Meet Ecobarter — A Typical Example of How Organizations Can Leverage Human-Centred Design for Increased Innovation & Impact
There are several reasons why organizations exist. One such reason is to provide solutions to problems and improve the lives of individuals and communities. As businesses and organizations solve problems over time, they create impact. In this article, we would define impact as a “powerful change or influence sustained over time that has ripple effects on other things.”
Most organizations are currently striving to increase the impact of the solutions or activities in society especially as the number of wicked problems in the world is increasing. By leveraging the human-centred design approach, organizations can position their programs, products or services for increased impact.
“Human-Centred Design: a creative approach to problem-solving that takes into consideration the daily realities, motivations, existing habits of the people affected by the problem”
In this article, we highlight the Ecobarter company — an organization I consulted for and applied the HCD process to strengthen their impact and innovation in Nigeria.
Ecobarter is a sustainable waste management company focused on making it possible for households and organizations in Nigeria to choose responsible consumption and recycle their waste conveniently. With their mobile app, people can request waste pick-up and earn points that can be converted to cash rewards or used for shopping on their online marketplace.
Their online marketplace, the Ecobarter shop allows users to shop for eco-friendly alternatives to their daily products with direct payments or points in exchange for waste disposal using the Ecobarter platform.
Process & Result
The workshop lasted for 12 hours over a period of two days. The goal was to introduce the team to the principles, mindsets and processes of human-centred design while guiding them through the step-by-step process of achieving the set outcomes for the design workshop.
During the intensive and interactive sessions, the team collaboratively worked to:
- Understand the meaning of design and the need to identify and reframe problems.
- Select challenges affecting their end users, their process, and their products and programmes.
- Build personas and customer segmentation.
- Highlight their current customer experience and ideal process map.
- Ideate and consider the alternative futures of the recycling process and the online shop using the “What if-framework”.
- Prototype their value bucket and implementation calendar for the next 12 months.
- Create their “energizer wall” of phrases and words to help them stay on track.
- Build their employee growth plan.
It is essential to state here that regardless of the human-centred design process adopted; the following key actions must be emphasized:
- Put people at the centre.
- Plan and solve with a system view.
- Make your research quick, action-oriented and interactive.
- Identify must-address challenges and corresponding solutions.
- Test, re-test and improve(iteration).
By falling in love with human needs, organizations can transform problematic conditions and become innovative. By constantly analyzing marketplace data for stories of successes and failures, organizations can increase impact. It was exciting to see that the team at Ecobarter decided to examine their message, the people, the process and the products. As a result, the Ecobarter team created their value bucket to improve their processes.
As more organizations adopt the process of innovation beyond the collection of data, impact stories will continue to rise.
In conclusion, organizations can increase impact and build innovative teams. Regardless of why your organization exists, you can leverage human-centred design to build innovative teams and increase impact.
