Thinking differently for effective digital transformation

Business analysts and digital leaders must draw on a range of thinking lenses to navigate complexity, foster innovation and ensure meaningful change. By consciously cultivating different modes of thinking, we can expand our toolkit and improve outcomes.

Thinking lenses`

We refer to many different types of thinking all the time — but do we ever stop to consider what they mean and how they relate to and build on one another?

• Creative thinking: generating novel ideas and approaches that open up new possibilities for solving business problems
• Visual thinking: using diagrams, models and imagery to clarify complex information and make ideas understandable
• Analytical thinking: breaking down complex problems into smaller parts, identifying patterns and making data-driven decisions
• Critical thinking: evaluating information objectively, questioning assumptions and weighing evidence to reach sound conclusions
• Design thinking: empathising with users, prototyping and iterating solutions to bring a human-centred lens to requirements and evaluation
• Systems thinking: seeing the bigger picture: how processes, people and technology interact

There is significant interplay among these lenses: creative ideas need to be tested analytically; visual models clarify systemic impacts; and design thinking ensures solutions remain human-centred. Together, these modes enable clarity, innovation and holistic digital change.

Techniques

Each of these thinking styles and disciplines has underlying principles and techniques that enable consistent application in practice. They are not abstract concepts but practical approaches which can be learned, developed and embedded into our ways of working.

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By drawing on established methods (from visual modelling and root cause analysis to ideation workshops and user-centred design), we can ensure these lenses are more than just labels. They become deliberate choices about how we think, enabling us to approach digital transformation challenges with clarity, creativity and confidence.

Self-reflection and evaluation

Which of these lenses is easier to look through? Which do you neglect or need to consciously focus on? What techniques are you familiar with that support each thinking mode? We all have default thinking patterns, and people have strengths in different areas.

Digital teams need diversity of thought, and by thinking about thinking (and, ideally, talking about thinking), we can all start to identify our blind spots, improve our thinking and hopefully create new pathways which allow us to more easily switch between thinking modes, for better analysis, decision making and better outcomes from our work.

Gates and approvals

Digital transformation initiatives and projects often have approval points and gateways. What if we could apply these lenses to our approval processes? Weaving the thinking lenses into approval points would make governance more meaningful and less of a ‘tick box’ exercise. Instead of approvals being purely procedural, they could become structured opportunities to apply different modes of thinking.

For example:

• Creative thinking checkpoint: have we generated and considered innovative alternatives, not just digitised existing processes?
• Visual thinking checkpoint: have we represented the problem, solution and impacts in visual models that stakeholders can grasp?
• Analytical thinking checkpoint: do we have the metrics, baselines and analysis needed to measure success?
• Critical thinking checkpoint: have our assumptions been discussed, challenged and tested with evidence?
• Design thinking checkpoint: have we engaged users, prototyped and iterated to ensure solutions are desirable, feasible and viable?
• Systems thinking checkpoint: have we considered how this change interacts with people, processes and technology across the organisation?

Approval points can become moments to pause and apply diverse perspectives. Each checkpoint could include guiding questions embedded into existing processes.

Conclusion

If we want better outcomes from digital transformation initiatives, we need better inputs, and one of the significant inputs to most projects and products is thoughts. Are we confident about the quality of thinking within our organisations? Too often, our thinking lenses are portrayed as personal ‘traits’ or expected only in particular job roles. Improving the quality of organisational thinking means making it visible, discussable and deliberate. By embedding these lenses into governance, conversations and everyday practices, we can raise the quality of thinking across our organisations. Better thinking leads to better decisions, and better decisions drive more successful digital transformation. 

Christina Lovelock is a digital leader, coach and author. She is active in the Business Analysis professional community and champions entry-level roles. She is the author of the BCS books Careers in Tech, Data and Digital and Delivering Business Analysis: The BA Service Handbook.