My desk in the office is across from Anil Dada, YUVA’s media coordinator. I’ve seen him approach his work with intention and heart. He grew up in Dharavi and learned how to use a camera as a young boy. Since then, he has created thought-provoking films on topics ranging from water insecurity and workers’ rights to the identity struggles of a criminalised tribe.
He edits films with his undivided attention to every detail. From the choice of music to the speed at which the visuals change, everything is according to the emotions he wants to evoke in the viewer. Some might think, what’s the point? They might say it’s not going to matter; the audience won’t even notice.
But as Tom and David Kelley write in their book Creative Confidence, acting with intention means that no detail is too small to escape your attention. Making it a practice hones originality and offers new ways to improve on the status quo.
In my daily work, I encounter countless decisions. Sometimes making choices with more intention is easier with tools that inspire confidence and drive action. In a five-week course on Designing Strategy*, explored a variety of such tools and applied them week on week. Through this course, I learned that the essence of strategy is about making everyday choices with more intention, rigour, and creativity. I discovered that while traditional strategy often relies heavily on analytics and numbers, design strategy combines these with iterative processes and human-centred design approaches.
In addition, I observed that a lot of design strategy principles apply to social impact work. Working in the communications division at a non-profit development organisation in Mumbai for the past ten months, and having spent two years doing urban research, implementation, and community engagement work in Delhi before that, one thing has become clearer than ever: in the development sector, making choices with intentionality is not just important; it’s imperative. The consequences of our decisions impact people’s lives directly.
Some key design strategy principles I learned that are relevant to the social impact sector include:
- Keeping focus on the problem while allowing space for new ideas: It’s crucial to stay rooted in the core issue while being open to innovative solutions.
- Operating with intentionality: No detail is too small to escape your attention. Every choice should be deliberate and well-considered.
- Identifying barriers: If a strategic possibility has a large number of barriers, it doesn’t mean it’s a weak idea. Rather, it indicates many variables need to be tested, suggesting the possibility may be focused further out into the future or toward more unknown space.
- Testing and prototyping: Iterative testing can significantly improve the quality of strategic possibilities. This process can be adapted in the realm of development sector work to refine and enhance solutions.
- Participation and collaboration: Collecting diverse viewpoints leads to more nuanced solutions. Involving different stakeholders enriches the strategic process.
- Asking “what would have to be true” at every stage: Continuously questioning assumptions and conditions at each stage of strategy development ensures robustness and relevance.
- Adopting human-centred design approaches: Understanding partners’ perspectives accelerates innovation and impact, which is significant for social impact organisations involved in community initiatives and partnerships at local, national, and international scales.
By integrating the principles of design strategy into daily operations, developmental organisations can enhance their approach to problem-solving in the social impact sector. This means being detail-oriented, embracing iterative testing, fostering collaboration, and always questioning our assumptions. It means viewing barriers not as roadblocks but as opportunities for deeper exploration and innovation.
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*Designing Strategy is a five-week online learning course offered by the global design company IDEO. The instructors are Jennifer Riel, IDEO’s Global Director of Strategy, and Roger Martin, Strategy Advisor and former Dean of the Rotman School of Management. The teaching team consisted of Meredith Englehart, Thomas Reneau, and Piera Mattioli. My participation in this course was supported by AIF Banyan Impact Fellowship’s Professional Development Grant.
