Innovation 101: Tools for Personal and Organizational Breakthroughs

Adventure Leaders:
Deb Giampoli, Kraft Foods
Jonathan Vehar, New & Improved


Vision:

It's April Fools Day of the year 2001, and you realize it's been a year since the Innovation 101 program at Convergence 2000. Suddenly, things get hazy and you realize that, sitcom-like, you're in a flashback and you reflect back on the changes that have taken place during the year.

You realize that you've been approaching opportunities and challenges very differently than you did before the conference. Now, when faced with an opportunity or a difficult problem, it doesn't seem overwhelming anymore. A year ago, you weren't sure where to start, and then spent time spinning your wheels. Now you have techniques and a creative process that you can count on -- for understanding problems, creating solutions, strengthening the good ones, and building fool-proof action plans for solving problems. You realize how many places you've used your new tools without even giving it much thought - at work, in volunteer work, at home, in your relationships with friends, family members, and your signficant other(s). You realize how much more in control and unstoppable you feel since you've learned these new tools.

The creativity has started to snowball. You feel much more creative, other people see you that way, and you've started believing it about yourself. You've even been asked to lead a creativity team at work, because, "You seem to know about these things". People consult you when they need a creative solution or innovative build to something; sometimes even when it doesn't relate to your job, just because you're creative and innovative, and you spark that in others. You are a new spark for creativity and innovation in your organization, and those two qualities are still so hard to find. At least they were before Convergence 2000! Finally, as you look back, you realize how glad you are that the Foundations of Innovation are there to support you! And that's no April Fools Day joke.
Learning Objectives:

After this session, participants will be able to:

  • Generate more creative options and a wider range of alternative ideas

  • Productively and deliberately evaluate and build on new ideas

  • Have a new attitude about your ability to innovate

  • Understand, identify and solve the real problem, not just symptoms

  • Develop and strengthen solutions and plan for their implementation

  • Use a deliberate process for solving problems so efforts are more efficient and effective

  • Develop a common process and language by which teams can solve problems and create opportunities

  • Facilitate idea generation sessions

  • Work with a group to select ideas and drive to group consensus

  • Capture ideas and track problem areas

    Experiential Activities:

    Participants will learn specific techniques and then practice them in two ways:

    • Practicing the techniques on out-of-context challenges or examples

    • Practicing the techniques on real challenges they bring with them

    • Games and simulations that will add key learnings and relate to work in creativity and innovation.

    • Stretching creative abilities with some improvisational theatre training from a improv professional

    • An offsite excursion to an innovative company or organization where participants can see "creativity and innovation in action."

    Take-Aways:

    • Solutions to real problems participants bring with them

    • A series of tools and techniques in their "Innovation Toolbox"

    • Write-ups of all tools and techniques

    • An attitude shift in how to treat new ideas

    • The ability to facilitate idea generation sessions

    • Summary of the session incorporating key learnings and recommendations of each participant

Summary:

This fast-paced, interactive and fun session will focus on a variety of tools for generating ideas, making decisions, exploring problems, and making innovation happen in your life and your organization. We'll start with abstract problems and zero in on working on real life problems brought by the participants.

Click Here for bios of the Adventure Leaders Deb Giampoli of Kraft Foods and Jonathan Vehar of New & Improved.

Click Here to read "How to Improve Your Creative Process" by with Deb Giampoli, Blair Miller, and Jonathan Vehar OR Click Here to read a success story based on Innovation 101.

--> Register Here <--

Innovation Network
451 E. 58th Ave., #4625, Box 468
Denver, CO 80216
Phone: 303-308-1088
Fax: 303-295-6108
http://www.thinksmart.com/
E-mail at: Staff@thinksmart.com