Building a Culture of HCD at a Global Think Tank
Building internal innovation capability through hands-on training in human-centred design.
Background: Incentivizing Teams to Find Changemaking Opportunities
The International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) is a global, independent, non-profit think tank working on complex sustainable development challenges, including climate change, natural resource management, and economic equity.
To support this work, IISD launched an Innovation Fund — an internal program that gives people working in vastly different disciplines and functions across the organization a chance to challenge existing approaches, discover opportunities for innovation, and develop initiatives that could lead to meaningful change in their areas of work.
As the Fund evolved, IISD wanted to equip these potential innovators with a deeper foundational understanding of human-centred design and the design process as a whole, so that their money could make the biggest impact to the most people.
“The team at Outwitly both heard and exceeded the brief. Our human-centred design workshop (for a team of non-designers) was informative and thought-provoking. Outwitly worked tirelessly to tease out our ideas, all with good humour and insight.”
Bootcamp attendee
Challenge: Equipping Diverse Departments With Design Strategy
IISD needed a way to introduce design-led approaches to people across the organization so that these individuals could innovate existing services, navigate organizational change and optimize the impact of Fund resources.
Their key challenges in doing this were:
Proactively aligned with stakeholders to shape the bootcamp. Ahead of the workshop, we led kickoff and working sessions with Innovation Fund stakeholders to align on goals, logistics, and participant needs. Agenda, activities, and materials were reviewed and shared in advance to ensure strong alignment going into delivery.
Training alignment and relevance across departments and regions. The professionals involved worked in different countries and in vastly different areas of development, from agriculture, to policy, to operations and branding. The training material and structure would need to be approachable, translate to everyone’s fields, and encourage collaboration among cross-functional teams.
Avoiding assumption-led decisions about proposed service changes. For many, this was their first exposure to structured discovery and validation methods. Without a shared understanding of how to conduct research into the current state, frame problems, and test ideas, there was a risk of jumping too quickly to unfounded solutions. The training needed to introduce a clear, end-to-end design process that would help teams ground decisions in evidence and real user needs, to ensure tangible improvement of experiences and process efficiency.
Ensuring human-centred solutions could progress from concept to delivery. Training attendees needed to be able to produce actionable deliverables that could be used for aligning teams around new concepts and building user empathy. This would help the promising initiatives they were tasked to develop move more smoothly into implementation and become fully realized.
Approach: Tailored Training, Expert Facilitation, and Follow-Through Coaching
In September 2024, IISD engaged Outwitly to design and facilitate a two-day, in-person design bootcamp for 15 participants from across IISD who were developing proposals for the Innovation Fund.
Here’s how the Outwitly team built them a successful training program. We:
Proactively aligned with stakeholders to shape the bootcamp. Outwitly held a kickoff with project members and Innovation Fund stakeholders to align on goals, objectives, and logistics, gather key inputs, and establish a strong working relationship. We then reviewed the agenda and activities collaboratively, sharing the schedule and materials in advance to ensure alignment on outcomes ahead of the workshop.
Applied workshop development and facilitation expertise to ensure productive sessions. The workshop participants came from different regions and functions and, in many cases, did not know each other prior to the workshop. Experienced facilitators created engaging, relevant exercises, smooth flow between activities, clear instructions, and practical takeaways, enabling the group to move through unfamiliar methods together.
Delivered an actionable understanding of the design process and key methods. Rather than over-focusing on theory, the bootcamp guided participants through a full, balanced arc of foundational understanding and practical application across the design process — including discovery, definition, design, prototyping and testing, and implementation. Targeted lessons and hands-on activities helped participants envision how to apply practices directly to their own proposed initiatives. These activities included:
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- Journey map creation
- Empathy mapping
- Service blueprinting
- Affinity mapping
- Problem state definition
- How Might We statement creation
- Rapid service prototyping
Results: New Innovation Champions Throughout the Organization
The bootcamp and coaching helped participants strengthen how they framed problems, collaborated, and advanced initiatives aimed at real-world impact and improved efficiency.
Design thinking became accessible across diverse roles. By presenting concepts in plain language and using highly interactive exercises, Outwitly’s instructors helped participants see how human-centered design applies to their specific work, whether in sustainability projects, internal processes, or awareness initiatives, etc.
Created a community of design ambassadors. The bootcamp built a network of people across departments and regions who now share a common design language and approach, and who are enabled to build new innovative practices throughout IISD, advocating for human-centered thinking in their respective areas. It also built shared “inside jokes” and working relationships that seemed likely to extend productive collaboration beyond the sessions.
Sustained momentum through post-workshop coaching. Following the bootcamp, Outwitly’s instructors facilitated monthly one-hour virtual group coaching sessions over three months. These sessions gave participants space to bring real Innovation Fund scenarios, ask questions, and receive guidance on applying human-centred design methods in their ongoing work.
By investing in applied training, expert facilitation, and ongoing coaching, IISD enabled participants to develop practical capability in human-centred design that they could apply immediately to their proposals and approved initiatives.
“Outwitly brought an amazing energy and knowledge to the training, creating a great experience where everyone could engage, feel included, and find takeaways for their areas of expertise.”
Bootcamp attendee
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