes. However, shifting mindset is the foundation for driving cultural transformations that impact strategy, process, and outcomes. Nick Jankel, the CEO and chief transformation officer of Switch On and author of ‘Now Lead the Change’ (2021) asserts that the transformation mindset involves the ability to switch between control and create modes of problem-solving. Senior leaders often perpetuate a legacy mindset, which causes most organizational crises. This is why Yale professors predict that many of today’s Fortune 500 companies will be gone by 2030. The control and create modes of problem-solving are inherent to a designer’s mindset, but even with this capability, designers may face many challenges. Based on my recent experience, I would like to share three challenges that organizations face when enhancing design maturity:
Challenge 1 — Lack of senior leadership support
Senior leadership often views design thinking only as a tool for product development, hindering its potential as a transformative force in addressing complex challenges. This leads to miscommunication and a lack of a mature design culture within the organization. Other business roles may prioritize profit over human-centered design, creating a disconnect between designers and other stakeholders.
To bridge this gap, organizations must recognize design thinking as a mindset and invest in developing design leadership at all levels. This will foster a mature design culture that prioritizes empathy and human-centered solutions, driving innovation and success. By understanding human behavior and emotions, organizations can create solutions that meet the needs of their stakeholders.
Challenge 2 — Lengthy knowledge transition period
Design knowledge acquisition is complex and requires a deep understanding of the discipline’s context and history. Developing a human-centered approach takes time and practice, even for experienced designers. Short training courses in design thinking are insufficient to equip people with a design thinking mindset. To develop this mindset, individuals must immerse themselves in the discipline for one to two years.
Organizations must recognize the lengthy knowledge transition period required for effective design thinking. They must commit to developing the skills and mindset needed to drive innovation and transformation. By supporting their employees in this endeavor, organizations can foster a culture that prioritizes human-centered solutions and drives innovation in the face of complex challenges.
Challenge 3 — Keeping up with emerging areas of design
Design constantly evolves, with new areas emerging, such as service, circular, and ethical design. While these areas offer exciting opportunities, they also present a challenge for enhancing design maturity. It can be difficult for organizations to keep up with the latest best practices and incorporate these new approaches into their existing processes and workflows.
To address this challenge, organizations must stay up-to-date on emerging areas of design and invest in ongoing learning and development for their design teams. This involves attending industry conferences and events, participating in online communities, and partnering with external design experts. Design teams should experiment with new approaches, share their insights, and stay adaptable to evolving design knowledge. By doing so, organizations can drive innovation and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing business landscape.
Conclusion
In conclusion, organizations face several challenges in enhancing their design maturity and driving sustainable success through design thinking. These challenges include a narrow focus on profits, a lack of ongoing learning and development, and insufficient design knowledge and senior leadership support.
To overcome these challenges, organizations must embrace design thinking as a mindset, deeply understanding its meaning and adopting its key attributes of empathy, experimentation, collaboration, integration, and optimism. David Dunne and Theresa Eriksson et al. (2022) in the MIT Sloan Management Review point out the difference between managerial thinking and design thinking and why business people should learn from designers. Organizations must also build a strong design culture and ensure designers occupy higher positions in the organization to make the right decisions and drive transformation. By doing so, organizations can achieve their goals, create positive impact for their stakeholders, and gain a competitive advantage in an uncertain world.
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Previous Medium articles have thoroughly examined various aspects of design knowledge. To avoid repetition, this current discourse will refrain from restating these notions. If you’re interested in exploring these points further, I encourage you to peruse my prior articles.
The opinions and thoughts shared are solely my own, and do not reflect EY’s views on any of the issues.
