Why design thinking might be the most important skill in EX right now

Emma Bridger

Minutes
22nd April 2026
Employee Experience
Employee Engagement
Ex Learning

This week is World Creativity and Innovation Week.

You’ll see a lot of content encouraging people to:

  • be more creative
  • think differently
  • come up with new ideas

And in our world of EX, that conversation matters.

Because if we’re honest…

A lot of what we’re trying to do is innovation.

We’re trying to:

  • redesign experiences
  • shift culture
  • solve problems that don’t have obvious answers
  • move beyond “survey → action plan → repeat”

But here’s the tension.

Not everyone sees themselves as “creative”

Even in EX teams.

Some people naturally lean into:

  • ideas
  • experimentation
  • blue-sky thinking

Others are more comfortable with:

  • structure
  • delivery
  • execution

And too often, innovation ends up sitting with the same few people.

Which limits what’s possible.

This is where design thinking changes the game

One of the reasons we keep coming back to design thinking in EX Space…

…is because it unlocks innovation in a really practical way.

Not by asking people to “be more creative”.

But by giving them a way to contribute.

As we talk about in Employee Experience by Design, EX isn’t something we deliver — it’s something we intentionally design, test and iterate

That shift is huge.

What this looks like in practice

1. It starts with understanding, not ideas

Most EX work still jumps too quickly to solutions.

  • New platform
  • New comms
  • New initiative

Design thinking forces us to slow down and ask:

  • What’s actually going on here?
  • What are people experiencing today?
  • What assumptions are we making?

That empathy piece is where the real insight sits.

2. It makes innovation feel safer

A lot of EX teams feel the pressure to “get it right”.

Which can lead to:

  • over-designing
  • over-planning
  • or avoiding change altogether

Design thinking gives permission to:

  • test
  • learn
  • iterate

Which is where innovation actually happens.

3. It brings more voices into the process

This is probably the most important bit.

Design thinking isn’t a solo activity.

It:

  • involves different perspectives
  • values lived experience
  • surfaces insight from across the organisation

Which means innovation becomes something we do with people, not to them.

4. It focuses on the everyday experience

In EX, we often look for big interventions.

But some of the most powerful improvements are small.

As we’ve seen time and again:

  • it’s how feedback is given
  • how decisions are explained
  • how people feel day to day

Those micro-experiences add up to the overall EX

A quick example

A team sees low scores on recognition.

They build:

  • an app
  • a campaign
  • a big awards event

But nothing changes.

Because they didn’t really understand the problem.

When they actually spoke to employees?

It wasn’t about recognition schemes.

It was about:

everyday feedback and feeling valued

That’s the shift from:

  • doing more
  • to designing better

So what does this mean for us in EX?

World Creativity and Innovation Week is a useful reminder.

But in practice, innovation in EX doesn’t come from:

  • more ideas
  • more initiatives
  • or more “creative thinking sessions”

It comes from:

  • better understanding
  • better questions
  • better design

A question for the EX Space community

Where are you seeing this play out in your work right now?

  • Where are we jumping too quickly to solutions?
  • Where could we bring more people into the process?
  • What are the “everyday experiences” we’re overlooking?

Final thought

Innovation in EX isn’t about being the most creative person in the room.

It’s about creating the conditions where:

  • people can contribute
  • ideas can be tested
  • and experiences can be improved

That’s what design thinking gives us.

And right now, it might be one of the most important capabilities we build.

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