Tool : Visualization 

 Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . 

 I currently work at an advertising agency in Australia and I was posed the following question : how can   we go about making the recruitment process less time and admin heavy ? 

 The process is currently ad - hoc and involves no formal agreed process . It usually involves a lot of   emails back and forth which leaves a lot of room for human error , and also requires a lot of time from   those employees involved . Also stakeholder approval on the hire currently lacks process and therefore   last minute hurdles hiring employees can arise which means a cumbersome process for employees   potentially coming onboard which affects our brand image . 

 Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you   selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . 

 I decided to organise a visualisation session with a wide range of stakeholders across the leadership   team , a range of hiring managers , and the HR and recruitment teams . 

 Visualisation is a way of portraying information in a visual , non - verbal manner which might involve   stick people , flowcharts and post - its , and is created in a collaborated fashion . Visualisation can help   with understanding the problem at hand , with idea generation and with prototyping . It can make the   process of data feel ‘ more real ’ , can unlock other parts of our brains and creativity to unlock all   potential options and solutions .   Liedtka & Ogilvie ( 2011 ) suggest it ’s ‘ the mother of all design tools ’   as it can be used in every stage of the Design Thinking process . 

 Visualisation as a tool was coined by Design Thinking pioneers with product design backgrounds .   However , the idea of drawing , mind - mapping and experimenting with prototypes is new to the   business world as managers can often find the idea of drawing fairly concerning . 

 Here are some examples of visualisation I found online : 

 The benefits of visualisation are around the ability to engage employees and provide space for them   to contribute and be part of discovery of new ideas . It allows for curation ( drilling down to the essence   and removing barriers ) and thereby allows a space of employees to feel ownership for the outcome . 

 Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did   and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . 

 The selected stakeholder team met in the boardroom armed with huge post - it note pads and   individual post - it notes with the task of simply mapping out the current system . The team were given   the day to the do this so there was time available to dig into the depth of this process . The team were   informed immediately that this was a safe collaboration space with no wrong answers . 

 This was a huge opportunity for collaboration , so we commenced as a group to make out the process   from the initial step of an individual looking to hire a new employee all the way through to the new   employee starting . 

 Once we had laid out the process as a wider team , I asked them to take their individual post - it note   pads and add on pink post - its areas in which the huge process map caused them some frustrations or   took them a lot of time , and then next to the pink post - it , they were asked to place a green post - it   with a potential solve . 

 The aim of these two tasks was to create collaboration followed by individual thinking time . 

 The outcome was an entire wall in our Board room covered in drawings and post - it notes . 

 Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. ,   how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . 

 Overall we discovered four insights : 

 1 . The need to set up a digital process where the Head of HR and the CEO approve the hire before 

 the Recruitment Manager receives the brief . This prevent stakeholder approval issues and   wasted time further down the recruitment process . 

 2 . The need to digitise the kick - off process so that the Hiring Manager requests a hire via an 

 online form which then automatically goes to the Head of HR and the CEO for approve , and   once approved to the Recruitment Manager . Once with the Recruitment Manager , the Hiring   Manager is made aware of its status and that the ‘ hunt ’ is live . 

 3 . The need for the Recruitment Manager to use that brief to create a job ad which is then sent 

 back to the Hiring Manager for clarification and approval . This ensures all stakeholders are   aligned and the correct candidates are located for the Hiring Manager thereby saving   approximately 8 hours a week for the Hiring Manager and 16 hours a week for the   Recruitment Manager . 

 4 . The need to digitise the onboarding process so that once the new employee is located , the 

 Hiring Manager completes one final form which automatically goes to IT for computer   equipment and the Office Manager for desk allocation . Also this form automatically   completed cells in a Google Doc for the Finance Dept to keep a track and cross - check new   starters and payroll monthly . 

 The energy in rolling these actions out has been immense due to the collaboration and ownership   gained from the group visualisation activity . 

 Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected   or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . 

 As this was the first time I had completed a design thinking methodology , I expect I could have gone   further . Visualisation was an incredibly versatile tool and developed some innovative solutions but   with a more confident approach and some mind - mapping , I ca n’t help but think we may have got even   further . I allowed the stakeholder team space as prescribed during my research but I perhaps was n’t   clear enough in my expected outcomes . 

 I think mind - mapping would have allowed more ‘ bouncing off ’ of ideas and potentially more in   innovative solutions . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Tool : Visualization 

 Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . 

