Careers Archives - Ashton Education

Deciding Between a Career in Mental Health or Developmental Support

You’ve already made a big decision. You know that you want to work in a field that allows you to directly help people on a day-to-day basis. Narrowing down the choices in health care and human services can be challenging, especially since there is a lot of overlap in certain careers.

If you’ve been trying to decide between taking a mental health worker certificate program (health care) or a developmental services worker program (human services), this information is for you!

Basics of the jobs

First, let’s explore the basics of these two roles. Someone who has taken an addictions and mental health program will be focused exclusively on helping individuals with mental health issues and substance addictions. Education programs to gain skills in this role will look at mental health issues and addictions as separate issues as well as looking at them as concurrent issues. This type of work will focus on improving a person’s health, aiding in prevention and encouraging harm-reduction strategies.

Those who have taken a personal support worker program will have a different, but slightly overlapping focus. As a developmental services worker, individuals aid others in creating more fulfilling, independent lives. This comes in the form of exploring a variety of personal life areas including mental health, developmental disabilities, communications and behaviours.

The overlap

In both jobs, there is a keen awareness of mental health and how working with any individual on personal matters involves exploring the way they think, how they are feeling mentally and emotionally and improvements that can be made to create a more enriched life. There is also a look at behaviours in both roles. This is an area where education can help significantly. Understanding what certain undesirable behaviours mean being able to assist the support worker in assessment and helping the client change.

Ongoing involvement and differences

Where the differences between the two jobs show up is in the very early analysis stages and in the later stages after a relationship is formed.

For example, in the role of a mental health and addictions support worker, there will be a lot of time spent at the start of the interaction to better understand the mental health and addiction issues and some of the behaviours around them. The individual may not have been diagnosed, may have been misdiagnosed or may have new challenges. The support worker will attempt to unravel the current situation and past issues.

Mental health is complex and when interwoven with addictions, it can become increasingly challenging to determine the issues and how to start treatment. Once the characteristics of the individuals’ issues are defined, the relationship expands and the work to treat the conditions really gets underway.

People a development services worker works with will generally have an existing diagnosis of a disability, behavioural issue, impairment or other challenges. Mental health will be explored in the early stages of forming the relationship, but as the care worker and the individual get to know each other, mental health will be dealt with along with other areas of growth.

This could be the case when a support worker is at a residential group home with individuals who have a range of disabilities. The support worker would initially need to get to know the individuals, understand their specific cases and needs and begin developing a relationship. As the relationship progresses, trust is built and the case worker can start adding various techniques into daily life to encourage more independence or satisfaction in life. This may include tools around mental health or mobility, life skills or training or a number of other elements.

The job market is strong

Another area where both mental health workers and developmental services workers are aligned is in the growth of the number of jobs. Providing individuals and families support are high demand areas, therefore there is a growing need for trained, skilled support to improve lives.

How to Discover Your Coaching Niche

December 11, 2021/in Careers Lindsay McKay /by Lindsay McKay

Your life coach certification training is complete, and you are ready to start practicing but now what? While your training would have covered the basic steps to start your business, create a welcome package, the initial consultation, and provided mentorship, the one thing it would not have covered is how to discover your niche or if you need one. While not every coach has a specific niche or needs one, for example if you are already getting clients and enjoy the work you do with them, your niche kind of gets created itself because your happy clients will refer you to others with the same issues as them. If this is your case, there is no need to discover your niche unless you want to completely rebrand yourself. However, for most people, whether you are planning on becoming a life coach, business coach, or career coach, it is helpful for yourself, your future marketing efforts, and future clients to choose or create a niche for yourself.

The basic outline of discovering your unique coaching niche includes:

Identifying your interests, passions, and what you enjoy doing in your work life
Identifying potential problems you can solve, be as creative and specific as you look
Do some research to see if others are in your niche, or a way to make it more specific and unique to you
Testing your idea by talking with others and seeing if people have other problems you did not think of that you could also look at solving for them

During your coach certification training process, you may have specialized in a specific area such as adult ADHD coaching, executive coaching, career coaching, and others; if you particularly enjoyed one of these areas this may be a great place to start as it has piqued your interest and you are passionate about it. Those specific areas can be looked at as broad categories of coaching and through doing research into the market and discovering problems that need to be solved combined with your personal experience, values and interest you should be able to brainstorm some truly unique niche possibilities.

