Lessons Learned from My Fellowship (Part 1)

One: Grow your creative confidence based on exposure to topics you are passionate about

My company offers 6-month fellowships as an opportunity to move from the day job in order to explore a new business area. I had the chance to do a fellowship in the Design business area thanks to the support of my sending manager and the approval of the receiving team during the second half of 2016. My first lessons learned is that the exposure to projects about topics I’m passionate about like e.g. user experience or future of work really helps to grow the own creative confidence – as described by Tom and David Kelley in their insightful book “Creative Confidence“.

Two: Invest time to build empathy and to research

In my day job there was often very limited time to really explore the problem space: “Here is a nail – Where is the hammer?”… I experienced the difference in the quality of insights while having more time to build empathy with end users. It’s worth investing time in research activities to truly understand the issue and the experience you would like to improve. A good starting point for your research toolbox is e.g. the openSAP course “Basics of Design Research” which I highly recommend.

Three: Time for inspiration is important

The third lessons learned may be a no brainer for a designer, but not evident for a non-designer: Invest time to explore new landscapes, discover new sources of information, start a side project, talk to people you don’t know yet so well, observe daily routine jobs executed by you and colleagues, change your daily routine, and take notes of your collected inspirations and observations either virtually or with a paper note book. Not convinced? One book which has influenced me is “Steal Like An Artist” from Austin Kleon.

What is your experience with a fellowship or a similar kind of exposure to new business areas?

This series of lessons learned will continue soon.