Design Thinking for Executive Leadership
2 day design thinking for senior leaders: innovate, solve complex problems, and lead with human-centered strategy and creativity.
Join Shaun Illingworth, Managing Partner at DFFRNT and an expert in human-centered innovation, for a two-day immersive course designed to transform how senior leaders approach problem-solving, strategy, and organizational creativity.
With extensive experience guiding executives through design-driven transformation, Shaun brings a practical, engaging, and empathetic approach to leadership development.Through hands-on activities, real-world cases, and collaborative exercises, participants will learn to lead with empathy, inspire creativity, and navigate uncertainty with confidence.
Who should attend
This course is ideal for senior executives, business leaders, and innovation managers responsible for driving change and fostering creativity in their organizations. It is particularly valuable for those seeking to integrate human-centered design principles into their leadership approach, enhance customer experience, and lead cross-functional teams through innovation challenges.
What you'll learn
- Develop a leadership approach grounded in design thinking to drive innovation and solve complex problems.
- Master the design thinking process to better understand customer needs and generate creative solutions.
- Learn to foster a culture of creativity and human-centered innovation within your organization.
- Gain practical tools to lead cross-functional teams in applying design thinking to real-world challenges.
- Enhance decision-making with empathy-based insights and iterative problem-solving techniques.
- Build the skills needed to integrate design thinking into strategic planning and business transformation efforts.
Course outline
- Introduction to Design Thinking
- Overview of design thinking and its relevance to modern leadership.
- Understanding the design thinking process: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test.
- Human-Centered Leadership
- Embedding empathy in leadership practices.
- Understanding customer and employee needs through ethnographic research and interviews.
- Fostering a Culture of Creativity
- Techniques to cultivate creativity and innovation within teams.
- Encouraging experimentation, risk-taking, and iterative learning in decision-making.
- Design Thinking Tools for Problem-Solving
- Practical tools and techniques: journey mapping, brainstorming, rapid prototyping.
- Applying these tools to solve business challenges and improve products or services.
- Collaborative Leadership in a Design Thinking Framework
- Leading cross-functional teams through the design thinking process.
- Overcoming barriers to collaboration and aligning teams towards a shared vision.
- Design Thinking and Strategic Decision-Making
- Integrating design thinking into organizational strategy and long-term planning.
- How to use design thinking for product innovation, business model transformation, and customer experience enhancement.
- Case Studies and Practical Applications
- Success stories from organizations that have adopted design thinking at the executive level.
- Group activities to apply design thinking to real-world challenges faced by participants.
- Conclusion and Leadership Action Plan
- Developing a personalized leadership action plan to integrate design thinking into organizational practices.
- Next steps for embedding design thinking into daily leadership and strategic initiatives.
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