Design Thinking Training
Enable Extraordinary
The world has changed and traditional ways of working are not good enough.
Organizations face unprecedented challenges—from the changing nature of work to increasing competition and a workforce being asked to solve problems they’ve never experienced. To succeed you need a different approach that challenges the old ways of working. According to McKinsey, “design-led businesses perform 200% better than peers and have 32% higher revenue growth”.
Embedding design-led approaches requires a new set of skills that can’t be acquired through traditional programs. These skills are crucial to keep organizations innovating and growing. This is why Overlap has created a program that helps organizations ramp up faster with leadership design education, skills training and coaching for teams.
Behaviour change is never easy. People need both the ability and motivation to change before prompts and actions will succeed. Yes, we know from experience that behavioural change is scalable. Transformation happens one group at a time, one interaction at a time.
Team Skills Development
New Tools & Methods for Collaboration
Successful teams can get more from each other and thrive despite the complexity and increased demands.
Enhanced Leadership Skills
New leadership skills require comfort with ambiguity and an ability to be complex-capable in ways the world has never needed before.
Improved Team Dynamics
Bring your team closer together and achieve better outcomes by developing their human-centred design skill set.
Confidence to Tackle Problems
An increasingly complex world requires a new skill set and courage to tackle your organization’s toughest problems.
Our Training Offerings
Overlap’s training workshops are fun, practical, and transformational—we pride ourselves on our experiential education that supports the adoption of design-led approaches.
Our workshops can be customized to suit the needs of your team. We typically deliver them as a series of 3-hour modules, either in-person or virtual.
Introduction to Design Thinking
In our most popular course, participants learn firsthand the power of design to respond to the actual needs of real people. Learners develop an understanding of the mindset required to think creatively about solutions to complex problems and gain a practical understanding of design thinking as a process to navigate human-centered problem solving.
Exploring Complex Problems
Learners explore strategies and tips for testing assumptions about the problem and ensuring that their research is human-centred. This course explores specific tools and mindsets to help learners distinguish symptoms from root causes and determine the best course of action. It also includes tools to help learners ensure their research is human-centred so that any solution they build is based on the needs of real people.
Leading Change Through Design
In this course, learners examine the conditions that create successful, sustained change within an organization and how to tailor their approach to achieve successful change management. We guide learners through a Design Thinking Competency Framework to show them how to cascade a change mindset throughout their organization
Making Better Decisions
Making good decisions requires transparent tools. In this course, learners explore best practices for eliciting feedback and systems to make good decisions that propel a project forward with confidence while building buy-in and consensus.
Community and Staff Engagement Foundations
Engagement is essential to human-centred design. This course shows learners how to engage with key stakeholders to de-risk solutions and unlock innovation in their organizations as they navigate uncertainty, disruption and a changing world.
Building Innovative Ideas
Creativity is a practicable skill. In this course, learners uncover how strong ideation tools and practices support the discovery of the best solutions for stakeholders. This course also shows learners key considerations for building different types of solutions and how to use prototyping as a critical vehicle for learning.
Facilitation & Better Meetings
This course helps learners improve their conversations, meetings, and workshops using ORID (Objective, Reflective, Interpretive, Decisional) methodology. It teaches how to get more from individuals in group settings by leveraging their strengths and asking the right questions.
Working with Agility: Agile Project Management for Non-Technical Teams
Agile project management: an iterative process that promotes feedback, adaptability, and producing results. This course teaches learners how to plan, manage, and reflect to better adapt and pivot to unpredictability.
“Overlap's approach helps take the fear outta learning while you insert fun. I have had this sick feeling every time I had to engage with technology–but your attitude and approach take away the scariness.”
Tracey Poulin Dun
Introduction to Design Thinking Participant
“Taking the intro course rejuvenated my enthusiasm for work at a time when I was starting to feel disconnected. Not only was it refreshing to work through the activities with an interdisciplinary group, but it also gave me ideas for engaging my team differently. I immediately applied what I learned with noted success!”
Lauren Anstey
Educational Developer, Centre for Teaching & Learning, Queen’s University
How Our Training Works
As trainers, facilitators, and designers, we bring a unique approach to professional education. We approach training design by considering the rational and experiential aims—meaning both the learning objectives and content delivery, as well as the participant experience and how people feel throughout the training. This twinned approach plays a key role in the success of every Overlap training, facilitation, webinar, and event.
What to Expect
Live online or in-person teaching from expert design coaches
Practical exercises to practice skills
An opportunity to work on real-world problems relevant to your team
If held virtually: an introduction to Miro, a digital whiteboard & design tool
Physical or downloadable workbooks with activities, tools, and frameworks
Contact to Book
We’d love to hear more about your team and your training needs.
FAQs
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Yes. We’re happy to meet your team where you’re at. We can discuss the best way to deliver our courses with you.
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Yes. Custom courses can be arranged. These can be held in-person or virtually. Contact us to learn more.
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We are able to offer discounts for groups of over 25 participants. Contact us to learn more.
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Of course! Let us know what sort of documentation you would like when booking and we’ll provide it upon completion of the course.
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Yes! We can work with you to design our training around a real-world problem your team is facing.