Innovation & Creative Thinking

Leaders know that creativity and innovation are not just “nice to have” qualities in a business.  They are core to the organisation’s life and growth.

So what can leaders do to promote creativity and innovation?  If you don’t intend hiring a new workforce, the most obvious answer is to use management initiatives that create and challenge your existing staff to be more creative and innovative.

This course is aimed at middle managers and team leaders who are keen to go beyond running on average and starting the day with a business as usual approach. It is designed for people who want to be part of making a culture of innovation.

Course Objectives

• Creative thinking and the creative process

• Enable participants to identify the key elements that promote innovation in a workplace

• Analyse own work unit to determine whether it currently promotes innovation

• Understand and apply techniques for promoting creativity and innovation

• Mastering relationships for innovation

• Organisational structure, process and governance for innovation

Outlines

Upon completing this course, the learner should be able to:

• Identify features of an environment that promotes innovation

• Analyse own unit in relation to the features of an environment conducive to innovation

• Identify areas for improvement on the basis of the analysis conducted

• Identify creativity and innovation techniques in terms of accepted theory and practice

• Explain three techniques for promoting creativity with practical examples

• Describe the role of the unit manager in creating an environment conducive to innovation with reference to continuous improvement and innovation of the unit

• Apply techniques for promoting innovation and creativity to generate ideas for a new or improved process, project or product

• Generate a number of alternative solutions in relation to the process, project or product

• Select the best alternative from the solutions generated on the basis of evaluation criteria

Contents

Module 1: Develop innovative teams

• Analyse opportunities for innovation

• Examine the pros and cons of innovation

Module 2: Features of a culture of enquiry and risk taking

• What is creativity?

• Getting teams to participate in innovation – idea rooms, chat rooms, graffiti walls, quality circles

• Assertiveness test

• Creating conditions for ongoing innovation

• Personal and organisational values on innovation and risk taking

Module 3: Techniques for promoting creativity

• Scamper

• The six hats

• Thought experiments

• Challenging fads

• Brainstorming

• Mind-mapping

Module 4: Problems Solving:

• Defining a problem

• Root cause analysis

• The five whys

• Assumption busting

Module 5: The role of the manager in innovation

• Authentic leadership

• Identifying practices that inhibit innovation

• Emotional Intelligence

Module 6: Lead a team through a Creative Thinking Process

• Apply techniques for promoting innovation and creativity to uncover ideas for a new or improved process, project or product

• Generate a number of alternative solutions in relation to the process, product or project

• Select the best alternative on the basis of clear criteria

• Develop an operational plan in accordance with the policies of the organisation