Let’s walk through an example for someone who really enjoyed the specific area of career coaching, what should they do next? There are two options: first, they could research niche possibilities under career coaching to see what is out there, or they could look at their personal experience and interest and connect that career coaching and any potential problems in that area that people need solved.

Option One:

Doing some simple research on career coaching it can be discovered that there are quite a few specific niches including:

Career promotion/advancement
Interview skills and confidence
Resume and cover letter writing
Finding your purpose
Strength assessment
Improving public speaking

While all these are great, the fact they can be so easily found might also mean that the market is saturated with many coaches that focus on this aspect of career coaching. They will not know without doing more research.

Option Two:

Let’s look at their personal experience and work experience. Their work experience involves various jobs in the nonprofit industry with a focus on the arts, sports, and newcomers to Canada. They got involved in this work because they grew up seeing their parents struggle to get work as newcomers as well as their parent’s friends and children. Do you see a problem here to solve that is more personal and unique than option one? Let’s focus on the children, who are now the age of the individual in our example, and they have noticed many of them are struggling to find careers they enjoy leading to a coaching niche for our example of “Finding Purpose in Your Career Journey as a Child of Immigrant Parents.” Is this a niche that is needed though? The next step of testing the idea with others will provide more answers and insight.

Discovering your niche in the coaching industry can be a long and emotional process, if you are really struggling taking other continuing education courses that align with your values and interest will help.

Why Does Sustainability Matter?

December 1, 2021/in Careers CJ McGillivray /by CJ McGillivray

So… why does sustainability matter? The answer may sound obvious or intuitive on a personal level, but there is certainly no consensus among politicians or the general public. From an ethical or philosophical standpoint, you may be wondering what we owe to the environment, the natural world around us. How can you sell sustainability to a skeptic or convince them to make environmentally conscious decisions? And why should you put your time and effort into environmental science courses or an online sustainability course? Researchers and advocates are continually working to articulate the importance of sustainability and radical action against climate change. No one can cover the entire scope of the issue, but here is a simple breakdown of ten reasons why sustainability should matter to everyone.

Sustainability matters because caring for the planet is an expression of our humanity and interconnectivity
Sustainability matters because climate change has measurable social, economic and medical consequences
Sustainability matters because the adverse effects of climate change disproportionately affect less wealthy countries and individuals who are already struggling
Sustainability matters because society has concrete obligations to future generations who will inherit the world
Sustainability matters because environmental responsibility is an expression of Indigenous sovereignty and land claims
Sustainability matters because biodiversity will continue to suffer unless we take more radical action to preserve and protect endangered species
Sustainability matters because many of our natural resources are finite and irreplaceable
Sustainability matters because food scarcity and insecurity are of real concern to families and societies around the world
Sustainability matters because pollution can originate anywhere and be experienced across borders
Sustainability matters because we cannot accurately project how or when technological advances will assist us in overcoming environmental issues

There are countless reasons beyond these ten, but they are a good starting point for anyone who is concerned or confused about the issues at hand. Scientific researchers are constantly building on their knowledge and revising previous assumptions, which makes it prudent for everyday people to do the same.

Continuing Education

What can you as an individual do? Get informed and educate yourself about what needs to be done to combat environmental degradation on a global scale. Remember that affordable and accessible continuing education is a powerful tool to combat climate change denial and misinformation. Look for online environmental courses that focus on the correlations between society, environmental degradation and possible engineering solutions or policy changes. Depending on your career path and focus, you may benefit from learning about sustainable efforts for businesses and corporations. ISO certification training covers the rationale and business application of an international standard for quality management and sustainable business practices.

