Last week, I delivered a week long course on #DesignThinking for ERASMUS+ KA1 Staff Trainings for my most diverse group yet – educators, librarians, startup mentors, and business innovators from Denmark 🇩🇰, Slovenia 🇸🇮, Latvia 🇱🇻, Poland 🇵🇱 and Germany 🇩🇪.
What struck me most is how #universal this approach truly is. Whether you’re designing a new library program, building a startup, reimagining your classroom, or improving team communication, the mindset behind design thinking remains the same: empathize deeply, experiment boldly, and iterate often.
By chance (or perhaps fate!), I had a chat earlier this week with George Chan, who is a Design Thinking expert. It was very interesting to hear his perspective on all of the ways to run a training on design thinking, and just how deep you can go, and how we can make sure our groups are focusing on the doing much more than the thinking (design thinking is a bit of a misnomer, isn’t it?).
No matter your role, be it librarian, teacher, entrepreneur, or administrator, Design Thinking brings us back to the human core of what we do. It’s not just a process; it’s a way of seeing people, needs, and possibilities with curiosity and compassion.
We’re all designing something; whether it’s an experience, a service, a story, and Design Thinking helps us do it with true heart.
The final takeaways shared by participants (see second image) were heartwarming to read. Still feeling the depth of connection today!💡❤️
#DesignThinking #Innovation #HumanCenteredDesign #ErasmusPlus #CreativeEducation #LifelongLearning #GrowthMindset #EmpathyInAction #LearningByDoing #Collaboration #Facilitation #ProfessionalDevelopment #EducationInnovation #ActiveLearning #IterateToInnovate
Elana Shyong 