Design Thinking

Most organisations don’t struggle with ideas – they struggle with implementation. This article explores the Innovation Implementation Gap: why promising strategies stall, why change efforts fail, and what leaders can do to turn innovation into meaningful, lasting action.

Design thinking is one of the most widely adopted innovation approaches in New Zealand today. It is used in government agencies, hospitals, universities, and commercial teams across New Zealand. And in the right hands, in the right conditions, it is genuinely powerful. But after a decade working with more than 350 leaders and teams across the NZ public sector, healthcare, agriculture, and commercial sectors, I have reached a clear conclusion: typical design thinking is a brilliant starting point. On its own, it is rarely enough.