Workshop Overview

Design Thinking made fun, fast,
& actionable

The Big Idea

Are your team’s brainstorming sessions stuck in a loop of the same old ideas? Do you need a structured yet flexible approach to solving business challenges?

Welcome to Design Thinking Made Fun, Fast, and Actionable—a hands-on, high-energy workshop that transforms creativity into a strategic advantage.

Innovate Smarter.
Solve Problems Faster.
Empower Your Team.

The 5 Phase Design Thinking Process

  • Empathize

    Begin by stepping into the shoes of the people you serve. Learn how empathy mapping and practices can unveil the needs and motivations that lie at the core of truly innovative solutions.

    Watch a Video Explanation

  • Define

    Develop the skills to conduct insightful interviews and analyze data. You'll leave with the ability to gather meaningful information that illuminates the path forward.

    Watch a Video Explanation

  • Ideate

    Break through creative barriers with proven ideation techniques. Discover how to select the best ideas that promise novelty, relevance, feasibility, and impact.

    Watch a Video Explanation

  • Prototype

    Bring your ideas into the tangible world. No matter your experience level, you’ll learn how to prototype quickly and effectively, a critical step in the Design Thinking process.

    Watch a Video Explanation

  • Test

    Experience the iterative nature of creating human-tested solutions. Learn how to revise and refine based on real feedback, ensuring that your final product truly resonates with your target audience.

    Watch a Video Explanation

Why Design Thinking?

Design Thinking isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a proven framework used by top organizations like Apple, Google, and IBM to drive innovation.

This human-centered, problem-solving approach empowers teams to think creatively, break through roadblocks, and deliver real-world solutions.

Why does it matter to your business?

  • It accelerates innovation and problem-solving

  • It fosters collaboration and alignment

  • It reduces risk by validating ideas early

  • It enhances customer experience and market fit

No matter your industry—tech, healthcare, finance, education, non-profit, or beyond—Design Thinking can revolutionize the way your team works and thinks.

All workshop participants receive the Design Thinking Dashboard to continue their learning and practice far beyond the day!

What’s Inside the Workshop?

This isn’t a lecture—it’s an interactive, hands-on sprint! Participants will learn and apply the five stages of the Design Thinking process to real business challenges:

✅ Empathize – Understand your customers’ needs on a deeper level
✅ Define – Identify the real problem worth solving
✅ Ideate – Generate bold, creative solutions
✅ Prototype – Build fast, low-cost test models
✅ Test – Gather feedback & iterate for success

This action-packed session blends collaboration, play, and strategic thinking, ensuring tangible outcomes for your organization.

Each participant also receives a licensed copy of the Design Thinking Dashboard—a powerful tool to continue applying these principles long after the workshop.

Customized for Your Team

  • This workshop is ideal for teams and organizations looking to:
    ✅ Unlock creative problem-solving skills
    ✅ Improve team collaboration and decision-making
    ✅ Spark breakthrough innovations
    ✅ Solve real business challenges—not just talk about them

    Whether you're a CEO, startup founder, product manager, HR leader, marketer, educator, or nonprofit director, Design Thinking will elevate your approach to problem-solving.

  • 🚀 A clear, actionable solution to a pressing business problem
    🚀 Confidence in using the Design Thinking framework
    🚀 A more innovative, collaborative workplace culture
    🚀 Tangible tools & methods you can implement immediately
    🚀 A newfound ability to turn challenges into opportunities

  • We offer customized experiences to fit your team’s needs:

    💡 One-Day Sprint (8 hours) – Fast-track learning for immediate impact
    💡 Half-Day Intensive (3-4 hours) – Focused, high-impact training
    💡 Multi-Day Deep Dive (2+ days) – In-depth immersion for long-term transformation

    📍 Delivery Options:

    • 🏢 In-Person – On-site at your company or a chosen venue offsite

    • 💻 Virtual – Live, interactive remote sessions

    • 🔄 Hybrid – The best of both worlds

    Bring your team together for a transformational experience!

Design Thinking Workshop Gallery

What participants say:

  • Process, steps, and methods

    What was the most valuable takeaway from this workshop for you? Embracing ambiguity • Fail fast/Fail often • Making 3D prototypes is thought-provoking • That my org should listen more to consumers • Linking the process to practical steps and methods • Get out of the comfort zone • Not be complacent about challenges • The need for creativity in improving elder care • Allowed us to work together and have results to display! • That we can all do design thinking • Knowing that its ok to express ideas on paper first, especially being in a meeting with all extroverts • Hands-on is always a great way of learning • Kept us engaged and forced us to go outside our comfort zone • It will help me and my team with challenges we are currently dealing with • Excellent workshop! ~ Design Thinking @ LeadingAge Massachusetts Leadership Academy

  • Managing diverse groups and needs

    Pattie Belle assisted our medical start-up on several occasions, including a half-day in-person group facilitation as well as several online zoom group sessions. Her exercises and counsel provided us with an invaluable resource to focus us on the tasks before us. She did so with good humor and managed a diverse group with many different needs in a way that helped unite us and productively reach for the goals that we sought. I am thankful to Pattie Belle for her wise counsel and skillful approach. RK, CT, USA (Prosocial Vision)

