I think it’s a matter of framing: too often the activity is presumed to be about making a thing. The design thinking process isn’t actually the problem (a point I’m hiding here in comments), it’s more in human bias to tool making and use (which are very, very embedded behaviours).

Making people more aware upfront that nothing is a valid option in design thinking would help. That a thing is not needed, that a solution is not needed. Mostly that comes from actually thinking about the problem and listening to people who have lived experiences.