 I currently work at an advertising agency in Australia and I was posed the following question : how can   we go about making the recruitment process less time and admin heavy ? 

 The process is currently ad - hoc and involves no formal agreed process . It usually involves a lot of   emails back and forth which leaves a lot of room for human error , and also requires a lot of time from   those employees involved . Also stakeholder approval on the hire currently lacks process and therefore   last minute hurdles hiring employees can arise which means a cumbersome process for employees   potentially coming onboard which affects our brand image . 

 Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you   selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . 

 I decided to organise a visualisation session with a wide range of stakeholders across the leadership   team , a range of hiring managers , and the HR and recruitment teams . 

 Visualisation is a way of portraying information in a visual , non - verbal manner which might involve   stick people , flowcharts and post - its , and is created in a collaborated fashion . Visualisation can help   with understanding the problem at hand , with idea generation and with prototyping . It can make the   process of data feel ‘ more real ’ , can unlock other parts of our brains and creativity to unlock all   potential options and solutions .   Liedtka & Ogilvie ( 2011 ) suggest it ’s ‘ the mother of all design tools ’   as it can be used in every stage of the Design Thinking process . 

 Visualisation as a tool was coined by Design Thinking pioneers with product design backgrounds .   However , the idea of drawing , mind - mapping and experimenting with prototypes is new to the   business world as managers can often find the idea of drawing fairly concerning . 

 Here are some examples of visualisation I found online : 

 The benefits of visualisation are around the ability to engage employees and provide space for them   to contribute and be part of discovery of new ideas . It allows for curation ( drilling down to the essence   and removing barriers ) and thereby allows a space of employees to feel ownership for the outcome . 

 Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did   and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . 

 The selected stakeholder team met in the boardroom armed with huge post - it note pads and   individual post - it notes with the task of simply mapping out the current system . The team were given   the day to the do this so there was time available to dig into the depth of this process . The team were   informed immediately that this was a safe collaboration space with no wrong answers . 

 This was a huge opportunity for collaboration , so we commenced as a group to make out the process   from the initial step of an individual looking to hire a new employee all the way through to the new   employee starting . 

 Once we had laid out the process as a wider team , I asked them to take their individual post - it note   pads and add on pink post - its areas in which the huge process map caused them some frustrations or   took them a lot of time , and then next to the pink post - it , they were asked to place a green post - it   with a potential solve . 

 The aim of these two tasks was to create collaboration followed by individual thinking time . 

 The outcome was an entire wall in our Board room covered in drawings and post - it notes . 

 Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. ,   how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . 

 Overall we discovered four insights : 

 1 . The need to set up a digital process where the Head of HR and the CEO approve the hire before 

 the Recruitment Manager receives the brief . This prevent stakeholder approval issues and   wasted time further down the recruitment process . 

 2 . The need to digitise the kick - off process so that the Hiring Manager requests a hire via an 

 online form which then automatically goes to the Head of HR and the CEO for approve , and   once approved to the Recruitment Manager . Once with the Recruitment Manager , the Hiring   Manager is made aware of its status and that the ‘ hunt ’ is live . 

 3 . The need for the Recruitment Manager to use that brief to create a job ad which is then sent 

 back to the Hiring Manager for clarification and approval . This ensures all stakeholders are   aligned and the correct candidates are located for the Hiring Manager thereby saving   approximately 8 hours a week for the Hiring Manager and 16 hours a week for the   Recruitment Manager . 

 4 . The need to digitise the onboarding process so that once the new employee is located , the 

 Hiring Manager completes one final form which automatically goes to IT for computer   equipment and the Office Manager for desk allocation . Also this form automatically   completed cells in a Google Doc for the Finance Dept to keep a track and cross - check new   starters and payroll monthly . 

 The energy in rolling these actions out has been immense due to the collaboration and ownership   gained from the group visualisation activity . 

 Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected   or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why . 

 As this was the first time I had completed a design thinking methodology , I expect I could have gone   further . Visualisation was an incredibly versatile tool and developed some innovative solutions but   with a more confident approach and some mind - mapping , I ca n’t help but think we may have got even   further . I allowed the stakeholder team space as prescribed during my research but I perhaps was n’t   clear enough in my expected outcomes . 

 I think mind - mapping would have allowed more ‘ bouncing off ’ of ideas and potentially more in   innovative solutions .
### Output: 