Applying Design Thinking to Improve Your Work and Business

Change by Design by Tim Brown explains design thinking—a way to solve problems using creativity, people-centered ideas, and testing new solutions. While often used in product design, it can also help improve business processes, work efficiency, and customer experience.

For employees and solopreneurs, design thinking means approaching work with curiosity and flexibility. Instead of solving problems the usual way, you focus on understanding challenges, redefining problems, and creating useful solutions.

Key Ideas of Design Thinking

Start with Empathy – Understand what customers, clients, or coworkers need. What problems do they have? How can their experience be improved?

Define the Real Problem – Instead of guessing, observe and gather insights. For example, if customers are unhappy, is it because of long wait times, unclear instructions, or poor service?

Brainstorm and Test Ideas – Think of multiple solutions and try them on a small scale. If you struggle with keeping clients, test different follow-up methods (emails, exclusive content, or quick check-ins) and see what works.

Improve Based on Feedback – Keep refining your approach. If you’re an employee making workflows more efficient, ask colleagues for input or track time savings.

Take Action – Great ideas only matter if they are put into practice. Identify small, practical steps to start improving your work right away.

How This Helps You

Employees can use design thinking to improve workflow, teamwork, and customer interactions. For example, if a task takes too long, can a better tool or new process speed it up?

Solopreneurs can use it to improve products, services, and marketing. Are you giving customers what they truly need? Do you need to change how you present your value?

Prompt to Get Personalized Action Steps

Copy and paste this into ChatGPT and fill in your answers to get customized recommendations:




Prompt:

I want to use design thinking to improve my work or business. Based on Change by Design, give me actionable strategies. Here’s my situation:

What is your job or business? (e.g., I do marketing for a mid-sized firm / I’m a freelance graphic designer.)

How many people work in your company? (e.g., Just me / We have 50 employees.)

What is your biggest challenge or inefficiency right now? (e.g., Too much time on admin work / Low client retention.)

What outcome do you want? (e.g., Save 5 hours a week / Increase sales by 20%.)

Based on this, provide 3-4 specific actions I can take using design thinking principles.