Political Action

Steps are required beyond our individual efforts to educate ourselves, recycle more and consume less. Environmental advocates, researchers and Indigenous land protectors are calling for policy change and political action around the world. Industry leaders need to be held accountable and consumers deserve to be informed about the environmental impact of various products and services they use. Sustainability matters and we have a moral imperative to do something about it.

How to Inspire and Motivate Others with a Life Coach Certification

December 1, 2021/in Careers Lindsay McKay /by Lindsay McKay

When you are feeling defeated and need some motivation or inspiration what do you do? Many people look to exercise, reading books, mediation or other mindfulness training techniques to get them going again. But wait, did you know motivation and inspiration are two different things that many people wrongly use interchangeably? Don’t worry if you did not know the difference, many do not but those that do tend to be great leaders and life coaches. So, what is the difference between the two and how can you motivate others or be the reason someone gets inspired?

Motivation vs Inspiration

To start explaining the differences between motivation and inspiration let us first look at the definition of each one:

Motivation is the “act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something.” Or “a force or influence that causes someone to do something.”

Inspiration is “something that makes someone want to do something, or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create.”

Simply put, motivation is a rational thing, an external force, and the reason for you to do something. While inspiration is an emotional thing, an internal drive or the desire that propels you to do something. Motivation can happen immediately through reminding yourself of your reason to do the task or listening to energizing amped-up music. It tends to be short-term in nature, which works perfectly when you are trying to get a certain task done or goal accomplished that you are resistant to. Inspiration is more of a process that moves you to do something, it can happen spontaneously when you hear someone speak, read a certain passage in a book, hear a song, a person you meet, or maybe even just something that you see. It will ignite you, inspire you on the inside and connect you to a state of excitement, purposeful, and productivity in a way that is everlasting.

It is important to note that one is not better than the other, and a lot of times there is a need for both and working on one can evoke the other. One thing that is always helpful is gratitude, whether you are looking for motivation or inspiration, being grateful and counting your wins, small or big, will help you.

How a Life Coach Can Help

Many people can struggle to become motivated, and this is where a life coach with a life coach certification can help. People that are lacking motivation are most likely lacking other things in life, such as confidence and the knowledge of their goals and passion. Life coaching training will provide you with the tools to evoke this confidence in your clients and teach you how to cultivate a safe space of openness to explore their passions. As a life coach, you will empower your clients by providing them with the resources they need to succeed and educating them on how to reach their goals. This will help them develop confidence which will turn into motivation and even inspiration.

5 Great Specialized Human Resources Careers

November 30, 2021/in Careers Ronda Payne /by Ronda Payne

Human resources is often thought of as the department that’s all about people. While obviously true, there is plenty more that goes on behind the scenes in this essential field. In today’s changing world, the HR department is moving faster than ever to ensure employee and organizational needs are met. People are always at the core, but sometimes the work includes analysis and data mining, while other times it includes data entry and reporting.

The fact is that HR takes a complete team of both generalists and specialists. Some may have taken a human resources program and spend their days completing the stereotypical tasks. Others may have more technical work that is a far cry from the image of interviews, onboarding and providing support when employees have challenges. It comes down to what is needed for the organization to move forward positively.

It’s an exciting department to be part of and the job diversity is vast. Consider these 5 growing specialized HR roles:

Employee relations manager

This is the ideal job for someone who likes to create harmony between two parties within the organization. An employee relations manager facilitates positive relationships between employees and the management team. While this is sometimes done at a group level (think union and management) this HR specialist also intervenes to improve relationships between individuals (think supervisor and employee on the same team, or co-workers having a conflict). Training, like a conflict resolution certificate, can help them identify, de-escalate and resolve. Additionally, they may also have a mediation certificate which helps in negotiating contracts and procedures and they will also have advanced knowledge in applicable labour laws.

Manager of employee experience

This role is all about creating a more enjoyable, inclusive workplace that ensures happiness and job satisfaction are on everyone’s minds. Diversity and inclusion training are essential for this job (although most HR jobs will require this kind of training) as are other elements to consider when creating programs and activities that create a positive company culture. There may be an employee committee that works with this individual while other tools like surveys and random informal interviews may contribute to organizational knowledge.

