In this episode we speak to Terry Behan, an expert in the application of design thinking to solve real issues. He shares with us some interesting projects where design has allowed him to pivot, and he defines the measurement of success on design projects.

Terry is currently the executive director of innovation and business design at Nedbank. He has been working in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East for more than 20 years. For the past 10 years, his focus has been on design entrepreneurship, where he has set up and owned many design businesses. This has brought him to his current position as part of a larger, corporate team, looking at design innovation across retail banking.

Terry talks about some successful design thinking projects he has been involved in, as well as others where design thinking wasn’t executed well, and the reasons for both. He talks about the lessons he learnt on some successful projects executed in Africa, and how really understanding the underlying motivations for customer behaviour is what will differentiate you.

Terry shares some of his views on the current education system in South Africa, and how this needs to evolve to better equip children for the future of work. Terry and his team have rolled out an Edutech platform based on an 18-month research project where the challenge was to understand how teachers and learners really learn new skills.

We talk about how Terry is experiencing the reaction of corporate executives to design thinking and the ambiguity that surrounds it. He talks about how he is helping those exco members to adopt design thinking as a method to find out and execute on solutions in the absence of proof of success. He shares some tips on how to go about getting executive management on board to implement and support design thinking in organisations, and how to ensure that its a long term investment across an organisation where everyone is living and breathing design thinking daily.

Terry gives practical insight into the process Nedbank has employed to ensure the ongoing development of design thinking at an operational and executive level, and what the team is doing to master the craft.

In closing Terry shares his views on trends and maturity levels in the design thinking space, and what he sees as the future of design thinking, both globally and locally.

If you are unfamiliar with design thinking, listen to episode 1, where we discuss the methods and mindsets of design thinking and clear up some of the terminology.