I am designing a training session on innovation for the public sector organizations. Target participants are middle level executives. Key objectives are on ways to build a creative working environment in the public sector context, approaches to innovation and motivate participants to put innovation to action.
Would like to seek advice especially on (1) relevant exercises or games (2) questionnaires on assessing organiation's readiness to innovation (3) any other ideas are welcome
Christina Chung
3 Responses
Innovation
Hi Christina,
1. Relavant exercises. Contact for details –
n {dot] hindley1 [at] btinternet [dot] com
2. No assessment other how are people motivated to change as?
3. Other ideas. Some of the objections I have heard over the years when working with teams on creativity and innovation and suggested responses.
O = Objection
SR = Suggested response
O: Innovation will take too long; we need to focus on the day job…
SR: You can generate potential ideas within minutes once you have the basic techniques. Particularly with professional groups you can make an analogy to their professional training which took a long time so that they can apply it everyday when they need it. For an investment of a few hours they can have a similar level of competence with creativity.
O: Some of us are not creative types.
SR: Almost everyone can be creative though they may think about problems and express their ideas differently.
The greater the variety of “types” there are in a team the greater the chance of identifying a suitable solution.
O: We already know all the answers so why bother with this creative stuff?
SR: OK I’ll come back when you do need to get creative or if you have the answer already why are you not solving the problem you identified now? If people feel they do have the answers they should explore these first as they might work! Often they have solutions and need to get creative about the implementation. A common definition of innovation is the implementation of an idea.
A team of actuaries asked me to assist them to identify a new way of revaluing funds. They had run out of ideas. We had a two hour workshop of creative techniques applied directly to their problem. During one technique a person said they had seen a new route which was taken up and adopted after refinement.
This session was after three months of searching for an answer by the team and they were very motivated to think outside the box etc. and really evaluate every possibility. This is a good example of how time could have been saved although it would have been interesting to see how they approached the session at the beginning of the three months when they probably all thought they had an answer somewhere?
To return to the earlier point if the motivation is there the ideas will flow. If it is not they may not.
All the best.
Networks and innovation
An important element of innovation concerns the network of people involved. More diverse networks lead to more creativity and innovation. Drop me an email and I’ll send you some references….
Innovation – process or behaviour
Hi Christina
What is your client expecting?
In the UK the traditional approach towards innovation has been looking at process. For many organisations and for all people in organisations, the key is looking at innovative behaviours. Things we can all engage with at some level.
There are several tools on the market:
innovationstyles.com
creatrix.com
rapidbi.com/creatrix
kaicentre.com
Relevant exercises and games will depend on the nature of the type of innovation you are looking to cultivate.
For me the challenge is to take ‘innovation’ and help individuals and leaders recognise what it takes to be innovative on a day to day basis to benefit the organisation and its clients.
The traditional approach that only the elite few can innovate is out-dated and a distraction.
Some books of interest include The Innovation Equation by Byrd & Brown – highly practical with real exercises you can use.
Mike