Designing a Seamless Integration Journey for New Unit Leaders: A Service Design Thinking Approach

MBA Åsa Rehn

Dr Reija Anckar, Head of Master’s Degree Programme in Business, Novia University of Applied Sciences

Designing a Seamless Integration Journey for New Unit Leaders: A Service Design Thinking Approach

In today´s fast-changing organisations, the onboarding process for new leaders is crucial. Ensuring a seamless integration not only provides continuity but also sets the tone for success and foster a culture of engagement.

Service design can play a crucial role in improving the development of integration by focusing on creating a seamless and effective experience. Service design allows a user-centric approach through research, to understand the expectations and needs of the new employee. Service design thinking is a creative way to refine and innovate existing services’ solutions and to innovate new solutions.

I think it is safe to say that most organisations have been thrown in to the deep waters of competition of talents. How to retain the talent you have invested in for several years, and how to attract those missing from the floor right now.

Given these challenges, embracing service design thinking can significantly impact how organisations welcome and empower their new leaders, ultimately transforming the onboarding process and enhancing the overall organisational culture.

By placing the new leader at the centre of the design process, organisations can tailor experiences that resonate deeply and drive meaningful impact.

Service design thinking, a human-centred approach that emphasizes understanding and addressing user needs, offers a comprehensive framework for crafting a transformative integration process. By placing the new leader at the centre of the design process, organisations can tailor experiences that resonate deeply and drive meaningful impact.

The following presentation provides a summary from my Master's thesis project that adapted the design thinking model from the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, which includes the following steps: empathy, definition, idea, prototype, and test. The service design thinking process was adapted to help an organisation design a seamless integration journey for new leaders.

Empathise with the help of survey, interviews, and learning diaries

The first step for my Master´s thesis project and the empathy phase of the design thinking process was desk research and involved analysing existing data sources such as the organisation’s integration steps, previous projects, future survey, and employee engagement surveys. The findings revealed gaps in the current integration process, including the lack of comprehensive structure and peer support. Insights from earlier projects emphasized the need for mentoring, clear schedules, and accessible materials. Additionally, survey results highlighted employee preferences for targeted training, recruitment, and mental well-being initiatives. While overall engagement was positive, areas such as health, workplace tools, autonomy, and feedback communication were identified to need improvement. These findings provide a foundation for developing a more effective integration program for new unit leaders, emphasizing key areas for training and support.

Continuing the empathise phase with semi-structured interviews aimed to explore current integration practices, organizational views on evolving work structures, and their impact on leadership. Interviews were conducted online with sector managers and HR personnel, chosen based on their involvement in integration delivery. Key insights included the importance of systematic integration programs with specific modules and timelines, considerations for data security and employee well-being, fostering a culture of accountability, and empowering leaders with diverse team management skills. The organisation emphasised continuous improvement, simplicity of integration materials, open communication, and anticipation of future changes in leadership models. The results provide valuable insights on how to design effective integration programmes and adapt to workplace dynamics.

The final step for the empathise phase was learning diaries. Learning diaries were conducted to understand the integration experiences for newly employed unit leaders. Learning diaries allow participants to reflect on their experiences over a defined time frame, providing insights into daily behaviours and emotions that often get overlooked.

Two unit leader were asked to maintain learning diaries from their first day of employment to three months thereafter, answering questions about their integration experiences and preferred learning methods. The diaries showed that both unit leaders had the opportunity to work with or shadow former leaders in the early stages of integration. However, one of them noted challenges with the unstructured - and unorganised - focus of the interaction, highlighting the need for a more effective integration framework. Both participants appreciated the opportunities to meet other unit leaders and engage in strategic activities but expressed a desire for independent learning opportunities. They emphasised the importance of a positive and supportive atmosphere but expressed frustration at the lack of structure, especially when it came to the overwhelming amount of new information and new faces. Suggestions included a mentor to provide guidance, clearer integration processes and tools to organise and retain important information. These insights underline the importance of structured integration programmes and resources to support new leaders; learning needs, facilitate smoother transitions, and promote best practices.

