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INNOVATION CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING Workshops Tools
All sorts of things can happen when you re open to new ideas and playing around with things Stephanie Kwolek Chemist Inventor of Kevlar and inductee to the National Inventors Hall of Fame 2
ABOUT TRACTION Founded in 2006 Traction Strategy is an award winning professional facilitation and training company designing and leading engaging group processes and experiences that help teams get together get a grip and get going Platinum 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018 2020 2021 We specialize in strategy innovation creative problem solving and change To activate participation and generate meaningful outcomes we draw from a unique collection of tools and techniques developed in house and sourced globally The Traction team are hardworking professionals ready to support your collaboration needs We have experience with a wide range of organizational challenges a diversity of groups and are creative in finding solutions We want you to be successful we are focused on your objectives and we always look at purpose before process Gold 2014 2015 Drop us a line anytime Tamara Eberle Partner Process Design Facilitation Shawna Eberle Partner Creative Design Production tamara tractionstrategy ca shawna tractionstrategy ca 3
ABOUT THIS CATALOGUE Build your capacity to be innovative and solve problems more effectively In this catalogue you will find a curated collection of workshops and tools to support your innovation creative problem solving and process improvement efforts These are all professionally facilitated applied learning and doing experiences through which you can build your capacity and skill for innovation and problem solving while immediately applying it to real organizational situations challenges and opportunities While these can be stand alone workshops the topics can also be combined and customized to meet your specific objectives participant needs and timing All of these are delivered in person and some have a virtual option This workshop series can also compliment and support other organizational goals such as Employee Engagement Diversity Inclusion Traction workshops are designed for high levels of participation and engagement by all These workshops are an opportunity to bring together a range of team members from across your organization to work collaboratively on your innovation activities We use process steps and techniques that support inclusion and we aim to create an environment in which different experiences and perspectives can be shared safely And as innovation depends on the collision of different experiences and ideas you will find that the content of some of the workshops is geared to building your internal capacity for engagement fostering psychological safety and learning techniques that support input and participation by many voices Leadership Team Development These workshops and experiences support team cohesion through participatory and collaborative activities The learning nature of the workshops develops the ability of leaders to lead innovation and problem solving with their teams and within the organization Environment Social Governance ESG If ESG is a priority for your company we can work with you to integrate and align your ESG goals and strategies with your innovation efforts This includes applying your real ESG related opportunities and challenges to the activities of key workshops 4
WORKSHOPS TOOLS AT A GLANCE Workshops Tools Page Stages of Process Timing Options Clarify Ideate Develop Implement Multiple Half day One day days 8 Innovation Fundamentals Virtual Coaching Options C 9 10 Purpose Before Process Stakeholder Mapping Engagement V V 11 12 13 Opportunity Knocks Insights Discovery Box Interstellar Insights 14 Yes and Creative Thinking Tools Techniques 15 Yes but Critical Thinking Tools Techniques V C C 16 17 Perfect Pitch Roadblocks to Innovation Change 18 C Innovate or Dinosaur 19 20 Business Model Mayhem Storyboard Everything 21 Frugal Innovation 22 23 Strategic Innovation Deep Dive Custom Toolboxes C C 5
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS Houston we have a problem Jack Swigert Apollo 13 Command Module Pilot There are dozens if not hundreds of innovation and creative problem solving models and processes such as Design Thinking Lean Six Sigma TRIZ The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving Innovation Double Diamond Agile Transformation Design Sprints and Design Charrettes When you compare these processes they share many of the same steps while each emphasizing a specific element They all have their strengths but one model that has been a foundation for many others is the Creative Problem Solving CPS process In this catalogue you will find this model on each workshop page with key phase s highlighted to demonstrate where in the process this workshop fits This is not to suggest this is the favourable model but to provide a point of reference as you explore the collection of workshops and experiences CPS is a method for approaching a problem or a challenge in an imaginative and innovative way It helps you redefine the problems and opportunities you face come up with new innovative responses and solutions and then take action CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT Identify a problem gather facts engage stakeholders set goals and criteria test assumptions identify resources and seek new insights Uncover opportunities identify possible blocks and generate potential solutions to maximize the opportunities Refine ideas assess feasibility and organizational readiness prototype and test against criteria as well as for stakeholder acceptance Move the idea to action live testing and refining continuous improvement and evaluation Source Creative Education Foundation Creative Problem Solving Institute 6
