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With workplace challenges growing more complex, many HR leaders are realising that traditional problem-solving methods no longer suffice. Whether improving engagement, strengthening learning culture, or enhancing collaboration, creativity has become a critical differentiator. Design thinking offers a proven, human-centred approach that places employee needs, experiences, and perspectives at the heart of innovation.
Design Thinking for HR Professionals is a one-day, in-person course that provides an immersive introduction to this mindset and method. The course equips you with hands-on tools to approach HR challenges differently, test ideas quickly, and design solutions that make a tangible impact on both employees and the organisation.
Through guided practice, you will learn to turn ambitious ideas into prototypes, apply empathy to uncover deeper employee insights, and create solutions that drive stronger engagement and performance. The experience is designed to help you embrace agility, spark creativity, and build confidence in leading HR innovation.
You will leave with a user-centred problem-solving toolkit and the ability to design HR initiatives that resonate with employees, deepen culture, and embed innovation into everyday practice.
This course will equip you to:
This course is designed for HR professionals who want to apply design thinking to people and organisational challenges. It is also relevant for business leaders involved in driving innovation or leading change initiatives within their organisations.
To successfully complete the Design Thinking for HR Professionals course, participants must meet the following requirements:
Participants who meet these requirements will receive a digital Certificate of Completion from Korn Ferry Academy.
Administrative details on attendance tracking, assessment, and funding eligibility can be found in our Terms & Conditions and in the course confirmation email sent to participants.
Full Course Fee
$1,050* (before funding and GST)
Course Fee Payable
The payable course fees reflect the amount after approved course fee grant and subsidies are applied. All fees are in Singapore Dollars (SGD) and inclusive of 9% GST.
SkillsFuture Funding (SSG)
Eligible Singapore Citizens (SCs) and Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs) may receive funding of up to 70% of course fees for SSG-supported courses. Funding levels, eligibility and payable fees are subject to prevailing funding policies at the point of course commencement.
Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidy (MCES)
SCs aged 40 and above may receive up to 90% course fee funding for SSG-supported courses (subject to meeting baseline funding conditions).
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Enhanced Training Support for SMEs (ETSS)
Eligible SMEs that fully sponsor their SC/PR employees for SSG-supported courses may receive up to 90% course fee funding.
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SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC)
Eligible employers may utilise their SFEC to offset up to 90% of out-of-pocket costs for supported courses.
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SkillsFuture Credit (for Individuals)
SCs aged 25 and above may use their SkillsFuture Credit (Base Tier and, where eligible, Mid-Career Tier) to offset payable course fees for eligible courses.
More information >
28 Apr 2026
6 Jul 2026
Vanessa Iloste is an experienced HR leader with a strong background in strategic HR partnership, business transformation, and leadership development across complex international markets. She has held key HR leadership roles in Asia, overseeing large employee bases and driving significant organizational and digital transformations for prominent multinational corporations.
She holds an MBA from ESSEC Business School and a Japanese Language Diploma from Keio University. Vanessa is fluent in French, English, Japanese, and Spanish, She has been recognized with HR awards and is an active participant in the HR community, serving as President of the HR Club of the Singapore French Chamber of Commerce and as a podcast co-host and published author.
“I appreciated how the course showed new, creative ways to apply design thinking in HR. I enjoyed the workshop activities, each one built naturally on the previous exercise, coming together into a complete, end-to-end cycle.”
“Practising the concepts through topics relevant to our day-to-day work helped me see things differently. It put the right perspective in place and helped me understand the mindset shift required to apply design thinking effectively.”
“Learning how to apply the Empathise stage of design thinking to HR challenges was eye-opening. It showed me how structured empathy can reveal deeper employee needs and how quickly ideas can be shaped, tested, and refined into meaningful solutions.”
This course is designed for HR leaders, Centres of Expertise specialists, and HR Business Partners who want to apply human-centred design to reimagine employee experience, learning, performance, and collaboration. It is ideal for HR professionals driving change and innovation within their organisations.
You will learn how to apply the Design Thinking process to real HR challenges, from empathising with employees to testing creative solutions. Key skills include:
There are no formal prerequisites. However, HR or people leadership experience is helpful to contextualise learning.
You will learn through a highly experiential approach that includes design sprints and practical exercises supported by peer collaboration and facilitator feedback. Each module blends frameworks with real-world practice to develop an agile, experimental mindset.
Through a hands-on mini design challenge, you will experience each stage of the Design Thinking cycle: observing, ideating, prototyping, and testing. You will work on a live HR issue relevant to your organisation, conduct quick field research, and develop a prototype policy, process, or tool that you can pilot back at work.
This course moves beyond theory to creative experimentation, grounding innovation in real employee insights and measurable improvements to engagement and performance. You will leave with both the toolkit and the mindset to drive people-centred transformation within your organisation.
