Design thinking training in New YorkCheck the problem before the build is funded.
A hands-on workshop for New York teams who need a live problem checked before money moves.
- New York, in person or hybrid
New York
New York product teams who need the problem in the room
New York product and operations teams book this when a build is close and the people who will use it are still missing from the brief. The session puts them with the people who will sign the spend.
Collective Campus has a studio in New York. We facilitate there, at your office, or hybrid if part of the group is elsewhere. You bring the challenge. You leave with a problem sharp enough to stop a weak idea.
- For New York product, innovation and operations teams about to spend.
- At the New York studio, your office, or hybrid if the group is split.
- Half a day, one day or two days, on a challenge you bring.
- No design background required.
◆ We've run this for teams at ◆
The problem
Sound familiar?
Solutions first
Teams jump to "build it" before anyone's confirmed it's a problem worth solving.
Assumed, not asked
Decisions get made on what the room thinks the customer wants, not what they actually do.
Expensive guesses
Months of build time sunk into features that quietly get no use.
What you'll walk away with
By the end of the day, your team will have
- A clearly defined problem worth solving, grounded in real user insight
- Firsthand customer empathy, not assumptions dressed up as facts
- A pile of tested ideas, and the confidence to kill the weak ones early
- At least one low-fidelity prototype in hand
- A repeatable method they can run again without us in the room
What we cover
The flow of the day
- 01
Frame the challenge
Align on the real problem and who we're solving it for.
- 02
Empathise
Get into the user's world, interviews, observation, empathy mapping.
- 03
Define
Turn messy insight into a sharp, solvable problem statement.
- 04
Ideate
Diverge wide, then converge, structured brainstorming that avoids groupthink.
- 05
Prototype & test
Build something rough, put it in front of real people, learn fast.
Who it's for
Who should be in the room
No prior experience needed, the workshop is built for cross-functional teams from scratch.
Product & innovation teams
Anyone responsible for building the right thing, not just building it right.
Cross-functional squads
Mixed teams who need a shared language for solving problems together.
Leaders
Executives who want customer-centricity to be a habit, not a poster.
Format & logistics
How it runs
Duration
½-day taster, 1-day intensive, or 2-day deep dive.
Delivery
In-person at your office, offsite, or fully remote.
Group size
8-30 is the sweet spot. Larger cohorts by arrangement.
Tailoring
Built around a live challenge you bring, not a generic case study.
our case studies
ASM Global
Design thinking workshop and follow-on coaching for the LEAD program. Leadership approved all three proposed solutions for implementation.
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Clifford Chance
Lawyers trained to apply design thinking to legal work, with tools to prototype an idea and pitch it.
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Cochlear
Design thinking for talent development, marketing, services and R&D, aimed at employee experience.
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Coliban Water
Design thinking for a newly formed innovation team. Over 100 ideas for two problems the team identified.
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City of Burnside
One-day design thinking session for 30+ staff, covering the five steps through to a prototype.
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DXC Technology
Two full-day workshops for graduates in Melbourne and Sydney, and a mentor session for the leaders supporting them. The graduates used it on internal initiatives.
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Electrolux
Half-day design thinking in Singapore for high achievers, on their team projects.
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Electrolux
Full day in Singapore at the APMEA finance conference. Over 50 people, split into eight groups, each with a solution for the finance function.
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Glen Eira City Council
The council team learned the five stages, from empathise through test, and how to prototype an idea.
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Greenwoods
Half day in Sydney at the annual conference. Over 80 people in ten groups. The solutions were aimed at retaining talent and improving collaboration with clients.
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Maddocks
A design thinking session for People and Culture. Over 60 ideas on recruitment and employee development. The top two went to prototype, each with a next-step plan.
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Monash Graduate Association
Five-stage design thinking for the team. Over 200 ideas for two problems they identified.
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Navitas
Design thinking for the HR team, on two focus areas. Over 100 ideas, with prototypes of four.
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Online Education Services (OES)
Design thinking for the IT team. Over 150 ideas, with prototypes of four.
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Osborne Clarke
A workshop for senior associates at their annual conference. The group identified ideas to progress against the firm's 2025 international strategy.
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Tabcorp
Design thinking for the HR team, aimed at employee experience.
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Yarra Ranges Council
The council team was trained to apply design thinking in day to day roles.
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Testimonials
What teams say afterwards
“The Maddocks team really enjoyed the session from Collective Campus and each team member gained a lot from it. I am excited about next steps to progress the top ideas that came from the session and the team cannot wait to start putting some of what they learned into practice.”
“We are focusing heavily on the employee experience within our organisation and prefaced our annual 'strategy to plans' workshop for the HR function with some practical team development on design thinking. Shay quickly developed a clear understanding of our current context and the outcomes we were seeking through using this approach, and the one day program he designed for us really hit the mark. Shay facilitated a high energy, practical workshop which provided us a great shared understanding of the use of design thinking to improve our ability to develop solutions for better EX outcomes. We were able to immediately use the design, prototyping and customer journey tools through the remainder of our planning workshop and feel confident as a team in this space.”
“Fostering a culture of innovation is one of our key objectives at Yarra Ranges. This led us to engage Collective Campus for a one-day session on Design Thinking. As a result, the Innovation team was able to apply these principles to innovation initiatives while aligning with the rest of the organisation.”
Facilitators
Lead facilitator
Tessa Kowaliw
An incredibly personable design thinking facilitator with years of experience across the private and public sectors, and a passion for driving community outcomes.
Founder, facilitator
Steve Glaveski
Founder of Collective Campus, author of two Wiley books, host of the Future Squared podcast, and regular contributor to Harvard Business Review.
After the workshop
What changes afterwards
- A problem statement the sponsor can read back, with the user and the behaviour named.
- The interview notes, observations, or empathy map from the day.
- A list of the ideas the room kept, and a list of the ideas it killed.
- One low-fidelity prototype that was put in front of a real person.
New York
Questions about running this in New York
Can the New York studio host design thinking?
Yes. At the studio, your office, or hybrid when part of the team is elsewhere. Tell us who needs to be there.
Which New York roles need to be in the session?
The people funding the work and the people who understand the problem. Product, operations and innovation. No design background is required.
What should we send to book a New York workshop?
Use the contact form. Name the problem, the group size and whether you want the studio, your office or hybrid. Half a day, one day or two days.
Can we bring a product we are about to fund?
Yes. Bring the constraint you cannot ignore. We will not spend the day on a canned case.
Ready to solve the right problem?
Tell us the challenge, we'll shape a workshop around it.