LEVELS OF INVENTIVENESS Not all problem solving and innovation efforts result in the discovery of the wheel There are many ways in which you might be inventive and advance your situation or solve your problem satisfactorily About one third of solutions are obvious and can be easily arrived at with general knowledge and basic process Keep in mind this also means your competitors can easily arrive at these solutions But if those solutions are not getting you to where you want to be ask How inventive is this Do we need to push a little further Are we fine with this solution Or do we want something new or different If you are stuck or you are looking to go beyond the obvious then applying innovation and creative problem solving methods can help you become more inventive 1 4 Level 1 Routine design problems solved by methods well known in the industry 32 of solutions Level 2 Minor improvements to an existing system by methods well known in industry 45 of solutions Level 3 Fundamental improvement to an existing system by methods not currently known to the industry 18 of solutions Level 4 Application of new tech and materials used primarily in science and technology industries 4 of solutions Level 5 A rare scientific discovery or pioneering invention of an entirely new system or product 1 of solutions 18 45 32 Routine Design Problems Minor Improvements Fundamental Improvements New Tech Materials Rare Discovery Pioneering Invention Source Oxford Creativity TRIZ Innovation Centre 7
INNOVATION FUNDAMENTALS This workshop will give you a practical overview of some key elements and frameworks to consider when cultivating innovation in your business It is ideal for those who have been tasked with launching an innovation committee developing an innovation program or leading a team that has been asked to innovate more The workshop will help you explore your options figure out what works for you and identify the start line Topics include Definitions types and levels of innovation Organizational and product maturity in relation to innovation The conditions that catalyze innovation in organizations Introduction to a variety of models process steps and approaches to innovation and why you might choose one over the other Overview of an innovation ecosystem and steps to creating a culture of innovation What is now proved was once only imagined William Blake Half day or one day options Coaching option 8 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
PURPOSE BEFORE PROCESS An important first step before beginning your innovation journey designing your lab or starting a new project is to be clear about why you are doing it Defining purpose especially collaboratively establishes a clear north star for your work and becomes a driver for all the decisions you will need to make throughout the process The foundation of this workshop is the Zenith Purpose Anatomy developed in the Netherlands Zenith is designed to help teams identify the underlying purpose of their innovation related efforts in the areas of Enterprise design to ensure that your actions decisions and resources are strategic and focused on the desired outcomes Employee direction to involve employees in forming aligning with and or activating the business Purpose and Values External validation to articulate or test the raison d tre of the organization and innovation program with key stakeholders and customers If you don t know where you are going you ll end up someplace else Yogi Berra Option Special guest presenter Marloes Sikkema Founder of Amica Innovatie and creator of Zenith Purpose Anatomy Netherlands Half day one day or two day options Virtual option CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT 9
STAKEHOLDER MAPPING ENGAGEMENT Engaging and involving your key stakeholders from investors to customers to employees is essential to the success of any innovation improvement or problem solving process In fact the consequences of not involving them at key stages in the process can be very costly and create significant re work if for example there are unconfirmed assumptions about what the real problem is or if prototypes are not tested with the end user In this practical workshop you will Learn a stakeholder engagement model and ladder of participation for identifying when and how to involve key stakeholders Understand how stakeholder engagement integrates with your innovation process and tactics for each stage and type of engagement Practice mapping out a real stakeholder engagement plan for your innovation or improvement process or project Receive a wall poster of a stakeholder engagement mapping tool for your team to use Feedback is the breakfast of champions Ken Blanchard Half day Virtual option 10 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS Before solutions are generated and new inventions are developed someone has noticed a challenge that needs attention or an opportunity to make an improvement There are many