Why use Design and Innovation methods? How do they help?

Design and Innovation helps organisations improve not just how work is delivered, but what is being designed and why. It is especially useful when the goal is to create better solutions, rather than simply optimise existing ones. Typical areas of improvement include: Customer and user experience – designing services and solutions around real needs Innovation capability – helping teams generate, shape and test better ideas Service design – improving how services work across touchpoints and teams Problem definition – understanding the real issue before moving to solutions Solution quality – creating more effective, usable and sustainable outcomes Cross-functional collaboration – bringing different perspectives into design and decision making Change confidence – testing concepts early and improving before wider rollout One of the greatest strengths of this approach is that it helps organisations become more intentional. Instead of relying on assumption, habit or internal preference, teams learn how to design with clearer evidence, stronger empathy and a better understanding of what success should look like.

Who is Design and Innovation training for?

Design and Innovation training is relevant to a broad range of learners, particularly those involved in shaping products and services, improving experiences, leading change or developing new ways of working. It is useful both for people in specialist design or innovation roles and for professionals who need better methods for solving complex problems. It can be especially valuable for: Managers and team leaders who want to improve products, services, experiences or ways of working Change, transformation and project professionals who need more user-centred approaches to solution design Product, service and customer experience teams involved in developing or redesigning offers and journeys Improvement specialists who want to broaden their toolkit beyond process efficiency alone Senior leaders looking to strengthen innovation capability and design better organisational responses to change For some this area is about bringing more creativity and customer insight into improvement work. For others, it is about building a more structured and credible approach to innovation. That is why training can range from introductory Design Thinking through to more advanced Design for Six Sigma and innovation-focused programmes.

How does Design and Innovation support service design and customer experience improvement?

Design and Innovation supports service design training and customer experience improvement by helping teams understand user needs, map pain points, test ideas early and create more effective end-to-end services. This makes it especially valuable for organisations redesigning journeys, improving touchpoints or developing new service models.

What is the difference between Design Thinking and Design for Six Sigma?

Although Design Thinking and Design for Six Sigma approaches are often complementary, they bring different strengths. Design Thinking focuses on understanding user needs, reframing problems, generating ideas and testing possible solutions. It is highly useful in the early stages of innovation, especially when the challenge is complex, ambiguous or centred on customer experience. Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is more structured and analytical. It focuses on designing products, services or processes that meet customer requirements consistently and perform effectively from the outset. It is especially valuable where reliability, quality and robust design are important. Used together, these approaches can be highly effective. Design Thinking helps teams explore the right ideas, while DFSS helps them shape those ideas into solutions that are disciplined, measurable and capable of delivering reliable results. We offer programmes covering both, drawing on deep practical experience across a wide range of organisations and sectors. Rather than prescribing a single method, we help you find the most effective approach for your specific context, which often means blending elements of both, or integrating with your organisation’s existing innovation or improvement practices.

Can design and innovation improve business agility at a systems or organisational level?

Yes. Business agility is all about how easily an organisation can sense change, make decisions and act. Design and innovation is part of this – it helps teams examine how people, processes and technology work together, then test changes that remove friction. The result is an organisation better able to respond to customer needs, seize opportunities and adapt without losing sight of its purpose.

Design and Innovation

Design and Innovation is a proven approach to create better products, services, processes and experiences by combining creative thinking with established tools and structured methods. It helps organisations move beyond fixing existing problems and instead design solutions that are more useful, effective and aligned to customer and stakeholder needs from the start.

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When to use Design and Innovation

Design and Innovation is especially valuable in environments where organisations are developing new products or services, redesigning customer journeys, improving experiences or creating change in areas where the right answer is not obvious at the outset. It gives people a disciplined but creative framework for innovation – one that balances imagination with evidence, and experimentation with practical delivery.

Design and Innovation in the age of AI

In the age of AI, design capability is needed more than ever. Ideas can now be generated at speed but it takes human curiosity, empathy and judgement to exploit the right ideas and turn them into great experiences. Design begins with understanding what people truly need and innovation enables us to meet those needs in new, better ways. AI makes it possible to innovate in many situations where previously incremental improvement was the only practical way forward. That means that Design and Innovation skills are more necessary than ever before.

Approaches such as Design Thinking and Design for Six Sigma helps organisations do this in a disciplined way, combining creativity, customer insight and structured design so that AI and other technologies are used to create better workflows, products, services and experiences: better outcomes for customers, employees and the business.

Design and Innovation helps organisations improve not just how work is delivered, but what is being designed and why. It is especially useful when the goal is to create better solutions, rather than simply optimise existing ones.

Typical areas of improvement include:
- Customer and user experience – designing services and solutions around real needs
- Innovation capability – helping teams generate, shape and test better ideas
- Service design – improving how services work across touchpoints and teams
- Problem definition – understanding the real issue before moving to solutions
- Solution quality – creating more effective, usable and sustainable outcomes
- Cross-functional collaboration – bringing different perspectives into design and decision making
- Change confidence – testing concepts early and improving before wider rollout
One of the greatest strengths of this approach is that it helps organisations become more intentional. Instead of relying on assumption, habit or internal preference, teams learn how to design with clearer evidence, stronger empathy and a better understanding of what success should look like.
Design and Innovation training is relevant to a broad range of learners, particularly those involved in shaping products and services, improving experiences, leading change or developing new ways of working. It is useful both for people in specialist design or innovation roles and for professionals who need better methods for solving complex problems.

It can be especially valuable for:
- Managers and team leaders who want to improve products, services, experiences or ways of working
- Change, transformation and project professionals who need more user-centred approaches to solution design
- Product, service and customer experience teams involved in developing or redesigning offers and journeys
- Improvement specialists who want to broaden their toolkit beyond process efficiency alone
- Senior leaders looking to strengthen innovation capability and design better organisational responses to change
For some this area is about bringing more creativity and customer insight into improvement work. For others, it is about building a more structured and credible approach to innovation. That is why training can range from introductory Design Thinking through to more advanced Design for Six Sigma and innovation-focused programmes.

For organisations looking for Design Thinking training, Design for Six Sigma training or broader innovation training, this area offers a powerful route to better design, smarter decision making and more successful transformation.