Change management specialist

As economies, markets and regions shift, organizations will also need to change. It’s no doubt that change can be harder for some than others and many organizations turn to a specialist to help employees with the preparation and outcomes. No matter what the project is – a new internal communication system, blending of departments, re-alignment of the workforce to meet new needs – people will need assistance understanding how they fit into something new. A change management specialist will likely have change management certification and will work closely with all project stakeholders to understand the situation, suggest opportunities and implement solutions to minimize negative outcomes.

Compensation and benefits manager

One of the primary elements of a job offer is the compensation package. Compensation and benefits managers assist with organizational success by ensuring these packages are competitive and able to attract (and retain) the best talent possible. This is a more detailed role that gets into the nitty-gritty of salary ranges, market standards, benefit programs and how these fit within organizational budgets, needs and structure. There are a lot of spreadsheets and data mining for this individual to tackle. A compensation and benefits manager will also work in an educator role to help managers and supervisors understand regulations around compensation as well as assessments of changes.

Remote work advisor

While not quite a commonplace job title, the remote work advisor (also known by flexible workforce advisor or other titles) is exactly what you’d assume from the job title. This individual liaises with employees, managers and team members to identify needs and opportunities for a remote work force. This may include ensuring equipment and safe work environments are in place outside of the traditional office space, but it may also look at tools for interactivity, work hours and structure of a remote employee’s role. With COVID forcing many employees to find new places and ways to work, the move to more of a remote workforce is likely to continue and a remote work advisor will be a key part of facilitating that positively.

HR is all about people, but in different roles, the amount of human interaction varies. Depending upon what you like to do, you may feel excited by one of these, or another new and growing role in HR.

The Best Way to Become an Accountant

November 17, 2021/in Careers Ronda Payne /by Ronda Payne

There are a lot of accounting designations and training programs available in the world, but some rise above others when it comes to being recognized on a global level of business acumen, experience and strategic vision. Accountants who invest in their continuing education will stand out from the crowd because their efforts prove to others that they know dollars and cents as well as leadership and how to create a positive impact on a business. Read on to learn about the importance of continuing education in accounting and financial services and how ongoing learning will make you better at your job.

Moving Beyond the Basics

So where should you start? Employers and clients look for accountants who can their knowledge of finance and extend it to all areas of the business to connect departments and activities for efficiency and effectiveness. This goes far beyond overseeing an accounting team and the creation of financial statements. People value working professionals who have their financial planner certification training or who have invested their time in ongoing learning. You can bolster your resume through a Canadian taxation course, Canadian Securities course or administrative payroll courses. Remember that your software proficiency matters too, so look into Sage or Quickbooks training and be sure to build your foundation the right way.

An accounting certificate is ideal for those in finance or accounting who want to be recognized for their skills and expertise on a global and wide-scope level. Moving through the Ashton College accounting program will be faster for some individuals based on their previous knowledge and education. First, you must focus on adding to your core knowledge and short-term decision making. Students will then study taking the long-term decisions made by executives about the future of an organization into mid-range plans. This will include an understanding of financial statement analysis, business modelling, organizational performance and other factors that make a difference to the over-all operation of a business. You will also study the unique features of Canadian accounting, which will make you invaluable to future employers.

Why an Accounting Certificate is Right for You

Like all certifications or designations, earning one takes time and money. It has to return benefits to you in order for it to be worthwhile. Fortunately, your Canadian accounting education will be recognized across the country in every industry. This puts you among the leaders in the accounting field regardless of where you choose to apply your time and talents. With proven education comes the ability to command a higher salary because of the contributions you will be able to make to an organization.

With the training and skills you will earn from the Ashton College Certificate in Accounting Program, you will be able to become part of an organization’s leadership team. You’ll bring a strategic point of view with an eye to both the financial side of the business as well as an awareness of how the financial aspect ripples into all other areas of the organization. This allows you to give other leaders greater information to make beneficial decisions to connect all aspects of the organization and positions you as an ally to others on your team. You will be making a significant contribution to an organization each and every day giving you the opportunity to accelerate your career towards the executive level or even leading your own business to great success.

