Innovation

The word Empathy being highlighted in a book.

Designing with empathy

Human-centered design (HCD) is at the core of CauseLabs’ empathetic approach to creative problem solving. This methodology defines a framework that seeks to better understand the needs, wants and behaviors of the user, and to best identify a technologically feasible and economically viable solution. By focusing on the end user’s perspective, their environments and routines, …

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Portraits of Lise Kingo, Amina J. Mohammed, and Alan Jope.

Leadership for a Global Crisis: What I’ve learned and how I feel

The United Nations Global Compact is holding special Academy Sessions centered around #UnitingBusiness. You can view the previous sessions and register for the future ones here. Below are my reflections from the first Academy Session: New Leadership for a Global Crisis. It Starts with an Opportunity Our normal social constructs have disappeared and our day …

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A prototype drawing session CauseLabs did with DTFA for their website redesign

HCD Course Resources for Virtual Collaborations

On April 14, the CauseLabs team signed up for the free Human Centered Design (HCD) course hosted as a collaboration between Acumen and IDEO.org. If you’d like to sign up for this course, it may still be open for enrollment, but if not, they host it annually and our team takes it as a refresher …

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A person's hands writing and a Do Work That Matters coffee mug

Part 4 | Working with the Mission Model Canvas

This is part four of our guide to the Mission Model Canvas: your business plan cheat sheet. Read the first four parts here in our journals. In the previous article, we listed the Key Activities that will (7) Solve the problem; (8) Listed the Key Partners; and identified (9) What we need to test the …

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A women using a VR headset

Building trust between users and technology

Fostering trust with your users can be a battle, but the rewards you’ll get are worth the fight.

A group of people walking together

What are Social Impact Companies and Why Do They Matter?

If you pay any attention to business news and trends, then you have probably noticed an increase in the number of companies embracing “social impact” as a core value. Consumers are taking notice, as a 2018 study found that 78% of Americans expect companies to go beyond making profits; they must also positively impact society. …

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A man writing while conversing with two people during an HCD workshop

Wrap Up + Getting to Pilot

When we first started, we were refining a problem, onboarding your team, and setting up tools. Now, we’ll do the reverse.

A man holds up a diagram during a CauseLabs strategic workshop.

Week 4: Synthesis and Roadmap

This week may be the most important because it synthesizes everything into a decision-enabling Roadmap. This is the why. And the how. And the what to do next.

A young man uses a cell phone to test a prototype for a CauseLabs project.

Week 3: Prototyping

Starting now, we’ll take all of our work during discovery, immersion, and ideation and boil it down into something real. This week is all about the Workshop.

A woman places a sticky note on a wall during a CauseLabs strategic workshop

Week 2: Research + Empathy

Hey gang, welcome back. Hopefully by now you’re really powering with your team and starting to feel the momentum of the process. Last week kicked things off with brainstorming and early research. Now, we’ll focus on confirming the direction, trusting your hunches, experimenting beyond your team, and seeking deeper empathy in your process. So let’s get started!

an assortment of sticky notes from a CauseLabs strategic workshop

Week 1: Problem Immersion + Drawing Board

This week we’ll dig into the first of two sessions that we call Drawing Boards. In large part they’re exactly what they sound like: a starting place to gather the team and set the focus, built initially around the Problem Statement draft, and a place to keep referring to as the process progresses.

An assortment of supplies used in a CauseLabs strategy workshop

The 4-Week Guide for Digital Innovation

We’re here to help real people like you more easily understand what it takes to build innovative digital tools by doing a few simple things like putting people first, allowing space for collaboration, staying close to those experiencing the problems, and exploring new ways to generate ideas.

It's time for your company to grow.

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