Design Thinking in Action - Business Simulation

Description

Give your team one day to think differently and walk away with new ideas, new confidence and a shared innovation culture.

Design Thinking in Action is ITSM Hub's own immersive, hands-on business simulation, purpose-built to introduce teams to Design Thinking through experiential learning. Participants don't sit through slides about innovation they work through a real, customised challenge together, developing, prototyping and pitching new services, products or initiatives from the ground up.

Every workshop is tailored to your organisation's specific context and goals, making this one of the most flexible and impactful team experiences we offer.

Delivered by ITSM Hub's expert facilitators at your premises or via virtual classroom.

Why Design Thinking?

Most organisations face the same core challenge: how do we solve the right problems, not just the obvious ones? How do we build services and products that people actually want to use? How do we move from a culture of "this is how we've always done it" to one where teams are genuinely curious, collaborative and creative?

Design Thinking is the answer - a human-centred, structured approach to problem-solving that is used by leading organisations worldwide to drive innovation, improve services, and build cultures of continuous improvement. It starts with deeply understanding people's real needs, frames problems in new ways, and creates space to experiment, fail safely and iterate toward solutions that work.

Design Thinking in Action brings this methodology to life in a single, high-energy day making it immediately accessible, practical and memorable for every participant.

About this simulation

Unlike the other business simulations in our portfolio, Design Thinking in Action is ITSM Hub's own proprietary workshop developed and facilitated by our team, and fully customised for each organisation we work with.

Every delivery begins with understanding your organisation's context: your industry, your current challenges, your team composition and your learning goals. We then design a themed challenge specifically for your group, one that is relevant, realistic and engaging enough to draw out genuine creativity and collaboration.

The workshop draws on renowned Design Thinking methodologies including those from the British Design Council, using scenario-based activities, role-playing and hands-on exercises to guide teams through the full innovation process - from empathy to prototype to pitch.

How the simulation works

The workshop follows the core phases of Design Thinking, experienced actively rather than studied in theory.

1. Introduction to Design Thinking An engaging overview of Design Thinking principles and methodologies, followed by the introduction of your organisation's customised business challenge. Teams are briefed on their roles and the simulation structure.

2. Empathise — Understanding the user Teams step into the shoes of the people they are designing for. Through research activities and persona work, participants develop a genuine understanding of user needs, frustrations and motivations, the foundation of all good design.

3. Define — Framing the challenge Using insights from the Empathise phase, teams craft clear, actionable problem statements. This critical step ensures teams solve the right problem, not just the most obvious one.

4. Ideate — Generating creative solutions With the problem clearly framed, teams generate a wide range of ideas using structured creative techniques. Quantity and diversity of thinking are encouraged, this is where comfort zones get productively challenged.

5. Prototype — Building to understand Teams select their most promising ideas and rapidly build low-fidelity prototypes. The goal is not perfection, it's learning. By making ideas tangible, teams can test assumptions quickly and cheaply.

6. Test — Learn from feedback Prototypes are shared, tested and challenged. Teams gather feedback, identify what's working and what isn't, and iterate. The principle of "failing forward" learning fast from small failures is central to this phase.

7. Pitch — Crafting a compelling case Teams present their solutions to the group, making the case for their idea with clarity and conviction. This phase builds communication and influencing skills alongside the creative work.

8. Reflection and Integration A structured debrief where teams reflect on key learnings, discuss how to apply Design Thinking in their day-to-day work, and identify concrete next steps for embedding a culture of practical innovation within their organisation.

What will your team experience and learn?

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

What makes this workshop different?

It's fully customised. There is no off-the-shelf scenario. Every delivery uses a challenge designed specifically around your organisation's industry, context and goals, so the learning is immediately relevant and transferable.

It creates psychological safety. The workshop is deliberately designed to make it safe to experiment, take risks and "fail forward." Participants consistently report that it pushes them productively out of their comfort zones, revealing capabilities they didn't know they had.

It balances rigour with energy. The session moves between structured thinking and high-energy activities, keeping engagement high throughout the day and creating a memorable shared experience that teams refer back to long after the workshop.

It drives ownership. Rather than leaving participants as passive recipients of a framework, the simulation empowers them to take initiative, encouraging them to apply Design Thinking confidently in their daily work from day one.

Who should attend?

Creative problem-solving is a skill every organisation needs at every level. This workshop is designed for teams and individuals who want to think more creatively, collaborate more effectively and drive meaningful innovation. It's particularly valuable for:

No prerequisites. No prior Design Thinking knowledge is required. The workshop is designed to be equally engaging and valuable for complete beginners and experienced practitioners.

Delivery options

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