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‘Design Thinking’: Solving Problems With Creativity

For all employees who are frequently faced with complex problems in their day-to-day work, Bertelsmann University now offers its new “Introduction to Design Thinking” program in cooperation with the HPI Academy in Potsdam. The participants spend two days getting acquainted with the method, which takes a systematic approach to solving complex problems.

Bertelsmann University’s new corporate training offer now gives employees who are frequently faced with complex problems in their day-to-day work an opportunity to learn the “Design Thinking” technique. Design Thinking is a systematic approach to complex problems and project challenges that is focused on the wishes and needs of users. Thanks to constant feedback from the customer, prototypes are developed in the shortest possible time – long before a product or project is finalized.

Bertelsmann University is offering the two-day program “Introduction to Design Thinking” in collaboration with the HPI Academy, a leading provider of corporate training in Design Thinking; the workshop will be given in German and English, in Potsdam near Berlin. The next dates are March 11/12, 2019 (in German) and April 9/10, 2019 (in English). You can now register on peoplenet, after consulting your supervisor.

In this video, an HPI Academy Program Manager gives a brief overview of the content and format of the Design Thinking workshop.

Develop creative ideas and solutions

The program involves participants working in small teams of no more than five to develop creative ideas and solutions for projects, services, and products. In a learning environment that encourages experimentation, the employees learn the method while solving a problem they will recognize from their own daily work. The emphasis is on teamwork, because “Design Thinking” is also about developing a positive attitude towards the ideas of others and establishing an active feedback culture. The important thing about the process is that, through interaction with the users, problems may ultimately no longer appear as such. They are partially redefined, and a solution is developed on this basis.

The program is aimed not only at specialists and managers who often have to deal with complex issues in their day-to-day work, but also at employees who are generally interested in learning new methods and developing new solutions quickly and creatively.

The HPI Academy coaches who teach the program bring extensive experience from a variety of client projects as well as from working in various innovation teams. Further information about “Introduction to Design Thinking” is available here.

Focus: Digital working world

In 2019, Bertelsmann University will increasingly focus on courses that support employees in a work environment that is becoming increasingly complex as a result of digitalization. For example, Bertelsmann University already offers the following programs in this area: “Improving Cooperation and Communication in Agile Teams” and “Digital Overload Management (DOM): Time Management for the Digital Working World”. (benet)