A design thinking workshop is a hands-on program in which cross-functional teams apply human-centred problem solving to a real business challenge. Teams interview users, frame problem statements, generate ideas, build cheap prototypes and test them. Bodhih recommends 2 days in person or five 3-hour virtual sessions, ending in a sponsor pitch and a 90-day pilot.
- Recommended: 2 days in person, or 5 × 3-hour live virtual sessions
- Level: Intermediate · In person · Live virtual · Blended
- Designed with the ADDIE model and customised to your context
- Offered by Bodhih since 2008 to 2,000+ organisations across 7 regions
Also known as: design thinking training, design thinking course for employees, design thinking for business, human-centred design training
Where and how: design thinking training as an in-person workshop in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur; as a live online course; or delivered overseas in Dubai, Singapore and across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Last reviewed by Siddharthan VGJ, Founder · Bodhih Training, Bengaluru
Why human-centred problem solving pays off now
Products, services and internal processes often fail not because teams lack ideas but because they solve the wrong problem. Design thinking brings users back into the room early, before time and budget are committed.
For Indian teams serving global clients, and for GCCs moving from delivery to ownership, a design thinking workshop also creates a shared language for co-creating with stakeholders instead of waiting for fully specified requirements.
Creative thinking ranks among the top five core skills employers identify for their workforce in 2025.
What participants will be able to do
Uncover real user needs
Plan and run short user interviews and observations that reveal needs, pains and workarounds.
Reframe the challenge
Turn research insights into sharp problem statements and How Might We questions.
Generate more and better ideas
Use structured ideation methods to produce a wide range of ideas and converge on the most promising.
Prototype quickly and cheaply
Build low-fidelity prototypes such as storyboards, paper mock-ups and role-plays within hours.
Test and learn
Gather user feedback on prototypes and decide whether to iterate, pivot or proceed.
Bring it back to work
Plan a pilot on a live project, including stakeholders, time-boxes and success measures.
Who should attend
- Cross-functional teams working on products, services or customer experience
- IT, product and GCC teams moving from execution to solution ownership
- HR, operations and shared-services teams redesigning internal processes
- Managers and innovation champions who sponsor improvement projects
- Sales and customer success teams co-creating solutions with clients
Program outline
Recommended design, customised to your context after a short needs analysis.
01Mindset and processModule 1 · 90 min+
- The five stages of design thinking and the diverge-then-converge rhythm
- Design thinking versus traditional problem solving
- Warm-up: a 30-minute rapid design challenge
02EmpathiseModule 2 · 3 hours+
- Interview planning and open, non-leading questions
- Live user interviews or observation, internal or external
- Empathy maps: what users say, do, think and feel
03DefineModule 3 · 2 hours+
- Clustering insights with affinity mapping
- Personas and customer journey maps
- Point-of-view statements and How Might We questions
04IdeateModule 4 · 2 hours+
- Divergent methods: brainwriting, rapid eight-sketch rounds, idea-twisting prompts and worst possible idea
- Converging with dot voting and impact-effort matrices
- Selecting concepts to prototype
05PrototypeModule 5 · 2 hours+
- Choosing the right fidelity for the question you need answered
- Storyboards, paper prototypes, click-through mock-ups and service role-plays
- Building a testable prototype in teams
06Test, iterate and pitchModule 6 · 2 hours+
- Running user tests with a simple feedback capture grid
- Iterating on evidence rather than opinion
- Pitching the concept and next steps to a sponsor panel
07Making it stickModule 7 · 60 min+
- Where design thinking fits with Agile, Lean and existing project stages
- Planning a pilot on a live challenge
- Team roles, time-boxes and success measures after the workshop
Sample training plan: 2-day hands-on design
This two-day workshop takes cross-functional teams through the full human-centred cycle on a real challenge, not a toy case. Teams interview real users on day one, turn what they hear into sharp problem statements, generate and select ideas, build cheap prototypes and test them with users on day two. Every stage is done, not described. The capstone is a pitch to a sponsor panel with test evidence, followed by a pilot plan the team can start the next week.
Teams can interview real users, build empathy maps and journey maps and frame a sharp problem worth solving.
- 09:30–10:15The 30-minute gift challengeEnergiser
- 10:15–10:45The cycle in one pageConcept burst
- 11:00–11:45Interview planningSkill drill
- 11:45–13:00Live user interviewsReal-play
- 13:45–14:45Empathy maps and clustersBuild sprint
- 14:45–15:30Persona and journey mapBuild sprint
- 15:45–16:45Point of view and 'how might we'Group challenge
- 16:45–17:30What surprised usReflection
Teams can generate and select ideas, build and test a prototype with real users and pitch a pilot backed by evidence.
