A major Philippine electrical manufacturer engaged On-Off Group to build design-led capability across the organization and accelerate internal innovation. The program unfolded in two waves: an executive-backed leaders cohort focused on priority internal projects, followed by a broader cohort for emerging talent. Across both waves, teams practiced end-to-end Design Thinking with protected time, coaching, and clear decision pathways—resulting in approved projects, immediate implementations, and a stronger culture of experimentation.

The Challenge

The company wanted to increase the speed and quality of internal innovation while ensuring efforts were grounded in customer and employee needs. Key hurdles included:

• Competing priorities that made it hard for teams to focus on strategic improvement projects.
• Limited structured opportunities to practice empathy, test assumptions, and iterate quickly.
• Variable alignment across functions, slowing down decision-making and approvals.

Leadership sought a practical, repeatable way to move from ideas to validated solutions—without disrupting day-to-day operations.

The Solution

On-Off Group designed a multi-week Design Thinking program anchored on real internal projects. Senior leaders participated directly, signalling strong sponsorship and removing friction when teams needed access, decisions, or approvals. Participants were given dedicated time away from daily responsibilities to do the work properly.

• Leaders cohort: Cross-functional leaders identified priority challenges, conducted empathy research, mapped journeys, reframed problem statements, ideated solutions, and built testable prototypes—supported by weekly coaching and working sessions.
• Scaled cohort: A second, broader program brought Design Thinking to a larger population of non-executive participants over several weeks, extending the common language and practices across the company.
• Coaching & cadence: Structured checkpoints, feedback loops, and hands-on facilitation ensured momentum, quality, and translation of insights into decisions.

The combination of executive presence, protected time, and expert coaching created the conditions for focused progress and faster validation.

The Results

The outcomes were immediate and organization-wide:

• Approved project portfolio: All leader-led project proposals were approved—several for immediate implementation—thanks to clear evidence from empathy work, prototyping, and testing.
• Faster paths to value: C-suite participation in workshops accelerated alignment and decision-making, reducing cycle time from concept to go-ahead.
• Scaled capability: The second program equipped a wider group with practical Design Thinking skills, seeding advocates across functions.
• Culture shift: Teams adopted a test-and-learn mindset, using evidence to prioritize and iterate, and building a common language for innovation.

“Having leaders in the room and time carved out made all the difference—we could listen to users, test quickly, and move forward with confidence.” — Participant