Five Questions for Christian Appelt
In his role as Head of Service Design at Polestar, Christian collaborates with various parts of the organisation to create state-of-the-art services for our customers.
How does the reality of your job compare with what people think you do?In my role, most activities are focused on administration, and doing a number of tasks in a timely manner. I try to delegate the administrative tasks as much as possible, and focus on leading towards the direction of what needs to be accomplished from a capability perspective. I focus on supporting my team in daily and systemic challenges they have, as well as work that needs improvement. Enabling a common ground for the collaboration, communication and understanding of common goals. I think it is more or less in line with the idea people have about Service Design.
What is the best part of your job?
I really appreciate working together with talented people, who have different perspectives, and using those perspectives to improve everything we are working on. I also enjoy the struggle of finding the right questions, and the joy of when a problem becomes an opportunity. Making a difference together as a team. We still have some work to do introducing more diversity though.
What job would you have if you didn't have this one?
I would probably be a teacher, working on making a difference in the shift towards a more sustainable world, and thus creating a brighter future.
Are there any current trends that are shaping the area that you work with?
The increased understanding of Design Thinking in organisations, is an important trend. I believe the increased focus on customer-centricity, and the use of Service Design as a strategic tool in decision making and planning will make a big difference. Not just for Polestar but for all companies embracing Design Thinking and Service Design. It has been shown that organisations embracing it as we do, increase growth with as much as a two to one factor.
What is your favourite invention?
It is not so much an invention as such, but rather an idea and understanding of thinking systems within ecology. It's Allan Savory’s findings on how to fight desertification, through education and spreading awareness on how we can save the world together.