- 09:30–10:00Worst possible ideaEnergiser
- 10:00–11:00DivergeHands-on lab
- 11:15–11:45ConvergeGroup challenge
- 11:45–13:00Prototype in an hourBuild sprint
- 13:45–14:45Test with real usersReal-play
- 14:45–15:30Iterate on evidenceBuild sprint
- 15:45–16:45Sponsor pitchPresentation
- 16:45–17:30Pilot plan and back to workAction planning
Every session’s activity, timings, outputs and materials, plus pre-work, a 90-day reinforcement plan and how impact is measured. Free, emailed to you instantly.
Recommended: 2 days in person (09:30–17:30) with real users available for interviews and tests, or 5 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, plus a 90-day pilot on a live challenge. A sample design: every Bodhih program is customised after a short needs analysis.
How long is a design thinking workshop?
The recommended design is two days in person, from 09:30 to 17:30, so teams can interview and test with real users. It also runs as five live virtual sessions of three hours each over two to three weeks. A 90-day pilot on a live challenge follows.
What activities are included in a design thinking workshop?
Teams work on real sponsor challenges. They run live user interviews, build empathy maps and journey maps, write 'how might we' questions, sketch eight ideas in eight minutes, build paper or click-through prototypes, test them with the same users and pitch a pilot to a sponsor panel.
How we deliver it
A live challenge from your business
In the ADDIE Analyse phase we agree a real, well-scoped challenge with a sponsor, so the design thinking workshop produces usable concepts as well as learning.
Learning by making
Most of the time is spent interviewing, mapping, sketching and building, with short facilitator inputs between rounds.
Real users where possible
We help you arrange access to customers or internal users for interviews and tests, in person or by video.
Sponsor involvement
A sponsor briefs teams at the start and hears the final pitches, keeping the work connected to real decisions.
Tailored versions
For IT, product and GCC teams
Connects design thinking with Agile delivery, discovery sprints and product backlogs, with practice on turning user insights into testable stories.
For HR and internal services
Applies the method to employee experience, such as onboarding, policy communication or shared-service requests, with employees as users.
For leadership teams
A condensed format on sponsoring design-led projects, asking better questions and building a culture that accepts early, cheap failure.
How we measure impact
Evaluation follows the ADDIE model: we capture participants' confidence and understanding of each stage before and after the workshop, and the sponsor panel reviews final concepts against agreed criteria. At 30, 60 and 90 days we check whether teams have run pilots, interviewed users or applied the tools on live work. We also help sponsors record outcomes such as pilots launched, process steps removed or customer feedback improved.
Pair this program with AssessAll, Bodhih’s AI assessment platform, for pre- and post-program skill measurement.
Frequently asked questions
What is a design thinking workshop?
A design thinking workshop is a hands-on session in which a team learns and applies a human-centred problem-solving method. Participants research user needs, reframe the problem, generate ideas, build quick prototypes and test them with users. Corporate workshops work best when they use a real challenge from the organisation, so teams leave with both the skill and practical concepts to pilot.
What are the five stages of design thinking?
A widely used design thinking process has five stages: empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test. Empathise means understanding users through interviews and observation, define turns insights into a clear problem statement and ideate generates many possible solutions. Prototype builds quick, cheap versions of the strongest ideas, test gathers user feedback, and in practice teams loop back through the stages.
How long does a design thinking workshop take?
An introduction can run in half a day, but teams usually need two days to experience the full cycle properly, including real user interviews and testing. We recommend two days in person or five live virtual sessions of three hours. For larger challenges, we can extend it into a multi-week project with coaching between sessions.
How is design thinking used in business?
Businesses use design thinking to improve customer journeys, design new products and services, simplify internal processes and involve clients in solution design. Its value lies in testing assumptions with real users before large investments are made. Indian organisations and GCCs often use it to move from executing requirements to shaping solutions together with global stakeholders.
What is the difference between design thinking and a design sprint?
Design thinking is the broader mindset and method for human-centred problem solving. A design sprint is a specific, time-boxed format, typically five days, that applies similar steps to answer one critical question with a tested prototype. Our workshop teaches the underlying method, and teams can later use it in sprints, Agile discovery or everyday improvement projects.
Do participants need a design background?
No, the workshop is built for people with no design training, from engineers and finance professionals to HR and sales teams. Prototypes are deliberately simple, such as sketches, paper mock-ups and role-plays, so the focus stays on understanding users and testing ideas. Mixed-function groups usually produce richer insights than groups drawn from a single department.
Can the design thinking workshop be run virtually?
Yes, the live virtual version uses online whiteboards for mapping and ideation, video calls for user interviews and simple digital prototyping tools. We split the content into shorter sessions with team tasks in between, which suits global teams across time zones. The in-person format remains the richer option for teams that can gather in one place.