The AOK thinks and clears away: implementing the Design Thinking mindset

The design challenge in this cooperation was: “Make the AOK even more agile and user-oriented!”

The best way to learn the Design Thinking method is to use it in your projects.

A health insurance company protects your health and supports you in the event of illness. These core tasks make them ideal for implementing the human-centered Design Thinking approach. However, changing working methods and attitudes that have been practiced for decades is challenging. Changing this mindset towards more agility is a challenging undertaking.

In a multi-part workshop series with lead coach Selina Mayer, the participants were therefore given a solid knowledge of methods and prototypes that had already been tested and iterated. We also encouraged them to adopt human-centered approaches. They later incorporated all of this into their day-to-day work at AOK and their respective specific contexts.

The participants learned methodological skills by developing solutions for real challenges in everyday business. These ranged from management training to customized employee sports programs and better support for the student AOK staff.

During the workshops at the HPI d-school, many participants also looked closely at the facilities on the campus of the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. After all, these represent an essential element of agile working. Team coach Dr. Jana Fuchs remembers Nicole Meisel, head of the Process Excellence and IT Partners department at AOK NORDWEST: “Nicole was thrilled – by Design Thinking itself, but especially by the premises, the materials, and the flexibility they offer. It was clear to her that the success of the new working methods is also linked to the spatial possibilities. She seemed very determined to use a room like this for Design Thinking too.”

The path begins with trial and error.  

 In retrospect, the Design Thinking approach has proven itself in the AOK's workshops, as was evident in interviews with the workshop participants at the time. Employees are increasingly asking for it in their day-to-day work.

Heike Kemper, trainer for communication topics in human resources development at AOK Rheinland-Hamburg, notes: “My colleagues are always very enthusiastic about the elements. The comprehension phase has proven to be particularly important for my work. The semantic analysis alone gives me a completely different approach to my training. Problems can be resolved much earlier, and you get to the point faster.”

Nicole Meisel emphasizes another point: “There is this moment during the Design Thinking process when it becomes clear that customers may want something different from what was initially assumed. That's why empathy work – including the understanding phase – also involves letting go of preconceived solutions.”

So, the method is well received, but initially it also met with some reservations. “It's a joyful ‘aha’-moment when it's established in the interviews that reservations are unfounded, and customers might find the survey strange. On the contrary, customers are pleased to be asked what is important to them,” continues Nicole Meisel.

Based on her own project experience, Heike Kemper highlights the important impetus that verifiable user feedback can provide. Regarding a survey to optimize complaint management, she reminds us: “Customers said things that many people already knew. But you need an external impetus. Hardly anyone listens to the prophet in their own country.”