idesign central fellowship
Transforming Leadership Through Human-Centered Design
Team: Mary Nunley & Kristen Watkins
The iDesign Central Fellowship was established to empower district central staff leaders to apply a Human-Centered approach to addressing challenges.
It provided leaders with a common language, structured processes, and problem-solving tools, helping shift their decision-making focus to students, educators, and communities.
This approach aimed to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and creativity within the central office.
Through two cohorts, including more than 40 central staff leaders, we developed and refined a structured learning journey that balanced:
learning
Workshops that introduced the Design Thinking process, key mindsets, leadership strategies, and systems thinking.
practice
Leaders tackled real-world district challenges using Design Thinking, both on teams with other fellows and through individual projects.
reflection
Leaders engaged in reflection through ongoing coaching and feedback, allowing them to consider their current practices and areas for growth.
iteration
Leaders refined their work by collaborating with peers and users, applying insights and research to continuously improve their approaches and ideas.
TESTIMONIALS
“Thank you so much, Kristen and Mary, for your work, your dedication to this program, and for being such great role models. You exemplify the commitment to excellence in all you do. The program was so well-planned, paced, organized, and purposeful. Your level of detail and communication is like no other that I've experienced before. You facilitated all aspects of our experience while providing autonomy and a space for us to fail and learn. I wish all central staff had this experience early in their career.”
Cohort 2 Participant
“The iDesign experience has impacted the way I think through my approach to finding solutions to challenges we face as a district and team. It's allowed me to have strategic steps while remaining solutions-oriented.”
Cohort 2 Participant