Schneider Electric: Driving continuous innovation with global teams

How can design thinking help us develop a shared approach to problem solving?

Schneider Electric (SE) is a world leader in energy management and efficiency. With over 130,000 employees in more than 100 countries, SE provides technology and integrated solutions for industry, infrastructure and residential customers around the world.

Sustainability is at the heart of SE’s global strategy – and it sees innovation as the key to driving business results and lasting benefit for society.

To drive innovation in a more continuous, joined up fashion across the global organisation, SE wanted to provide a diverse group of senior leaders from across jurisdictions with an introduction to design thinking.  The aim was to both provide these leaders with a practical tool set for driving innovation and solving problems, and enable them to take the learning back to their teams around the world.

“Great session and very simple way to explain a powerful methodology” Eduardo Hermanovich (Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela)

What we did

Treehouse was approached to deliver tangible value to this talented and multi-jurisdictional group of senior leaders over a highly compressed timeframe. SE wanted us to focus on helping leaders to understand the design thinking innovation process, connect with customers, and reframe challenges from a human-centered perspective.

We led a high energy half-day design thinking jumpstart at the Hospital Club in Central London. This started with an interactive empathy exercise in small teams before applying the design thinking process directly to a priority Schneider Electric challenge.

Using this real and pressing problem we applied the shared language and mindsets to create a rich range of new ideas and solutions for testing and possible implementation.

“Very good understanding of the innovation process” Rogerio Zampronga (Brazil)