Workshopping in itself may not be design thinking but play has a way of opening communication channels between people where they are more comfortable letting down their guard and are more open to considering new ideas.

The best facilitators I know are those who can act as a catalyst to these discussions and can non-combatively help people to set aside ego so that the best ideas can surface.

“In weak companies politics win, in strong companies the best ideas win.” -Steve Jobs

If you want your company to be stronger and you want design and idea formation to be a more centralized part of the product development process instead of politics, replace your conference phones with lego bricks and play doh. Get people playing and letting down their guards.

Tactile environments that are conducive to eye contact, play and open communication are 100 times more productive and effective than remote work cultures where teams are separated and limited to screens, network latencies and video refresh rates.

If you have built or are working in a work culture where design can’t win or isn’t winning and you don’t know how to retain design talent, your company has to know it needs to change or it will fail. If you are open to building a culture of play and tactile discovery into the DNA of your organization I can probably help. There is unfortunately nothing anyone can do to help you if you aren’t.

Resources:
https://gamestorming.com/gamestorming-cheat-sheet/
https://www.serious.global