Our Story: Our Methods Accelerate Innovation: A 2018 Close Up

As part of our strategy to foster a design mindset, we invest in our employees by providing Design Thinking tools and training. My favorite event is our annual Summer Design Challenge where we challenge our employees to tackle big-picture problems, such as redefining the customer experience, using Design Thinking. This event engages our employees, encourages them to take risks, and offers them an opportunity to cultivate and sharpen their design mindset in a fun way.

We customize our Design Thinking method to the unique challenges presented by a dynamic, complex, and stakeholder-driven Government environment. This customization draws on the tools and expertise of our Strategy Innovation Lab (SILab). The SILab is a knowledge hub that provides access to our company’s strategy, design, and mission experts. Arc Aspicio employees use the SILab to collaborate with our team and test new ideas, which generates high-quality, innovative solutions for our clients.

At the beginning of 2018, our company embraced our #exploration theme and renewed our commitment to equip our employees with a design mindset and the tools needed to navigate common challenges in an innovative way.

About Arc Aspicio
Arc Aspicio is a management, strategy, and technology consulting firm that takes a mission-oriented approach to complex client challenges. Focused on innovation, Arc Aspicio provides services in strategy, design, human capital, operations, analytics and visualization, technology, and information sharing. The company is known for a strong, collaborative culture that values gratitude, provides leadership opportunities, and explores the future. Our teams use a human-centered approach to working with clients and are flexible and responsive within dynamic Government client environments that often have new priorities and evolving missions. We thrive on these situations and promote continuous improvement and new ideas. And, #welovedogs! Follow us on Twitter @arcaspicio or learn more at www.arcaspicio.com.

When working as part of a group, team members often shy away from experimentation. They tend to follow traditional problem-solving approaches that focus on predictability and control. While these techniques might help avoid risk, they also stifle innovation. They no longer work in our changeable, fast-paced environment.

The Design Thinking method, however, accelerates innovation. Design Thinking helps solve problems by emphasizing deep exploration of the issue at hand. It encourages many possibilities, which allows for a portfolio of ideas rather than a single solution.

While attending a Design Thinking Workshop at the Harvard School of Continuing Education in 2015, I was surprised to see participation from individuals across many industries, both public and private sector, including engineers, those in vocational careers, and arts and sciences professionals. Despite our disparate backgrounds, all of us shared a design mindset and used Design Thinking to tackle complex challenges in our work. Across many different industries, Design Thinking principles proved a common tool for problem solving in a complex world.

For Design Thinking to be successful, leaders should weave the design mindset into the fabric of the company and encourage employees to use it regularly. It is Arc Aspicio’s design mindset that sets us apart.