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Creative Thinking Workshop

2022

Fostering Design Thinking within the New Clark City team for greater Collaboration and Creative Problem Solving

  • Client

    New Clark City, Interdepartmental Teams Bases Conversion and Development Authority

  • Duration

    1-day Face-to-Face Workshop

The New Clark City Design-Thinking Workshop was conducted to introduce the concept of design thinking to the organization (NCC), and explore potential to create better solutions for a better brand, business, and ultimately a better world. This workshop was opened to the entire organization – from the marketing down to engineering – to allow every team member to learn the benefits of empathic design and see how effective co-creation can lead to better outcomes. We created the curriculum to challenge the preconception of design as just visuals, and instead promote the idea of design as a mindset utilized in the betterment of every operation.

The whole-day (9am-3pm) in-person workshop happened last July 20 in New Clark City, culminating in a presentation of design solutions by each group.

Demographic –
The 29 participants included come from 8 departments namely Investment Promotions & Marketing Department (IPMD), Business Development Department (BDD), Public Affairs Department (PAD), Engineering and Social Support Department (ESSD), Land and Assets Development Department (LADD), Strategic Projects Management Department (SPMD), Human Resources Management Department (HRMD) and Corporate Planning Department (CPD).

Skill Set–
Since the workshop was open to the entire organization, the participants were mixed in terms of familiarity with the frameworks and processes used in Design Thinking.


Participant Needs–
Our clients expressed the need for cross-functional departments to effectively communicate within NCC, in order to then effectively communicate the programs of the organization to their stakeholders. We recognized the need for design thinking frameworks that can be used by non-creatives in their projects, and for empathy to be fostered as a principal mindset.

The 6-hour workshop was designed to be hands-on and relevant to their current projects.

We divided the program into following:

  • Short Informative Lectures
  • Working Sessions
  • Group feedback session
The participants were divided into 3 groups to tackle the design challenges and create solutions for 3 major stakeholders: (a) the general public specifically Project Affected Persons (PAPs), (b) the private sector specifically investors and (c) government bodies specifically the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
A presentation of the final output, broken down through a timeline of action steps
A group board with a diagram depicting the group’s solution and communication plan, along with answered work sheets

Each of the 3 groups presented their original creative solutions as implementable action plans, and were provided a space for feedback and critique from the members of the different departments.

“What is your key takeaway from the workshop?”

  • “Creativity is for everyone and empathy is very important.”
  • “Empathy. Empathy is important not just in relating to other people but also in decision making and creating solutions”

– Participant Survey Feedback

“That we should put the stakeholders first and foremost in every [decision-making] process. And to effectively do that, we need to put ourselves in their shoes.”