# Design Thinking for Strategic Management

> Apply human-centred design to strategy, services and policy: understand users, reframe challenges and prototype solutions.

- **Provider:** Afriskora Training Solutions
- **Category:** Business Analysis & Strategy
- **Duration:** 3 days
- **Formats:** classroom (cities across Africa), live virtual (Zoom/Teams), in-house for teams
- **Certificate:** Afriskora Certificate of Completion, verifiable online
- **Booking:** request dates and a quote; invoice and EFT payment
- **Web page:** https://afriskora.co.za/courses/business-analysis-strategy/design-thinking-for-strategic-management
- **Request dates:** https://afriskora.co.za/request-training?course=design-thinking-for-strategic-management

## Overview

Strategies and services often fail because they are designed around internal assumptions rather than the people they serve. This course applies the design-thinking process to strategic and service challenges. Participants conduct user research, reframe the problem, generate concepts, build low-cost prototypes and test them, completing a full design sprint during the course.

## Who should attend

- Strategy and planning managers
- Innovation and product teams
- Public-sector service designers
- Customer experience leaders

## Learning outcomes

- Use empathy research to understand users' needs
- Reframe strategic challenges as opportunities
- Generate and prioritise concepts
- Prototype and test ideas quickly and cheaply
- Integrate design thinking with strategic planning

## Course outline

### Module 1: Empathise and define

- Design-thinking mindset
- Interviews and observation
- Personas and journey maps
- How-might-we questions

### Module 2: Ideate and prototype

- Idea generation
- Concept selection
- Rapid prototyping
- Service blueprints

### Module 3: Test and scale

- User testing
- Iterating on feedback
- Embedding design in strategy
- Sprint presentations