Conclusion

If you are ready to take your accounting career to the top of the ladder on a world-wide level, you will want to check out the Ashton College accounting program as a way to get there. You will be joining others who are leading some of the most recognized and successful organizations around the globe.

Questions You Should be Asking Your CISO About Your Cybersecurity Plan

September 27, 2021/in Careers Marla Ovenden-Cooper /by Marla Ovenden-Cooper

Gone are the days when CEOs ask if they will experience an attempted breach. Now CEOs and the C-Suite know that cyber breaches are a significant threat and that waiting for an event to occur before developing a plan is poor practice. Having an effective plan can prevent data loss, minimize damage to the brand reputation, and prevent financial losses due to downtime or fines.

It Is More Than Just Checking Off Boxes

The need for an incident response plan is well supported, however, the incident response plan is not about checking off a box that says “We have a plan in place”. If you are a member of the C-Suite you have likely already been asking yourself are we prepared for an event? Of course, if you are a CISO or CIO you likely already know the answer. However, leaving the responsibility of being able to assess the effectiveness and preparedness of the company in the hands of one person can be problematic. Other C-Suite members should remember that they have a vital role to play regarding information security and cybersecurity. The role will need to increase as technology accelerates. Consider when was the last time that you reviewed the incident response plan? How much time has been devoted to analyzing cybersecurity, information security and their potential impacts on the company? The past two years have seen significant changes in digital transformation and cybersecurity. If time has not been dedicated to this within the past two years, now is a great time to do so.

Of course, deciding to review the IT security measures and evaluate effectiveness is the easy part. Knowing the questions to ask the team is another. Below you will find a list of our top 5 questions that you should be asking your CISO.

1. What is our biggest cyber risk right now?

You need to know your enemy before you can create a plan to combat them. Knowing what the biggest risk is today will allow you to strategize or assess the strategy you are currently using to determine effectiveness.

2. How are we dealing with third party vendors?

There are three key components to this question that need to be addressed.

First, how are the third-party suppliers or vendors vetted? Are they required to have cybersecurity policies that align with your company? For example, requirements such as annual or quarterly cybersecurity training for all staff. Are they asked to meet specific information security standards such as being IS0 27001 certified?

The second important concern surrounds access. Is the concept of least privilege being applied to third parties? Are they only allowed access to what is absolutely required?

Finally, what is being done regarding the inventory of third-party access and devices? Where can this inventory be found?

3. How much time is devoted to the incident response plan? When was the plan last reviewed?

Incident response plans require testing so that the team can practice and also that there can be regular improvements made. Teams need to review challenges found in the last test and update strategies and the plan to overcome these challenges.

4. Are legal and communications included in our incident response plan?

The areas of legal and communications are key when an incident occurs. Do these teams participate in the testing scenarios? If not, when was the last time that the plan was actively reviewed with these team members?

5. How would you rate the company culture as it relates to cybersecurity?

Human error is one of the largest cybersecurity concerns, gauging the temperature of cybersecurity awareness for all employees is key to any cyber plan. Does the team require cybersecurity training? Are there members of the IT department that are looking to upskill and take additional IT training courses that will benefit the security team’s ability to address long-term information security plans?

Looking to find more information on questions to ask your security team? Check out our blog Questions CEOs and CFOs Should Ask Their Cybersecurity Teams

How IT Professionals are Impacted by a Multi-vendor Environment

September 24, 2021/in Careers Ronda Payne /by Ronda Payne

Those on the outside, looking in, generally don’t have an understanding of how complex IT can be, especially when it comes to dealing with multi-vendor situations in the organization’s infrastructure. C-suite management may say they want the best of the best for tools, but when that comes down to integration, it can be a nightmare to fulfill that demand.

Fitting a round peg into a square hole is the analogy often used in the IT world.

For years, there was no alternative. The best of the best may deliver a great tool, but when APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) don’t “speak” to each other, it doesn’t matter how good a system or tool is. And when it comes to function, whether the tool was the best of the best or something a whole lot further down the line, the result was the same. Systems can’t communicate, data is inaccessible and an integrated solution is a pipe dream. Fortunately, as the IT world grows and evolves, many proprietary platforms are moving towards standards that “play nice” with other elements in the environment. Even when they come from other suppliers.