Define with the help of an affinity diagram, empathy mapping, personas, and affinity diagram

The next phase of the design thinking process, the define phase, involved organising and analysing the collected data with an affinity diagram. The affinity diagram was utilised to clarify and identify commonalities in various sources of data, including desk research, interviews, and learning diaries. The data were compiled and colour-coded for clarity, then grouped based on similarities. The emerging groups were named according to the themes identified during the analysis. The key insights showed that there is a common understanding of the need for structured integration processes that enable reflection and understanding of new leaders' roles. Quick access to information and interactive learning tools were emphasised, as well as openness, clear communication, and leadership qualities such as adaptability and people management skills. The affinity diagram facilitated the identification of correlations between different data types, leading to key insights. These insights emphasised the importance of tailored integration plans, comprehensive information resources, mentoring, structured learning opportunities and regular feedback for effective integration processes. Overall, the affinity diagram provided a systematic approach to effectively summarise complex data into actionable insights, which guided the redesign of integration processes to better meet the needs of new unit leaders.

The affinity diagram was followed by empathy mapping that aims to gain deep insights into the experiences, emotions, and challenges of new leaders during their transition period. Understanding their perspectives, aspirations, and pain points is essential for designing interventions that truly meet their needs. Empathy mapping enables a deeper understanding of users by capturing what they say, do, think, and feel. Empathy map aimed to provide insight into the challenges and emotions experienced by new leaders during integration. Based on data from the affinity diagram, the empathy map revealed frustrations around the lack of immediate answers to employees' questions, difficulties accessing information, and the overwhelming amount of information to process. Although new managers felt valued by helpful colleagues, they struggled to understand their roles and expectations, especially if they lacked extensive experience.

“There was an expectation that the integration programmes would serve as learning tools and help assimilate information and develop the skills of the new leaders.”

The findings underline the importance of structured integration programmes with clear objectives and timeframes to support the learning process. In addition, there was an expectation that the integration programmes would serve as learning tools and help assimilate information and develop the skills of the new leaders.

Personas is a tool to understand the diverse need and experience of users in a service or process. While empathy maps capture attitudes and behaviours, personas delve into the identities of users, allowing for a deeper understanding of who they are and what they require. For my Master´s thesis project, two personas were created to represent newly recruited unit leaders: Greta, an externally recruited leader with extensive experience, and Emma, an internally recruited leader transitioning from a team leader role. These personas were developed based on research findings to better adapt the integration process to their distinct needs and backgrounds. Greta, with her wealth of experience, seeks a simple and structured integration process with the ability to access information independently. On the other hand, Emma, although familiar with the organization, requires guidance and support in her transition to a leadership role, particularly in navigating relationships with former colleagues turned subordinates.

Through the personas of Greta and Emma, the project gained insights into the unique challenges and preferences of externally and internally recruited leaders, informing the development of tailored integration processes to support their successful transitions.

The next step in the design thinking process define phase was to create a service blueprint. A Service Blueprint offers a comprehensive visualisation of user interactions and stakeholder engagement in service delivery. It describes each step of the process from the user's perspective and identifies the contact points and stakeholders involved. This graphical representation brings clarity to the entire service process and highlights areas for improvement. In my thesis, which focused on integrating new unit leaders, a service blueprint was crucial to understanding the process from recruitment to integration. Through this blueprint, it became apparent that the current integration process lacks digital solutions and comprehensive support and is highly dependent on individual sector managers. There is a clear need to involve HR, finance, and payroll departments as well as communication and marketing teams to ensure a smoother transition and provide the necessary context during the integration process.

Ideate with the help of ecosystem map and co-creation workshops

We have now come to the ideate phase of the design thinking process. This phase started with an ecosystem map. The ecosystem map is a visual representation of key stakeholders and their impact on the service environment and organisation. It identifies connections and influences within the ecosystem. In my Master’s thesis focusing on integration processes, an ecosystem map was developed to understand stakeholder engagement and clarify relationships with new unit leaders. The map highlights the continued importance of sector leaders, former unit leaders and colleagues in the integration process, and emphasises the need for continuous communication. Although employees contribute to the team culture, the responsibility for integration does not lie solely on them. Administrative departments such as finance, IT and HR should have a stronger role, and communication should be streamlined to support the new leader and reduce the need for excessive questions.

“By involving end-users in the research or development process, co-creation workshops empower them, fostering a sense of influence and recognition.”

