Design Thinking: a pathway to an innovative culture

Design thinking, an approach to innovation that is iterative and immersive, has recently revolutionised many corporations and has been gaining widespread acceptance in many corporations. Increasingly, the problems that companies face are themselves ambiguous or ill structured, and design thinking is well suited for an increasing variety of situations where problem definition is a significant part of the problem.

We present an approach to design thinking that marries the best of international knowledge in the area, with approaches that are fine-tuned and tailored to our own unique context. The programme offers a comprehensive orientation to design thinking and offers a road map to build a design thinking culture in the organisation.

The programme will build a comprehensive understanding of an emerging technique to facilitate continuous innovation and change in organisations. It will also enable participants to rediscover their faith in their own creative potential. It is ideal as a starting point for chief executives and innovation officers looking to build an innovative culture, or as a refinement for leaders who have already made some progress down the design thinking journey.

By the end of this programme, participants will be able to:

• Understand the philosophy and process of design thinking, and be able to practise it in specific settings.
• Understand the importance of the design thinking mindset, and the roadmap to building it as an element of organisational culture.
• Be able to derive and structure relevant insights for unstructured problem situations.
• Enhance and practise skills of rapid prototyping.
• Uncover their own creative potential, through both divergent and convergent techniques.

The programme is highly interactive, with a stress on learning through doing. Participants will practise techniques in the field. Industry experts will be brought in for specialised sessions. Case studies, video based classes, co-created insight sessions, combine to make a highly energetic and enriching workshop. The workshop culminates with a complete design thinking challenge which participants will solve in the workshop itself.

This programme is intended for CEOs, CMOs, and chief innovation officers charged with accelerating innovation. It requires a senior management perspective and is not restricted to any single department. Ideally, participants should be senior enough to influence the course of innovation in the respective organisations. Senior middle managers with responsibility for innovation may also be good candidates for this workshop.