How can you involve stakeholders to improve the design thinking process?

1 Identify your stakeholders

The first step is to identify who are the key stakeholders for your design challenge. Stakeholders are anyone who has an interest, influence, or impact on the problem or solution. You can use a stakeholder map to visualize and categorize your stakeholders based on their level of power and interest. This will help you prioritize who to engage with and how to communicate with them.

2 Empathize with your stakeholders

The second step is to empathize with your stakeholders, especially the users who will benefit from your design solution. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, and needs of others. You can use various methods to empathize with your stakeholders, such as interviews, observations, surveys, personas, and empathy maps. These methods will help you gain insights into the pain points, motivations, and expectations of your stakeholders.

3 Co-create with your stakeholders

The third step is to co-create with your stakeholders, especially the users who will participate in the design process. Co-creation is the act of involving and collaborating with stakeholders in generating and testing ideas and solutions. You can use various methods to co-create with your stakeholders, such as workshops, brainstorming, prototyping, feedback sessions, and testing. These methods will help you leverage the diverse perspectives, expertise, and creativity of your stakeholders.

4 Align with your stakeholders

The fourth step is to align with your stakeholders, especially the sponsors who will support and fund your design solution. Alignment is the state of agreement and harmony among the stakeholders on the goals, scope, and value of the design solution. You can use various methods to align with your stakeholders, such as stakeholder analysis, value proposition, business model canvas, and pitch. These methods will help you communicate and demonstrate the benefits, feasibility, and viability of your design solution.

5 Engage with your stakeholders

The fifth step is to engage with your stakeholders, especially the partners who will implement and deliver your design solution. Engagement is the act of building and maintaining positive and productive relationships with the stakeholders throughout the design process and beyond. You can use various methods to engage with your stakeholders, such as newsletters, updates, events, stories, and testimonials. These methods will help you keep your stakeholders informed, involved, and inspired by your design solution.

6 Learn from your stakeholders

The sixth step is to learn from your stakeholders, especially the customers who will use and evaluate your design solution. Learning is the process of collecting and analyzing feedback and data from the stakeholders to measure and improve the performance and impact of the design solution. You can use various methods to learn from your stakeholders, such as surveys, interviews, analytics, experiments, and reviews. These methods will help you identify and address the gaps, issues, and opportunities of your design solution.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?