The Challenges of a Closed System

Consider an IT employee who has training and Security+ certification. They know data needs to be pulled from infrastructure equipment in order to work on security analysis, but each infrastructure element has its own closed system when it comes to data. In cybersecurity courses and other IT training, professionals learn to work around closed systems, but the time and effort required aren’t worth it if there are other options. So regardless of whether the employee is working with security issues, network issues or something else, they are stymied if their tools don’t communicate when it comes to making shared connections like an efficient way to get the data they need quickly.

Some organizations have been able to implement standards-based tools that saw the necessity and became universal in their application and usage. Those who have Network+ certification have been part of the push for this movement because they recognize the absolute and essential need for systems to be aligned and integrated. Closed systems have been dismissed (even when they were the best of the best) in favour of just slightly off that top mark tools that allow for integrated API solutions. It means standards-based tools become the norm in favour of other, more complex systems even if the options are A+ instead of A++.

The writing was on the wall. As time has passed, more and more manufacturers are leaning towards integrated processes and more simplistic access to data. For them, it became a matter of making a sale through delivering what customers demanded or they would soon grow obsolete. The decision for these companies was obvious. They had to make themselves easier to use in a complex environment. It didn’t matter if it was a demand from someone with CySA+ certification, an IT director or the IT clerk, teams were making decisions up the line for elements that were integrated.

More than Integration is Collaboration

Of even greater benefit, IT customers are now in a position to watch their suppliers create tools that work with complementing supplier tools. The employee who has A+ certification can now look at systems that come from different providers but are designed to work together. It’s a far cry from what was available years ago.

It isn’t perfect. There are “hold outs” in terms of some manufacturers and some of the integrated solutions really don’t work together all that well, so IT professionals are still navigating work-arounds in order to do their jobs. In organizations where IT people have their say in what tools should be implemented, it is possible to get some of the cross- cooperative vendor systems into the network to make things easier.

Ultimately, the multi-vendor environment is improving. IT professionals have made their voices heard and their expertise has help swayed where dollars have been spent which has pushed for more access to data, integrated tools and cooperative partnerships. It isn’t smooth sailing yet, but multi-vendor environments can soon become a non-discussion for IT teams.

You Don’t Need to be an Expert in Tech to Work in Cybersecurity

September 24, 2021/in Careers Lindsay McKay /by Lindsay McKay

Would you like to work in cybersecurity? This is a question that many people would respond with an astounding “yes.” But then they follow it up with “I don’t know how to code though” or “I don’t have a computer science degree” or “I am not an expert in tech or IT.” And they let that dream slip away. The truth is you do not need to be an expert, have a degree, or know how to code to work in cybersecurity. I am telling you now, do not let that dream slip away!

What You Think You Need

Many people think you need years of experience in tech, be an expert coder, and have an impressive setup with multiple monitors and fancy devices to work in cybersecurity. None of this is true. While knowing some languages is beneficial, it is more about if you are open to learning them if you need to but not all roles use programming. Yes, some jobs will require you to have a specific degree or certain amount years of experience, but that is true of any industry. You will be starting from the bottom, but you will be able to get your foot in the door and slowly move up. As the CEO of Offensive Security, Ning Wang, explains, “just like all the other fields, that 10,000-hour rule applies here as well. You have to do the hard work and it does take that to become really good at it.” There is a lot of on-the-job training, especially in entry levels IT roles such as a technical support specialist. If you work hard enough, the right person can use an entry-level IT job as a stepping stone into cybersecurity. To get into these beginner roles, an entry-level CompTIA certification, such as an A+ certification or Fundamentals+ certification, is the only IT training necessary to get in.