Following the ecosystem map I wanted to involve the user in creating a solution. In this case, I chose to carry out co-creation workshops; that is facilitate discussions and idea generation between stakeholders to develop new solutions. By involving end-users in the research or development process, co-creation workshops empower them, fostering a sense of influence and recognition. In my Master’s thesis focussing on integration processes, a workshop called Sailing Boat was conducted to develop an intranet site for unit leaders at Company X. Through discussions and brainstorming, participants identified the strengths and weaknesses of the current intranet and highlighted the need for clear structure, up-to-date information and streamlined communication. The workshop provided valuable insights that informed the development of a prototype intranet site that prioritises accessibility, categorisation of material and clear indication of contact persons for different organisational units.

Prototype intranet page as solution

After the co-creation workshop, it was time to create a prototype. The prototyping phase involves creating quick, low-resolution solutions to gather feedback and refine them towards the final solution. In my thesis project, it was clear that a common platform for leaders was needed to streamline access to information and support new unit leaders. A prototype intranet page for leaders was designed using Figma, based on an assessment framework for the integration of new leaders. The page is structured to provide an introduction and detailed information on support tools, contact information and training programmes, with the aim of meeting both end-user expectations and organisational needs. Feedback from the workshops as well as an assessment framework with five critical tasks created by Byford, Triantogiannis and Watkins helped to refine the prototype and ensure its ease to use and effectiveness in supporting leaders.

Test with the help of feedback from users

Moving on to the final phase of the design thinking process, the testing phase. The testing phase involves collecting feedback from users to refine the prototype and ensure that it meets users' expectations and needs. In my thesis project, feedback was collected through a questionnaire sent to unit leaders who participated in a workshop. Following the successful feedback of the test page, the commissioner decided to further invest in enhancing the intranet page for unit leaders. This development initiative will ensure alignment with existing handbooks and adhere to the organization's quality management system, specifically the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) standards.

Conclusion and future directions

My Master thesis project was set out to transform the integration process for new unit leaders. With the help of the service design thinking process I was able to uncover key improvement areas and introduce innovative solutions for the commissioner. A major success is the creation of an Intranet page for leaders, designed to streamline and clarify their integration tasks. Initially, the commissioner knew an update was needed, but lacked clear plans. This project provided clarity on that path and offered a detailed plan for effective integration.

The service design methods that I used, the semi-structured interviews, provided valuable insights. Expanding these interviews to include more new and senior unit leaders could provide even more valuable data. The learning diaries deepened the understanding, and the affinity diagram was essential in identifying recurring themes, which directly influenced the design of the intranet page.

Looking ahead, there are several interesting areas for research and implementing service design thinking. Firstly, it is essential to study the impact of the intranet page on new leaders' experiences and how effectively it supports them. In addition, an evaluation of current leadership development practices, including training materials and support systems, could point to areas for potential improvement along with embracing technology to facilitate the integration of new leaders.

Embracing service design principles showed that you can significantly improve the integration process for new leaders by focusing on creating a seamless and user-centred experience. Through research, service design thinking helps to understand the expectations and needs of newcomers, allowing the development of personas to tailor the integration process. Service design thinking also makes it possible to create a comprehensive service blueprint that describes all interaction points and the stakeholders involved, and revels shortcomings. Regular feedback collection from newcomers and stakeholders ensures continuous improvements for the integration process. By applying the principles of service design thinking, organisations cannot only equip new leaders with the necessary skills, but also provide them with a positive and engaging introduction to their roles. By embracing service design thinking organisations can ensure their leadership remains dynamic, adaptable, and ready to thrive in an ever-evolving landscape.

For further reading

• Byford, M., Triantogiannis, L., & Watkins, M. (2017, May). Onbording Isn´t Enough. Retrieved 2023, from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2017/05/onboarding-isnt-enough.
• Dam, R. (2023, October 16). The 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from Interaction Design Foundation:The 5 Stages in the Design Thinking Process | IxDF (interaction-design.org)
• Rehn, Å. (2024, February). Redesigning the Integration Process for New Unit Leaders with the Means of Service Design: Enabling strong and confident leaders in the field of social and health care to retain and attract new employees (Master's thesis). Novia University of Applied Sciences. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202402082667

The blogpost has been reviewed by Novia's editorial board and accepted for publication on 6.6.2024.