Innovation is at the heart of any organization. All organizations strive towards:

• creating products and services for improved customer experiences.
• overcoming complex business problems using innovative processes and business models for increased impact and revenue.

In this era of digital disruptions and uncertainties, innovation is the key to create a competitive advantage and “design-thinking” is one of the most innovative tools to achieve Innovation and streamline organization knowledge.

So how does design thinking align with KM?

Knowledge Management helps organizations retain their experiences and knowledge to innovate, improve efficiency and productivity. However, many a times true KM transformation remains a struggle for many organizations when it is not seamlessly integrated with employees needs and challenges.  KM framework cannot be a success if it is too technology driven, people find it as an extra task, and they do not want to change especially when they do not see any direct benefit out of it.

Knowledge management should not be an abstract concept but should focus on solving concrete issues of employees by providing them seamless access to relevant information round the clock. Design thinking can be the key to meet employee needs and encourage the knowledge sharing culture.

Below are my thoughts on how design thinking can be a lifesaver and help organizations establish a successful knowledge management framework and enable it to thrive.

• Design thinking inspires innovation by putting end-users at center of the real challenges to be solved.
• Embracing collaboration by breaking silo culture and bring people together to come up with innovative ideas for increased business value and feedback for evolving KM framework.
• Empowering the end-users by putting into perspective their needs and creating solutions centered around their problems.
• Design thinking follows a progressive approach with room and tolerance for failure, making KM an iterative process for designing more appropriate solutions that are aligned to the needs of end-user.
• Focus on solution: Design thinking is the way to ideate on a solution to address a problem. It is focused on solutions coming from end-users rather than problems. It makes the solutions directly relevant to end users ensuring its absorption and adaptability.  

Follows a bottom-up approach for problem solving factoring 360-degree input from stakeholders from management to the end-user employee.

By following a design thinking centered approach while tailoring KM solutions, organizations can foster innovation, and develop KM solutions that are end-user centric resulting in improved work-experiences and innovative empowerment for improved business results.

Stay tuned for my next article on step-by-step approach on incorporating design thinking in your KM framework.

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Ekta Sachania is an experienced Knowledge and Content Manager based
in India.  

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