Design thinking is a very powerful way to solve challenges - in the workplace. In far away places. In classrooms.

We used design thinking in my former school district to address issues with our bell schedule. After convening a diverse team to work on the project, comprised of teachers, classified staff, administrators, students and parents, we set out to:

- build empathy and explore it

- consider prototypes

- test the prototypes

- select two and further vet them publicly

- assess the effectiveness of one, try it, and then reassess implementation

The community input and presentation phase was critically important and, in our scenario, brought back part of a master schedule that we had eliminated in our prototype design phases.

Want to learn more about design thinking? Check out this video.