In the part I of the interview with Saurabh Gupta, HR Head – Americas and Europe at Intellect Design Arena Limited, we found out about the three Design Thinking principals. In this article, we are going to find out more about the importance of Design Thinking and why HR leaders should apply it at work.
Q What is the core philosophy that sums up Way of Working at Intellect Design Arena Limited?
Intellect Way of Working is ingrained by its founder and chairman’s fundamental commitment to continuous learning. Intellect is an early adopter in embracing the concept of Design Thinking, which has shaped and defined the work culture and has become the way of life at Intellect.
Q Why did you choose Design Thinking as a Way of Working at Intellect over any other proposition?
It is a very good question and a very important one for our readers.
I will recommend a simple test. A company’s Way of Working philosophy has to be in complete alignment with its core values and customer expectations. For example, Intellect’s core values are Passion, Humility, Integrity and Respect. We define these values in a way that is most relevant to our beliefs and our customer expectations as below:
Passion – Attention to details
Humility – Humble to continuous learning
Integrity – Alignment in Thought, Behaviour & Action
Respect – Listening to others
You can clearly see how closely the three design thinking principles explained above align to our core values with common denominators like learning, listening, precision and attention to detail. Furthermore, our customers are in a fast pace FinTech space and they value and demand holistic Design Thinking Solutions. We design our solutions with three design thinking principles extended in practice by deep and detailed tools and frameworks. For example, we have a holistic seven dimensions framework and toolkit called COPARIS for designing FinTech products for our customers.
Q Could you please describe what the COPARIS framework is?
COPARIS is Intellect’s product development framework designed around seven dimensions of software products development. These seven dimensions of software product development and design are Customer Experience, Operational Experience, Performance, Analytics, Risk, Integration and Security. There are physical design spaces in the Design Centre where customer’s walkthrough and experience these seven dimensions of product design and co-create solutions for their most pressing problems with Intellect Designers and Solution Architects.
Q What is your advice to other companies who may want to replicate Design Thinking as a Way of Working?
First and foremost do not rush into choosing any philosophy. Sit back and reflect on your company’s core values and what your customers value most.
Design Thinking is a Way of Working at Intellect because it resonates with our core values and customer needs as mentioned above. There are many great propositions out there to consider as a governing philosophy to shape your Way of Working. For example, if you choose Innovation as a core philosophy, make sure it’s in line with your core values and your customer demands Innovation as a top priority as opposed to reliability or cost-consciousness! Choosing a Way of Working that is not aligned with your core values and customer needs could be seen as copycat behaviour and will fail to deliver any great value results.
Q What will be one trap to avoid as an advice to HR leaders and managers?
I think it is important to understand that the Way of Working is a part of the larger culture of an organization. And as with any global setup, there are sub-cultures within every organization characterised by variations in geographies, people diversity, beliefs, practices and regional flavours. One should allow and even appreciate that there will be sub-cultures in regions and teams and as long as they are broadly in line with overall organization values. To sum up in six words: ‘Practices are local, Principals are Global’.
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