Design Thinking your Career
/Career decisions are complicated, with emotional and logical influences in constant conflict, requiring a tremendous amount of self-reflection. There are a significant number of us who say that we love the job we have today and unfortunately, there are an equal number of people who feel otherwise. There are some at the crossroads of changing careers due to one reason or another while others at graduating at a time far more unpredictable than it has ever been.
Whatever the situation, everyone wants to follow their passion, achieve their life goals and lead a fulfilling life along the way. With so many alternative career paths and options available today, the question is, how? One could say getting everything you want sounds virtually impossible. Then again, it may not be.
Enter Design Thinking. A process for creative problem solving with a human centered core. A process where assumptions are challenged, data and research are collected to develop a sense of empathy with questions being asked through the process. Question the assumption, question the decision, question the implication; all with the objective of reframing a problem, any problem, with a human centered perspective. In this case however, it will be a you-centered perspective.
So how does running a self-oriented design sprint culminate in the clarity required to pick a career path that lends itself to both, goals and passion? Follow this process and find out for yourself.
Empathize
Start by interviewing yourself. Who is my audience? What are my priorities? What is non-negotiable and what is negotiable? What is my passion? Who does my job truly impact? Be critical. This reflection can help build a functional foundation of your design thinking sprint.
It is important to be honest and transparent while answering these questions as they are extremely complex and at times, difficult to answer. Make sure your responses are completely independent and are not influenced but short to medium term events.
Reframe the Problem
Empathizing enables you to recognize the unstated influences in decisions you have made. It will also help you in reframing your career question by bringing them to forefront. Statements such as “I need a job” can turn into “I want fulfillment in a role that benefits me emotionally as well as monetarily.” (This statement is purely for illustration purposes, do not let it influence what your question is).
Reframing the problem allows you to address what you genuinely want and keeps it at the front and center during your job search, career change or life path.
Ideate
Here begins the creative brainstorming session. Grab a pen, a few post-its and get to work. Spend time researching different careers and paths, write them down and stick up on a wall. Picking out potential career paths will not be difficult, with the plethora of information sources available today. Everything goes up on the wall, no matter if it sounds interesting or not. Ideally, work with one or more other people in order to ensure that you are removing any unknown biases within yourself. However ludicrous the career, it goes up – do not say no to any idea.
Once that is done, distill and refine all possibilities. Identify the ones in alignment with your reframed question. You can also keep three separate lists, segregated based on likelihood, interest, or even capability; to make sure you are evaluating all your options fairly.
Rapid Prototyping
This is the stage where you try out your chosen paths from the list derived during the Ideation phase. Conduct small experiments that will help ascertain the ‘fit’ of the chosen idea with yourself. Informational interviews, meetings, and perhaps even short online courses that provide additional perspective on the inner workings of a role or industry. Talk to mentors and coaches to help determine if everything chosen so far makes sense and what the next best steps in your career could be.
The objective of this phase is to put yourself in different shoes and do a test run of your new career or job.
Testing
Once you have run through the different ‘jobs’ on your list, the next phase is Testing.
An extension of Rapid Prototyping, this is where you roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Get an internship, sign up for a short term or online course and apply for roles in your chosen path. Validate the assumptions made at the beginning to identify your question is really being answered, or if you need to further reframe and refine your question.
This phase can virtually extend through your career, as you are always testing and learning something new. Continuously refine your ideas, conclusions and keep rapid testing through various permutations and combinations. It is unlikely that you will be unable to find a golden opportunity in the first go but keep flowing through the process and you will get there while learning a lot more about yourself.
Finally, share your story. Design an inspirational tale that will help motivate others to follow the same process and find something that matches their interests, passion, and ultimate career goals.