If you’re in L&D, a huge part of your role is solving problems. But are you solving the right problems in the right way? That’s where design thinking comes in.
Design thinking is a creative, human-centered approach to problem-solving. It doesn’t require fancy tools or a design background. What it does require is curiosity, empathy, and a willingness to test and learn
This guide will walk you through the five non-linear stages of design thinking – empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test – PLUS we’ll share a detailed case study of how it can shape a leadership development program. But these steps can be applied to any other lerning program or in any type of organization – from the small startup to the global giant.
1. Empathize: Understand the Human Side
Before you build anything, you need to understand who you’re building it for and why.
Let’s say you’ve been asked to “develop a leadership program for new managers.” Sounds clear enough, right? But before jumping into designing amazing presentations and handouts, take a pause. What’s really going on? This is the very first question you need to find an answer to. Here are some tips:
- Start with listening and observing. What are people saying about their managers? What are managers in charge of, and what’s out of their control? Here are some things you can do:
- Talk to new managers. What challenges are they facing both in their day-to-day and long-term? Keep in mind that not every problem will be a learning problem.
- Shadow a few in their daily work. This may be tricky but can be crucial.
- Ask their team members, peers, and line managers what’s working—and what’s not. This kind of feedback can be eye-opening both for you and the new managers.
- If you’re not sure how to approach these conversations, here are some questions to ask:
- “What’s surprised you most about becoming a manager?”
- “When do you feel most unsure in your role?”
- “What support do you wish you had in your first few months?”
- Push back gently. Not everything you see and hear will be objective. If someone says, “They just need a training on feedback,” ask, “How do you know that’s the main challenge? What’s happening when they try to give feedback now?”
- Go beyond the symptom. You might find that the real issue isn’t “feedback skills,” but lack of confidence, unclear expectations, or fear of upsetting the team. This is where pushing back can come in handy.
2. Define: Pinpoint the Right Problem
Now that you’ve gathered insights, it’s time to define the problem. This is where you sort through the noise and find a clear focus.
Instead of: “We need to teach new managers how to lead.”
Try: “New managers struggle to have honest performance conversations because they fear damaging relationships.”
How to drill down:
- Look for patterns in the interviews.
- Cluster related challenges.
- Identify what’s most painful and most common.
How do you know you’re on the right track? When you define the problem clearly, solutions become obvious—or at least easier to spot. Let’s say during the empathy stage, you uncover that new managers are struggling with team motivation. It’s tempting to define the problem as: “Managers need to learn how to motivate their teams.”
But that’s too broad. So, you dig deeper. From all the research you’ve done in the previous step, you start to see some patterns, like:
- They aren’t setting clear goals.
- They avoid giving feedback—positive or negative.
- Their teams feel unsure about priorities.
This allows you to reframe the problem as:
“New managers lack the skills and confidence to set clear expectations and give consistent feedback, which leads to low team motivation.”
That’s the moment you know you’re on the right track. What’s more, this reframed problem allows you to come up with relevant, targeted, and practical learning solutions. For example, you now know you need to include a feedback framework they can use in one-on-ones, some role-play practices for setting expectations, and maybe even a short video series featuring experienced managers sharing what worked for them.
Revert back if needed. If your definition is too broad or vague, go back to your empathy notes. Ask, “What are they really trying to do, and what’s getting in the way?”
3. Ideate: Explore Bold Ideas
Now comes the fun part—brainstorming. This isn’t about finding one solution. It’s about finding many. Or as many as possible, anyway!
One thing to do here is to involve others. Pull in stakeholders, a few learners, maybe even a facilitator or two. Set a timer and go wide with ideas. The more, the better. This isn’t about finding the right one but getting as many of them out in the open as possible.
Prompt with “How might we…”. For example, “How might we help new managers feel more confident giving tough feedback?” or “How might we simulate tricky team situations in a safe way?”
Don’t be afraid to push the team. If the first 10 ideas feel too safe, ask, “What’s the weirdest way we could solve this?” That’s where the gold often is. For example, instead of a regular role-play in a classroom, why not set up a custom AI chat where managers can practice giving feedback to a virtual team member with attitude problems or low performance? Or a podcast series where long-time leaders share mistakes they have made as new managers back in the day?
4. Prototype: Make It Real (Fast)
Some might be tempted to build a full course at this point. Don’t! Pick one idea from the ideation stage and create a rough version—a pilot session, a mock-up, a quick video, or even a Miro board. The goal isn’t perfection. It’s learning. Fast.
Let’s say you choose the idea of a virtual team member chatbot—a custom AI scenario built with ChatGPT where managers can practice giving feedback to a difficult employee.
Start scrappy. You don’t need a polished tech solution right away. Use ChatGPT (or another tool) to create a character: let’s call her “Tina.” Tina is underperforming and defensive when questioned. You give the new manager a simple prompt: “Start a conversation with Tina about her recent missed deadlines.” Let them type their message and have ChatGPT respond in character.
Observe the results. There are some things you want to watch out for. For example, are learners engaging with it or freezing up? Do they know what to say—or ask for help? Are they reflecting on what worked and what didn’t? And, of course, did “Tina” perform as expected, or do you need to adjust her parameters?
To make sure you’re capturing everything, add a reflection step: “After your conversation with Tina, jot down what felt easy, what was tricky, and what you’d do differently in a real conversation.”
Real feedback > perfect delivery. This kind of low-fi prototype will give you more insights than a fully developed e-learning module ever could. And it’s fast to tweak if needed.
Important prototyping tip: If it flops? That’s not failure. That’s data. You just saved yourself weeks (and budget) by learning early. As mentioned earlier, design thinking isn’t a linear process. This means that at this point, you may decide you need more data or that the problem you had defined isn’t quite acurate or that your idea simply cannot be scaled up or down. Not to worry, that’s why you have the ideation stage – to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks.
5. Test: Learn and Improve
Once your prototype has run, gather feedback. Not just surveys—real conversations with the users (or learners in case of L&D).
Ask both the new and experienced managers:
- “What was useful?”
- “What didn’t land?”
- “What will you actually use going forward?”
Look for patterns again. Did they apply what they learned? Did it stick?
Make conclusions—but keep iterating.
Maybe the virtual team member idea worked, but it needs stronger kickoff training. Or maybe the podcast idea tested better in parallel. You’re building your program with learners, not just for them.
Testing is not the end. It’s part of the cycle.