Creative Constraints
Last week I read an article by InVision called, “8 outstanding product responses to COVID-19” that got me thinking about how constraints like COVID-19 can unlock our potential as innovators. Even the best designers get comfortable in their ways of ideating and developing solutions. There’s nothing like a complete disruption to force us to think differently — to promote next-level creativity and innovation. In those situations we have to let go of our comfortable, go-to solutions and hone our design-thinking skills. Creativity born out of constraints is plentiful right now, which is certainly a silver lining to all of this. We’ve been noticing great examples everywhere, in almost every industry — but strangely not as many examples as we’d like to see from the learning industry.
Don’t misunderstand — I’ve been so proud to see our industry mobilize to support with platforms and products and services in this great time of need. When it became clear that all live training was going to need to move online in some fashion, the whole community stood up and said, “We’re here to help! We’ll show you how to create an effective online experience.” But, in our ability to offer quick solutions, we haven’t benefitted as much from the disruption and constraints that other industries are experiencing — the unexpected gift of being forced to think differently and examine how we might improve. In many cases we are still delivering fairly standard solutions.
We don’t want to miss this rare opportunity to flex our design muscles and transform what we’re doing. Here are 5 questions to ask ourselves right now to challenge our thinking and spark innovation:
What is fundamentally different now with our learners and their learning environment that we need to account for? Is our team aligned about what these differences are?
Are our go-to learning solutions effective to support a world where much more learning is online? What could we do differently to improve that overall experience for our learners?
What new standards could we develop to force us to be more effective and creative in our design process?
Do our current platforms support this new level of online learning, or do we need to work with our vendors and partners to make improvements?
Have we talked to our learners about all of these things directly instead of making assumptions?
We will be sharing innovative solutions we encounter to spark ideas and creativity in our own community — be sure to follow us on social media to get inspired. And join us as we consciously consider our new constraints and use them to change and improve the learning we’re delivering.