How to design a goal. My take on using design thinking as a coaching model.
When I started working with design thinking, I could not help but see the overlap of the design thinking framework with some coaching models, specifically Intentional Conversation Model and Intentional Change Theory.
The realization that you can apply a design thinking process to a simple coaching conversation model has been absolutely key for me. Of course, acquiring relevant coaching skills is of equal importance.
Design thinking is an iterative process “in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding” (Interaction Design Foundation).
Coaching and design thinking are both complex processes embedded in larger systems and complex contexts and ecosystems. Though if you look at children building castles in the sandpit, smashing them and building them again, I kind of see the design thinking approach there and it does not seem to be a complex process.
For the purposes of this text, I will break down the design thinking process and simplify it. We will meet halfway, somewhere between the complexity of our world and the sandpit on the playground.
“It is hard to jump from dreaming to doing. As every designer knows, there is a critical step between vision and reality” ‘Untamed’ Glennon Doyle
In design thinking, you would normally start with really trying to understand and empathize with the ones you are designing with. (Here I recommend referring to the Positionality template by Dr. Lesley-Ann Thomas). If you were to apply this same model in coaching (self or others), the ‘empathize’ or ‘understanding’ stages would translate into (self-)discovery. This means the exploration phase of ‘what is the issue?’ and ‘what is the struggle?’ comes second to the most important question of them all: ‘what is the dream’? You apply levels of (self-)compassion, but you also dig deeper to understand what you want, or others want. You think about the situation and sit with what you think is going on. Here, both in coaching and design thinking, there are different techniques and tools used. Very often it involves interviewing (in design thinking) and discovery and further coaching conversations (in coaching).
After gathering some data and immersing yourself in your assumptions, thoughts and options, you clearly define what the gap between where you are and where you want to be is. In other words, what is the dreamy future versus where we are at the moment? You get more concrete here.
Once you have it clearer in your head or on paper, you ideate, you brainstorm on how to get where you want to be: what have you already tried? what did others do to reach the same goal that was successful? Identify showstoppers. Left undetected, showstoppers might impede the process later. Identifying them can be tricky, as if it might require an experienced coach to help you work on them if they are big obstacles or limiting beliefs. I would recommend to use the Immunity to Change model to help you to drill down to the core of these beliefs.
At the end of your brainstorming, it is good to start small and pick tiny steps to begin with. You make a first draft plan, you prototype your mini goal. What are you going to do and when? For example, a very specific step could be: by the next time I meet my manager (date), I will have researched options for new tasks within my role.
And then the most exciting part happens: you go out into the world and you experiment with your new actions and behaviors, you test your new goals. This way you see what works and what doesn’t, and can learn from the experience. You don’t stop here. You go back and iterate, maybe (re)define the issue, maybe discover that something else was the problem in the first place. You make a new small plan and try things out again. If you have a coach who supports you in this, his/her is not only to empower but to help you experiment as well.
And that’s how you design your goal through a design thinking lens. I’m curious as to what you think?
Author background info: I am a personal and professional development coach. Last year I began my journey as a coach and a digital transformation designer at Digital Society School in Amsterdam and got an opportunity to combine my skills as a coach and a social and cultural anthropologist with my knowledge of design thinking and agile methodology.