ways in which opportunities for innovation or improvement are uncovered and articulated research exploration experimentation stakeholder feedback or just stumbling upon it But how do we recognize an opportunity when we see one and how can we create the conditions for discovering even more In this workshop you will Explore what an opportunity is in relation to innovation and problem solving methods Gain insight into a discovery mindset how to be a curious observer and how to notice when opportunity knocks Learn tactics for gathering inputs and insights that illuminate or surface opportunities Practice with templates for framing and articulating opportunities and review what to do with an opportunity once you find one Innovators are the world s noticers Rowan Gibson The Four Lenses of Innovation Half day Virtual option CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT 11
INSIGHTS DISCOVERY BOX Engaging in conversations with key stakeholders is an essential step to take early in the innovation or improvement process The aim at this stage is to learn more about the situation and perspective of your stakeholders their current state desired future state challenges and pains and where they see potential and possibility This is also an excellent opportunity to test any assumptions you might have about what they need or desire There is much to be gained through direct dialogue and inquiry with stakeholders such as customers partners suppliers and employees Not only will the input and insights feed your innovation process but you may discover untapped resources fresh ideas and potential new relationships The Insights Discovery Box is a customized toolkit that includes all the materials and tools you need to host meaningful conversations with your stakeholders and identify the top insights that will feed your innovation efforts The toolkit is designed to meet your objectives the number of people participating the nature of your stakeholder interactions and dovetail with the next step in your process The most misleading assumptions are the ones you don t even know you are making Douglas Adams This activity will take each participant about 2 5 hours depending on objectives 12 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
INTERSTELLAR INSIGHTS Insights are firelighters that spark opportunities and drive business strategies and decisions whether you are innovating or not Insights and opportunities are most often discovered through trends market research and customer conversations But there are also insights to be found through the knowledge and experience of your teams Interstellar Insights brings all of these sources together to enhance your efforts help uncover insights that you may not have considered before or illuminate new possibilities In this workshop you will Create data points or stars by mapping key facts trends customer experience and strengths in your universe and beyond that relate to a real business operation or activity Identify potential gaps in the data or missing stakeholder perspectives Experiment with finding fresh associations between data points to create new constellations of opportunity Apply creative thinking principles such as experimentation and random connections and challenge fixed patterns of thinking and obvious observations Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another Plato Half day CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT 13
YES AND CREATIVE THINKING TOOLS TECHNIQUES Creative thinking is crucial when you are asked to come up with new or different ideas or when you want to move beyond the typical go to solutions for a challenge or opportunity To think creatively we need to break psychological inertia a state of stuckness and a tendency to maintain convention This workshop will expose you to a variety pack of creative thinking techniques that are designed to provoke your imagination re route your neural pathways and spark fresh thinking Specifically you will Learn what creative thinking is how to unset our set minds and explore practical actions to increase openness and ready ourselves to think creatively Practice a variety of creative thinking tools and techniques using real opportunities and challenges Build your toolbox with a selection of creative thinking tools Creativity has become essential There is nothing you can do to prevent your competitors also becoming competent That leaves creating new value as the basis for competition Edward de Bono The Creativity Challenge Half day one day and two day options Coaching option 14 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
YES BUT CRITICAL THINKING TOOLS TECHNIQUES Ideas are not enough Study after study shows that 70 90 of new product and service ideas either never launch or do not achieve expectations While creative thinking will help you generate new or different solutions critical thinking will help you assess measure and evolve those ideas and move them to action It is the yes but moment in the innovation process Ensuring that your innovation process includes a variety of critical thinking and analysis activities will help you be more confident about investing in your next idea and help you get better traction through implementation In this workshop you will Gain insight into the difference between creative and critical thinking why critical thinking is essential and when it is needed Practice with a variety of critical thinking tools and techniques using real situations and ideas from your organization Build your toolbox with a selection of critical thinking tools Measure twice cut once Every carpenter ever Half day one day and two day options CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT Coaching option 15
