An integral part of the design thinking method is reflection. Reflecting on what was accomplished and what could be improved upon is critical to inhabiting a mindset of iteration and experimentation.
The end of a year is a good time to reflect.
A popular way to capture reflections in design thinking is the rose/thorn/bud method.
Rose (what has gone well):
The thing that I am most grateful for despite the year that was 2020 was the ability to use the HR.Hackathon Alliance as a platform to advance social impact causes.
#HRvsVirus Hackathon
In April, we ran our first ever global, 72hr, virtual #HRvsVirus Hackathon in partnership with Sandee Kastrul and the amazing team at i.c.stars. This hackathon was solely dedicated to tackling workplace challenges experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We had 130 registered participants including twenty mentors and moderators. Participants were designers, academics, data scientists, business leaders, and HR professionals from countries across the world, including Argentina, Brazil, Dubai, England, Germany, Ireland, and the United States of America.
There were five solutions created by #HRvsVirus Hackathon participants:
Open Space - A Platform to Maintain Meaningful Work Connections
Design Thinking for Career Development for Those who Experience Crisis-Related Lay-Offs
ONN (Our New Normal) App which Facilitates Safe Return to Work from Isolation
A participant described their experience as follows:
“What a weekend! What an experience! What an opportunity! This past weekend, in the midst of family time, work responsibilities and all of the cares of life...an amazing “troop” of HR leaders came together...from ALL OVER THE WORLD to begin thinking about and solving some of the people challenges that will face us all in this post-COVID 19 world.”
Career Hackathon
In July, we piloted Career Hackathon, a concept designed during the #HRvsVirus Hackathon. The solution aims to address the record high unemployment caused by the crisis.
This is how Career Hackathon participant Tsukumo Niwa described her experience:
“I’m excited to keep going forward, knowing that my support network from the HR.Hackathon Alliance always has my back. Hopefully, I can help establish a fan club for someone else one day.”
#HRvsRacism Initiative
In August 2020, we launched #HRvsRacism, an initiative which aims to create a space for HR professionals to heal, become courageous allies, and learn how to design equitable workplaces.
Thorn (what didn’t go well):
2020 did not turn out as planned for anyone. My goal was to double the number of cities with dedicated HR.Hackathon hosts. While to my surprise I received many requests of people who were interested in launching HR.Hackathons in their cities despite the uncertainty of the pandemic, many decided to defer their commitment into 2021 which is completely understandable.
For many months during 2020 I wasn’t sure myself what the right path might be to continue to build our HR.Hackathon Alliance community.
What encouraged me was the interest from the community in wanting to bring design thinking to their HR practices and the dedication of our city hosts who just rolled with transferring our event model to a virtual format.
Bud (what’s next):
Shifting to a remote model allowed us to expand our global reach and expand our community of design thinking obsessed HR rebels to +2,800.
Moving into 2021, we will continue to experiment with ways of delivering our HR.Hackathons - whether it be virtually, eventually back in person, or in a hybrid fashion.
Starting in January, we will be launching our #HRvsRacism programming which I am super excited about. Months of ideation and design went into this concept. It’s a true labor of love, but one that is so important and worthwhile and I am grateful that I have a platform like the HR.Hackathon Alliance that I can leverage to advance this cause.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nicole Dessain is the Founder and Chief Talent Experience Designer at talent.imperative inc, an employee experience design consultancy.
Nicole's creative superpower is "connecting the dots" which she applies to her passion of bringing design thinking to the world of Human Resources through the HR.Hackathon Alliance.