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Design Thinking for the Public Sector.
Empower your teams to solve internal problems, and design better community solutions.
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8 Big Benefits of Design Thinking
for the Public Sector
  • Citizen-Centered Solutions: Design thinking places the needs and experiences of citizens at the heart of policymaking and service design, ensuring that solutions are more user-friendly and effective.
  • Innovation in Public Services: By encouraging creative problem-solving, design thinking can help governments develop innovative services and policies that better meet public needs, moving beyond traditional bureaucratic approaches.
  • Improved Policy Outcomes: Design thinking promotes iterative testing and feedback, allowing government bodies to refine policies through real-world input and evidence, leading to better outcomes.
  • Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Design thinking fosters collaboration among various stakeholders, including different government departments, to break down silos and create more holistic solutions.
  • Increased Efficiency: By focusing on problem-solving from the user’s perspective, design thinking can streamline processes, reduce redundancies, and improve service delivery, ultimately leading to cost savings.
  • Enhanced Public Trust: When government agencies use design thinking to co-create solutions with the public, it increases transparency, accountability, and public trust in the decision-making process.
  • Agility and Flexibility: Government bodies can adopt a more agile approach by using design thinking to quickly adapt to emerging challenges or evolving citizen needs, rather than sticking to rigid frameworks.
  • Inclusive Decision-Making: Design thinking embraces diversity of thought and encourages inclusivity by gathering insights from a wide range of citizens, ensuring that policies and services consider diverse viewpoints and needs.
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What your team will learn.

Our workshops can be tailored to suit your unique needs, but typically your team will learn:

01
Introduction

Overview of the design thinking methodology, its principles, and how it differs from traditional problem-solving approaches in government settings.

02
Citizen-Centred Service Design

Focus on understanding and empathizing with citizens' needs through interviews, personas, and journey mapping to design solutions that directly address user challenges.

03
Collaborative Problem Solving

Techniques for fostering cross-departmental collaboration and including diverse stakeholders (e.g., public, private, and community sectors) in the ideation process.

04
Prototyping and Testing

Hands-on exercises to create rapid prototypes and test solutions in real-world scenarios, encouraging iterative improvement based on feedback.

05
Implementing Design Thinking in Government

Practical strategies for embedding design thinking into everyday government processes, from policy development to public service delivery, ensuring sustainable innovation and continuous improvement.

What public service innovators say
about our work
Amy Hollings
Feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive.
Leaders have admitted to having their eyes opened and thinking challenged, seeing this as an opportunity to be more innovative in how we respond to and add value for our customers.
The team brings great experience, knowledge, ideas and energy to his facilitation.
It's been a great experience partnering with Collective Campus and being part of these workshops.
Organisational Development Project Lead, Yarra Ranges Council
Sasha Lord
We have developed a great partnership with Collective Campus and their dedication to improving our customers' experience is evident in the quality of work they delivered.
Executive Officer CX, City of Whittlesea
Sean Hanrahan
Collective Campus delivers a dynamic and engaging training program that empowers participants to develop innovative ideas through rapid experimentation and learning.
I would recommend them to any organisation looking to build the capacity of its people to develop creative and effective solutions to customer problems.
Innovation Program Manager, Greater Western Water
FREE DOWNLOAD
Stop Talking, Start Making

Get your free eBook and start supercharging problem solving today.

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Free BONUSES!
Paperback copy of Stop Talking, Start Making for all participants
Worth $200 for a class of 20 - yours FREE.

Get a paperback copy of our popular design thinking book, downloaded more than 20,000 times online.

Paperback copy of Employee to Entrepreneur for all participants
Worth $500 for a class of 20 - yours FREE.

Teach your workforce how to think like entrepreneur's with Collective Campus founder Steve Glaveski's book, Employee to Entrepreneur, endorsed by Adam Grant.

Unlimited coaching via Slack or Teams
Worth $250 per hour - yours FREE.

8 Need help applying some of what you or your team has learned back in the office?

No problem.

Steve will personally answer questions and provide coaching via Slack or Teams.

Case Study 01

The City of Glen Eira is located in Melbourne's south-east suburbs, about 10 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD, and is home to over 150,000 people.

Challenge


Solution

Glen Eira City Council wanted to introduce Design Thinking and learn how to prototype ideas. They needed Collective Campus to impart the Design Thinking insights, including the process to follow, and the tools required to apply it.



Collective Campus delivered training for the Glen Eira City Council team to help them:
· Understand the five stages (Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test)  

· Build hands on knowledge in use of best practice tools and templates.
· Develop ideas, build a case for the ideas, and identify objectives and benefits.

Outcome

The Glen Eira City Council team gained a deep understanding of the Design Thinking process, and how it can be used to come up better solutions to problems.

The course helped facilitate an end to end understanding of Design Thinking and provided the team with a key selection of tools to develop, prototype, and pitch their ideas.

The processes and tools learned allowed participants to use Design Thinking to not only develop big new ideas, but improve things in their daily jobs.

Participants - consisting of both managers and individual contributors - were able to apply practical insights immediately after each session to ramp up both their productivity and improve their physical and mental health as well.

Case Study 02

Liverpool City Council is a local government area to the south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The area encompasses 305.5 square kilometres (118.0 sq mi) and has a population of over 200,000.

