Page 153 - The Design Thinking Playbook

EXPERT TIP

Recruiting an interdisciplinary
team with T profiles

The ideal is that we can equip our teams with people who have differ- If we have little time and want to learn something quickly about the participants in a workshop, we still
ent preferences in their thinking; this is how we get high-performance use the model of the two halves of the brain. It helps to classify the participants roughly into the catego-
teams in the end. The myth that the left hemisphere of the brain ries of “analytical/systematic” versus “intuitive/iterative.” We have learned that the combination of the
is responsible for analytical thinking and the right hemisphere for various thinking models and thinking preferences is essential for a successful design thinking project.
holistic thinking is widespread. But because our brain is anything but
well organized, such a simple division into two halves is quite wrong.
Tendencies can indeed be identified. Our understanding of numbers,
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for instance, or our ability to think spatially and recognize faces, is Metaphorical model (HBDI )
more localized in the right half of the brain. Other capabilities, such
as recognizing details or capturing small time intervals, are localized
more in the left half of the brain. “Thinkers” “Innovators”

There are models that try to capture the brain as a whole and deter-
mine preferences in thinking. One example of this is the Whole Brain Analytical Integration
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model (HBDI ) that breaks down our brain into four physiological brain Technical Conceptualization
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structures. The model consists not only of the left and right mode but Problem solvers Creative
also involves the cerebral and limbic mode. This view allows us to dif- Financial Innovative
ferentiate more styles of thinking such as cognitive and intellectual,
which are ascribed to the cerebral hemispheres, and structured and
emotional, which describe the limbic preferences. In our experience,
it can be quite valuable to swap the thinking preferences on the team; Organization Teaching
individual tasks are assigned to the respective people in the relevant Planning Writing
phases during the design process. Ultimately, better solutions are Administration Communication
achieved this way. It also helps us when communicating ideas and Implementation Interpersonal
concepts to decision makers and telling the story of new products and
services we want to launch on the market.
“Organizers” “Humanitarians”

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