In this episode of Great minds design think alike, we talk to Bronwyn Kennedy, a design thinking coach and facilitator, currently working at a tech company called Netstock, a global remote working first, tech company, . We talk about the importance of critical thinking and problem solving, innovation and what this all means when referring to design thinking.
During the time that she has been a design thinking coach and facilitator, Bronwyn has realised there are two areas where people needs the most assistance, and that is teaching people to ask the right questions, and not be guided by their own bias, as well as the importance of prototyping and testing without having a particular solution in mind at the start. Through her workshop facilitation, the most important lesson she has learnt (with the help of design thinking) is that it is ok to be vulnerable, and open to new ideas. Being a facilitator does not mean you need to have all the answers
Bronwyn takes us through her background, and how design thinking went from being a buzzword, to a full blown passion and career. A theme throughout this season of the podcast has been education, but also empathy and the importance of listening and really understanding your customers, or people if you cannot put yourself in their shoes - something that we talk about in this episode as well.
Bronwyn talks to us about the design thinking methodologies she employs in her daily working life, as well as the ways in which Netstock embraces new ideas from their employees, while being a fully remote team. She also talks about how senior management has adopted and embraced design thinking mindsets and what a difference leadership support makes in culture and how employees treat each other as well as their customers.