Unlocking Business Innovation
Unlocking Business Innovation with a One-Day Charette
Design Thinking: A Framework for Business Breakthroughs
Design Thinking isn’t just for designers—it’s a powerful, people-centered approach to solving business problems. At its core, Design Thinking encourages teams to understand user needs deeply, challenge assumptions, and creatively generate solutions. It’s iterative, collaborative, and ultimately practical.
Why is it important? Because traditional problem-solving often gets stuck in old patterns. Design Thinking flips the script by encouraging empathy, experimentation, and rapid learning. Businesses that adopt this mindset are better equipped to adapt to change, improve internal processes, and deliver better customer experiences.
Example:
Let’s say a company is struggling with a clunky ordering process for dealers. Using Design Thinking, they engage their team to deeply understand pain points, brainstorm wildly creative solutions, test a few ideas quickly, and land on a streamlined process that improves speed and satisfaction—without overhauling the entire system.
Where to Use Design Thinking in Your Business
This strategy can be applied across many areas of your company. Here are five examples:
- Customer Service
Use it to redesign your service touchpoints—from how customers contact support to how issues get resolved—focusing on responsiveness and empathy. - Sales
Improve how your sales team engages dealers or end users, using real insights from the field to streamline conversations and presentations. - Marketing
Rethink your brand messaging or campaigns by understanding how your audience perceives your products—and what actually resonates. - Product Development
Apply it to refine or invent new products that solve real customer problems—before you spend money building them. - Customer Experience
Map the full customer journey and identify where friction occurs. Design new moments of delight that set you apart from the competition.
How to Run a One-Day Charette in Your Business
While full Design Thinking sessions can take weeks, a Charette can be a focused, one-day workshop designed to generate solutions fast. Here’s how you can do it:
- Define the Problem Clearly
Choose one specific issue to tackle. Example: “How can we improve quoting response times?” or “How can we make it easier for dealers to order samples?” - Gather a Diverse Team
Assemble a group from all parts of your business—customer service, sales, marketing, operations, and even finance. The key is diversity of perspective. Leadership should not participate. This is the team’s time to shine. - Facilitate Wild Brainstorming
Start with individual brainstorming, then build on each other’s ideas. No idea is too big or too weird. The goal is quantity, not perfection. The crazier the idea, the better—this is where innovation starts. - Narrow Down & Refine
As a group, boil the list down to one or two practical ideas that can be implemented quickly. Look for high-impact, low-effort solutions that move the needle. - Present, Reflect, and Act
Present the selected ideas to leadership. At this point, leadership can offer insights, remove roadblocks, and give green lights. The best ideas get piloted—and the team sees their creativity come to life.
Final Thought: Empower Your People
A Charette isn’t just a workshop—it’s a culture shift. It shows your team that their voices matter and that innovation doesn’t need to be top-down. When people are empowered to solve problems, they become more engaged, invested, and aligned with your mission.
Try it. One day. One question. One great idea that can move your business forward.