Design Thinking: Creative & Collaborative Problem Solving

Do you have questions about how to apply design thinking concepts to your project? Are you looking for advice on how to identify, prioritize and engage partners in ways that are respectful and collaborative to help improve the quality of your solution? Your team can access up to two hours of support from our design-thinking professionals to discuss these questions and more. Office hours are available for ALL teams to book, regardless of whether you attended the Design Thinking Workshop or not. If your team was unable to attend the workshop, we encourage you to review the workshop materials below in advance of your office hour.

Navigation 

• Access Design Thinking Workshop Resources 
• About the Design Thinking Workshop 

Design Thinking Workshop Resources 

What is design thinking and what was the workshop all about? 

Design thinking is a creative, collaborative and holistic approach to problem solving that puts the needs of people at the heart of the process. The design thinking workshop introduced the foundations of design thinking, and how it can be utilized to work through obstacles your team may be facing in the early stage of your project. The workshop included activities to help teams identify key community interests and partners for engagement and learn thoughtful practices for approaching engagement in a way that is respectful, relational and collaborative. 

Presentation Deck 

• Download the Design Thinking Workshop Presentation Deck 

Workbook and Activity Templates 

• Download the Design Thinking Workbook and Activity Templates

Workshop Recording 

Module #1 – What the heck is design thinking?

This module introduces the basic concepts of design thinking and includes a discussion with some of the shortlisted applicants about what design thinking means to them and how it applies to their projects.

Module #2 – Design thinking in practice

This module goes into greater depth about the principles, practices and process of design thinking. It provides an overview of the five phases of design thinking.

Module #3 – What are the key questions facing your project?

This modules focuses on the importance of identifying the key questions and obstacles facing a project to get clarity on priorities and who you need to engage.

Module #4 – Brainstorming who you need to engage

This module includes questions to keep in mind to help brainstorm a broad list of partners and community interests that need to be engaged in your project.

Module #5 – Prioritizing partners for engagement

The module includes helpful suggestions for how to prioritize partners for engagement and understand their relationship to your project.

Module #6 – Respectful, relational and collaborative engagement

This module includes a discussion about relational engagement and thoughtful tips to keep in mind in order to approach engagement in a respectful and relational way.