Training for Transforming: Design Theory-Based Training for Managing the Unknown

Current transitions, such as digital and ecological ones, bring new challenges for organizations, characterized as unknowns. Addressing them requires new management paradigms for which design-based methods show promise. Yet their organizational implementation remains limited, what this paper investigates. Based on a two-year collaboration with a French healthcare company, the study involved developing, delivering and evaluating a four-day training program. Based on interviews and evaluations from 65 participants, results indicate high satisfaction, significant habit disruption and intent to adopt design-based tools. Due to the development of a common language in the organization and the emphasis on learnings’ co-creation, this training had a transformative power. Thus, highlighting its practical value and opening pathways for exploring its long-term impact on organizational practices.