Challenge

Liverpool City Council wanted to learn how to design great customer experiences and get to the heart of their customer problems.

Solution


Outcome

Collective Campus delivered a full day virtual workshop for 20 attendees from Liverpool City Council. The workshop helped the team:- Understand and align on the importance of customer experience in Local Government.- Learn how to better understand customers by applying Design Thinking principles.- Explore how they could each apply the concepts learned in their day to day roles.

Using Design Thinking principles, the team at Liverpool City Council was able to step into the shoes of customers to see things from their perspective and learn how to create lasting and efficient experiences for users and owners.

JUST SOME PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS WE'VE WORKED WITH

See more case studies here.

Five myths about Design Thinking in Government
Myth 1: Design Thinking is only for creative sectors

Some believe Design Thinking is exclusive to industries like tech, marketing, or product design, but in reality, it can be highly effective in addressing government challenges, enhancing services, and improving citizen experiences.

Myth 2 - Government is too slow for Design Thinking

There’s a misconception that government processes are too rigid and slow for the iterative nature of Design Thinking.
However, when tailored correctly, it can introduce agility and faster problem-solving in government projects.

Myth 3: Design Thinking is just about aesthetics

Many think Design Thinking is focused on visual design or making things look nicer, whereas it’s really about deep problem solving and creating user-centric solutions that can improve service delivery and policy effectiveness.

Myth 4: It’s only for small-scale projects

People often assume Design Thinking is suited only for smaller, localized projects. In fact, it can be applied to broad, systemic challenges, such as public health, education reform, or infrastructure planning.

Myth 5: Government doesn’t need Design Thinking because it’s not a business

Some believe Design Thinking’s focus on innovation and competition isn’t relevant to public service. However, governments also need to innovate to meet the evolving needs of their citizens and deliver better outcomes.

Our facilitators
Tessa Kowaliw
Tessa is an incredibly personable design thinking and CX facilitator with years of experience in the private and public sectors, with a passion for driving community outcomes.
Steve Glaveski
Steve is the founder of Collective Campus, author of 2 Wiley books (Employee to Entrepreneur, Time Rich), host of the Future Squared podcast, and regular contributor to Harvard Business Review.
Shay Namdarian
Shay is the author of several books on design thinking, and has over a decade of experience facilitating workshops for the public sector.
FREE DOWNLOAD
Design Thinking for Large Organizations eBook

Design thinking is a buzz word that has been thrown around by executives for years now, yet few know how to effectively apply it.
This eBook focuses on how organisations can apply design thinking and start to move the needle.

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More love from our clients

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.

- Joelle McKay, Innovation Lead @ Yarra Ranges Council

Cutting edge innovation insights
I've not only practiced this topic in depth while building my businesses, but I've spoken with and learned from some of the world's deepest thinkers on our podcast Future Squared (430+ episodes, 1 million+ downloads), hosted by Collective Campus founder Steve Glaveski.

As a result, your team will get the very best insights on working smarter.
Steve Blank
Godfather of rapid experimentation and 'lean startup' in business
Seth Godin
Pre-eminent business mind and author of our time
Alex Osterwalder
Creator of the Business Model Canvas
Listen NowListen NowListen Now
We don't just teach this...
We live it.

There are other design thinking courses on the market, but most are run by dated, boring management societies, and facilitated by folks that have learned how to read and regurgitate from a tired curriculum.

But real insight comes from application and experience.

We've run literally thousands of experiments, studied and applied numerous creativity techniques, learned what works and what doesn't.

Learn from practitioners in the trenches, not someone who completed a 2-week online course last month.

Schedule your free consultation.
Find out if this is right for your organization or your team with a quick
zero-obligation phone call.
Who this workshop is for
01

Government Employees and Public Servants – Those who work in government departments or agencies and are seeking innovative approaches to solve community issues and improve service delivery.

02

Policy Makers – Individuals involved in creating policies who want to develop user-centric, practical, and innovative solutions for public challenges.

03

Community Leaders and Activists – People working closely with communities who need creative ways to address complex social problems and improve public welfare.

04

Non-Profit and NGO Staff – Teams aiming to design services or programs for public benefit and looking for structured frameworks to create human-centered solutions.

05

Public Sector Project Managers – Professionals responsible for implementing projects in the public sector who want to ensure their solutions meet user needs and create sustainable impact.

Our team has talked innovation all over the world
Innov8rs Summit- Sydney, Australia
Ayala Spark- Manila, Philippines
IO Summit- Nebraska, USA
Find out if this is right for
your team.
Schedule a 15-minute call below.
Book a Call
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
We've got A's for your Q's
How much does it cost?

It depends on the size of your group and the level of customization required.

Request a quote below and we'll get back to you within 24 hours.

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Is this workshop for individuals or teams?

It is for groups of 5 or more people only.

When & where can the
workshop take place?

That's mostly up to you and your team's availability.

As for where, we run workshops all over Australia, and can also travel internationally to give talks and facilitate workshops.

How does the guarantee work?

Not happy with the workshop? Let us know, and we'll refund the full amount in 30 days.

That's how confident we are that your team will get value out of this workshop.