  • Chaos into creativity

    With eyes, arms, and heart open wide, Pattie Belle entered my shared studio environment and proclaimed it a safe space to be creative for us all. To be vulnerable and intentional. She embraced the class of 25 in its entirety and was able to help us navigate the chaos of ideas that continuously bounce around our heads. Myself, as an artist, I am full of ideas, and with Pattie Belle‘s guidance, I was able to organize them in a way that would then allow me to see them all at one time, easily. She gave me the space to analyze each idea through thinking, visuals, and notetaking. She then gave us tools to execute these ideas with a workflow that was conducive to my style. She has given me a helpful tool that I use continuously. MH, CT, USA (Life Mapping)

  • Perspective and priorities

    I attended a Life Mapping workshop and left feeling organized, motivated, and like I had a much better perspective on my priorities. Pattie Belle is thorough, organized, and intentional in her workshop planning and facilitation. She thoughtfully guided the attendees through the 'territories' of our lives - personal + professional; mind, body, spirit; physical, and emotional. It was SO helpful to think about each of these areas individually and find my priorities and balance. I left the workshop with a new tool to use whenever I am feeling overwhelmed and in need of a pause to organize my life. This workshop absolutely applies to anyone and everyone - I highly recommend it. CM, CT, USA (Life Mapping)

  • Professional, empathetic, and thoughtful

    PB did two sessions with our group that is in the planning stages of opening a mental health wellness center. She was extremely professional, accommodating, empathetic, and productive. She asked thoughtful, introspective questions to hone us in on what we needed to address in a thoughtful way, and the material she presented was holistic and relevant. I would highly recommend her! RM, CT, USA (Prosocial Vision)

For Meeting Professionals

Frequently Asked Questions

About Pattie Belle

  • With decades of experience in creative problem-solving, facilitation, and innovation strategy, Pattie Belle Hastings brings expert guidance, engaging exercises, and real-world application to every workshop.

    Her workshops have helped businesses, educators, and organizations break through stagnation and unlock fresh, strategic thinking.

  • Pattie Belle is a fierce advocate for human creativity, problem-solving, and innovation. She believes that every individual and team holds an untapped well of ingenuity—they just need the right tools and mindset to unlock it.

    With decades of experience in creative strategy, facilitation, and Design Thinking, she is passionate about helping organizations break through stagnation, embrace uncertainty, and turn obstacles into opportunities.

    Her mission? To empower leaders and teams to think differently, solve better, and create a future where innovation is not just a buzzword—but a way of working and thriving.

About Pattie Belle’s Workshops

  • Design Thinking is a proven, repeatable framework for solving problems creatively and strategically. It’s used by top companies worldwide—Apple, Google, IBM, Airbnb—to spark innovation and develop human-centered solutions.

    For your team, it means:
    ✅ Faster, smarter decision-making
    ✅ Stronger team collaboration & alignment
    ✅ More innovative, customer-focused solutions
    ✅ Reduced risk by testing ideas early

    This isn’t just another workshop—it’s a creative catalyst for your company’s problem-solving approach.

  • Design Thinking is versatile and applies to any industry or challenge, such as:

    • Stalled product development → Generate fresh, viable solutions

    • Poor customer experience → Deeply understand user needs and create improvements

    • Internal team misalignment → Improve collaboration and decision-making

    • Business growth hurdles → Find new opportunities and revenue streams

    • New market expansion → Reduce risk through rapid prototyping and testing

    If your team has a challenge worth solving, this workshop will help you crack the code.

  • Most training sessions teach theory. This workshop is all about doing.

    ✔️ Hands-on, action-oriented approach—No passive lectures, just real-world application
    ✔️ Custom-tailored for your team—We solve YOUR business challenges, not just generic case studies
    ✔️ Immediate takeaways—Your team will leave with real solutions and a roadmap for implementation
    ✔️ The Design Thinking Dashboard—Each participant gets a licensed tool to keep using what they learn

    This is not a sit-and-listen workshop—it’s a high-energy, interactive sprint that shifts mindsets and drives results.

  • Every organization is unique, and so is every workshop. Pattie Belle takes a highly tailored approach to ensure that each session directly addresses the specific challenges, goals, and dynamics of your team.

    Here’s how she customizes the experience:

    🔍 Discovery & Deep Dive: Before the workshop, she meets with key stakeholders to understand:

    • Your business challenges & objectives

    • The team’s pain points & aspirations

    • Any specific case studies or real-world problems to tackle

    🛠 Tailored Content & Activities:

    • The exercises, examples, and discussions are curated to be relevant to your industry and team’s experience level

    • If your team is new to Design Thinking, she’ll focus on foundational methods

    • If you’re experienced, she’ll guide you through advanced problem-solving techniques

    🚀 Interactive & Hands-On Format:

    • Your team will work on real problems, not hypothetical ones

    • Custom-designed brainstorming, prototyping, and testing exercises

    • Emphasis on applying Design Thinking immediately to see results

    📍 Flexible Delivery Options:

    • In-person, virtual, or hybrid formats to fit your needs

    • Half-day, full-day, or multi-day intensives depending on depth of training desired

    • Optional follow-up coaching & strategy sessions to sustain the momentum

    Bottom line? Pattie Belle ensures that your team walks away with practical, immediately usable solutions—not just theory. Each session is designed to be engaging, impactful, and 100% relevant to your organization.

Booking Pattie Belle

Previous Clients, Speaking, Workshops, & Funders:

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American Scandinavian Foundation.png
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Atlanta College of Art.png
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The Loomis Communities.png
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New Britain Museum of American Art.png
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Seven Stones.png
Uni of Oslo.png
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Yale Center For British Art.png
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