Great Minds Design Think Alike

In this episode we spoke to Ryno Zeelie the head of learning and development at Yellowseed, a human resources and learning and development consulting firm. Ryno is wildly passionate about learning, the way people learn and the psychology behind learning. This unlocked the world of online learning and solving organizational problems through digital mediums and using design thinking to tailor learning for the individual.

We talk about the ways in which COVID has influenced and intensified the need for online or digital learning interventions, and how it has forced businesses and people to adapt to the digital era. But we also take a deeper look at how this new digital era has impacted operational processes and policies of businesses, and how tech has changed and assists this drastic move.

Ryno talks about the different kinds of organisations, and how the needs at all levels are very different obviously, but how the design thinking principles and mindsets of putting the user at the centre can assist with developing and deploying learning programs appropriate to the individual on a platform that the individual wants to, and can make use of.

In this episode of Great minds design think alike, we talk to Bronwyn Kennedy, a design thinking coach and facilitator, currently working at a tech company called Netstock, a global remote working first, tech company, . We talk about the importance of critical thinking and problem solving, innovation and what this all means when referring to design thinking.

During the time that she has been a design thinking coach and facilitator, Bronwyn has realised there are two areas where people needs the most assistance, and that is teaching people to ask the right questions, and not be guided by their own bias, as well as the importance of prototyping and testing without having a particular solution in mind at the start. Through her workshop facilitation, the most important lesson she has learnt (with the help of design thinking) is that it is ok to be vulnerable, and open to new ideas. Being a facilitator does not mean you need to have all the answers

Bronwyn takes us through her background, and how design thinking went from being a buzzword, to a full blown passion and career. A theme throughout this season of the podcast has been education, but also empathy and the importance of listening and really understanding your customers, or people if you cannot put yourself in their shoes - something that we talk about in this episode as well.

Bronwyn talks to us about the design thinking methodologies she employs in her daily working life, as well as the ways in which Netstock embraces new ideas from their employees, while being a fully remote team. She also talks about how senior management has adopted and embraced design thinking mindsets and what a difference leadership support makes in culture and how employees treat each other as well as their customers.

In this episode of Great minds design think alike, we speak to Rob Kellas, the programme lead at the D-School and design thinking consultant at Future World. We talk about the history of the D-school in South Africa and the future education and design thinking training.
Rob talks to us about how design thinking principles can be taught when looking at product creation and service delivery, which is historically what its been used for. In South Africa, he has seen a growth in the application of design thinking to solve systemic problems such as gender based violence. The solution for this may well end up being a product, but it may also be policy changes, etc.
We also chat about the various reasons why design thinking can be used in the corporate world and how it can be applied, and then how design thinking should be packaged for each instance. Rob also talks to us about the industries in SA he has seen a bigger adoption of design thinking and why he believes that is the case. We also chat about design thinking and the mining industry in South Africa in particular, and although they may not have adopted design thinking per say, they are using the principles to design their business of tomorrow, i.e innovation and the impact it will have on their business in the next 10 years. This leads into a detailed discussion around tech and the future impact of the technology available to us now.

In this edition of Great minds design think alike, we chat to Paris Pitsillides director of strategy at Matchboxology. Paris talks about how we will need to move beyond our current assumptions of how things ought to be, in order to innovate and think differently about business and stand out from the crowd.
We talk about the magic in design thinking, and how if you let your mind and own assumptions go, and follow the methodologies and design thinking mindsets, a whole new world opens. He equates it to being a child with a great imagination again. Imagine that child saying: WOuldn't it be cool if we could touch this and the whole world explodes? There is no limitation to their ideas, and this right here is where the magic in design thinking lies as well - having no limitations.

Alan is from Curios. We discuss how prototyping has changed how he does business, its relevance to organisational culture and the effect it has on collaboration and innovation.

In this episode we speak to Terry Behan, an expert in the application of design to solve real issues. He shares with us some interesting projects where design has allowed him to pivot, and he defines the measurement of success on design projects.

In this episode, we talk to Martin Cheetham, co-owner of Tenaka, about how design thinking has been incorporated into large organisations, as well as the definition and interpretation of design thinking.

In this episode we talk to Julia Makhubela – a consultant from 54twentyfour who is passionate about disrupting human resources. She uses human-centred design to create employee experiences that are inclusive: it’s about how we can be different together. She shares some personal stories that have guided her understanding of what we need to change for the employee of the present and the future.

In this episode we speak to Iain Bryant from Future by Design, discussing the importance of innovation, listening and understanding customers points of view, as well as the context of design thinking in Africa to the rest of the world, and our unique challenges.

Madelein Taljaard, Experience Design Director for the payroll mid-market sector at Sage Global, talks about the challenges and solutions of creating globally diverse software development teams with a human-centred mindset and culture to design and develop tools based on real user data.

In this episode, we speak to Herman Singh from Future Advisory about innovation, creativity through adversity and his experience of product successes and failures.

Jen is a design thinker and innovator with a background in IT and software development. In this episode we discuss how corporates miss opportunities for growth because of a reluctance to embrace the ‘non-traditional’ design thinking approach to problem solving.

Ulrich has an intense passion for design thinking and chats to us via a Zoom call for this episode. He is an experience designer at McKinsey and is the founder of Leftfield Lab. He shares his perspective on how creatives need to be more collaborative in working to solve problems, and the need to change corporate mindsets to accept creatives in the strategy decision making process.

Vikee is the lead researcher and educator of all things design thinking at Tenaka. In this first episode of our podcast Vikee takes us back to basics, explaining what design thinking is: the mindsets, the methods and some misunderstandings. We look at the impact of design thinking done right, with some practical examples.