The Many Roles in Cybersecurity

Unless you are in the industry, you may not realize the variety of roles that are cybersecurity. Each role takes you down a different path of training and certification you need. For example, if you are not a programmer, you could look at roles in:

Security architecture
Vulnerability and path management
Incident response
Security operations
Compliance
Network structure and defense
Information security management

If compliance or information security management interests you, check out a lead implementer course or lead auditor course. While going down a networks path, a Network+ certification is what you need. Many great options for people without coding experience.

If you are a skilled programmer you might look into roles in:

Penetration testing
Cyber threat hunting
Informationa security engineering
Cybersecurity analyst

Other technology options you could investigate that can be used in cybersecurity, but is not necessarily cybersecurity, are blockchain technology, machine learning, and AI. Learn more about these technologies through self-paced Arcitura courses such as Certified Blockchain Architect or Certified Machine Learning Specialist.

What You Need Instead

In many ways, what unites security professionals is not a shared knowledge of technical skills but a security mindset that enables them to critically test an organization, process, or tool and to understand how it can be exploited. As Wang explains it:

“It’s not that you need all the IT background, but what you do need, you need to have a curious mind. You need to be willing to put in the hours, you have to persevere, got to have attention to detail. And over time you learn, you develop the wisdom, the pattern recognition, and that’s how you become really good at cybersecurity.”

A curious mind, a life-long learner, attention to detail, perseverance, and being able to understand how things work and can be exploited are the traits you need rather than being an expert in tech. So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a cybersecurity course today and get started on your journey to a career in cybersecurity.

What is the Design Thinking Process?

September 8, 2021/in Careers CJ McGillivray /by CJ McGillivray

Gone are the days of unintentional design based on aesthetics alone. Aesthetics add value to a design, but modern users expect intuitive and clever design choices that make their lives easier. That is where design thinking comes in. This creative process first considers where the user is coming from, what they are struggling with and how a designer can help solve their problem. Read on to learn about the individual steps involved in design thinking, why it is a foundational element of most UX courses and how the process can revolutionize your work.

Getting Back to Basics

What is the design thinking process and why is it so important? The Interaction Design Foundation defines design thinking as a creative process that can help designers “to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.” Innovation is a foundational element in the process, but so is careful listening and observation. For example, what good is a brilliant solution if it does not address the problem that users are actually facing? Scholars Rim Razzouk and Valerie Shute offer an expanded definition in their article on the importance of design thinking. From their perspective, design thinking is “an analytic and creative process that engages a person in opportunities to experiment, create and prototype models, gather feedback, and redesign.” Both definitions touch upon the ongoing process of revision and redefinition, which is fundamental to good design.

Breaking Down the Steps

The process of design thinking is comprised of five repeated actions that can be applied to any project:

Empathize: get personal and be curious about the emotions, frustrations and needs that will drive your future design
Define: identify the challenge or issue that people are facing
Ideate: get creative and brainstorm a robust list of potential solutions to help address the problem people are facing
Prototype: now it is time to experiment and create a model or sample product or page to demonstrate the proposed solution
Test: find out how effective your solution is and gather information for necessary adjustments to perfect your design

One of the most important aspects of the process is that it is repetitive and cyclical. Once you have gone through all five steps and are in the process of testing out your prototype, you will undoubtedly encounter additional issues that you will then have to go back and brainstorm solutions for. It would be unreasonable for anyone to expect perfection on the first attempt or prototype, which is why the testing and empathizing stages are so important to revisit.

Envisioning Broad Applications

Design thinking also has broad applications outside the world of graphics and websites. In an academic article on rethinking design thinking, Oxford professor Lucy Kimbell argues that “the ways professional designers problem solve is of value to firms trying to innovate and to societies trying to make change happen.” Essentially, the creative insights and processes of designers have the capacity to influence businesses and communities around the world. How cool is that?

Planning for the Future

Now that you understand the basics, how can you learn more about the intricacies and nuances of design thinking? There are countless ways to foster your curiosity and continually seek out knowledge. Listen to podcasts and read inspirational blogs on Dieter Rams’ ten principles of good design or how to map out your UX design career. Soak up as much information and inspiration as you can. One of the most effective ways to cultivate your creativity is by signing up for a UX design course or even a digital marketing course where design thinking is a core focus.