PERFECT PITCH While there is a lot of focus on generating new ideas an important consideration is the process by which they are presented and moved through the organization to reach their potential There are many systems to collect assess and move ideas to action but the step of articulating and pitching or sharing an idea is a pivotal moment in this process and one with which many people are either unpracticed or uncomfortable Perfect Pitch is designed to build individual skills for communicating ideas and to support teams in identifying the processes and conditions such as psychological safety for those ideas to flow and be heard in their organization In this workshop you will Be introduced to options for formulating articulating and presenting your idea internally and externally Explore different ways in which organizations can be more inclusive in gleaning and moving a diversity of ideas forward other than a suggestion box Learn about the use of story humour energy and other tools for effective presentation in this context Practice skills and confidence for communicating ideas using Improv techniques Walk away with a whole new toolkit for idea sharing and movement as well as skills for all kinds of pitches in the workplace I have waited five years for my idea to get noticed and today it did This is the best thing that has happened to me at work Traction Strategy innovation workshop participant This workshop is co facilitated by Izzy Gesell professional facilitator coach and author specializing in applied improvisation in business USA One day Coaching option 16 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
ROADBLOCKS TO INNOVATION We have been talking about this idea for years but it never goes anywhere Have you heard this before Trying something new comes with risks but there are also roadblocks not just time and money that need to be identified and attended to so that a great idea or a needed change can be realized Taking the time to pinpoint and mitigate the potential issues or obstacles in launching a new initiative or in your overall innovation program will smooth the path to successful activation of your ideas This requires honest conversations and there are frameworks and tools to support this activity and keep it constructive and productive In this workshop you will Learn about roadblocks to innovation and explore what these might be in your organization projects and idea generation process Identify key issues related to a real initiative or a change project that need to be addressed for the initiative to be successful Stress test one of your initiatives for organizational readiness to see how prepared your organization is to support the implementation of the idea Discuss the role and responsibility leadership has in unblocking the channels and creating space for innovation Organizations that are continually successful with implementing new ideas spend a lot of time on preparing their processes and support systems Lee Jacobson Half day or one day options CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT 17
INNOVATE OR DINOSAUR Developed by Traction Strategy this award winning game is one of our most popular innovation workshops Innovate or Dinosaur is a collaborative innovation game that helps businesses build their capacity for creative and critical thinking generate new ideas for real work opportunities and challenges and move those ideas to action The workshop includes elements of Opportunity Knocks and the Perfect Pitch The game has many applications including Livening up creative brainstorming Feeding your innovation pipeline Supporting strategic planning Learning creative problem solving techniques Platinum 2016 2018 Igniting market research opportunities Assessing existing ideas for organizational readiness Team building employee engagement and collaboration experiences Don t be a dinosaur evolve and innovate While changing is not easy becoming an unconventional thinker is worth the effort Eric J Romero One day 18 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
BUSINESS MODEL MAYHEM When you are ready to innovate or your business has hit a maturity level where it is time to transform exploring new and unconventional ways of modelling your business can help you find new strategies for staying relevant and being effective in your market This creative thinking workshop is designed to inspire and provoke you to imagine new possibilities for how you do business and deliver value Be prepared to be immersed in disruptive messy and playful thinking that challenges convention and comfort In this workshop you will Experiment with remodelling a part of your business your entire current business model or creating a new one Reimagine your primary mode of operation your sales and delivery methods and who you serve Assess new ideas for their potential impact and for organizational readiness Take your new model for a test drive with a storyboarding exercise Status quo is Latin for the mess we are in Rowan Gibson The Four Lenses of Innovation Half day CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT 19
STORYBOARD EVERYTHING It is advantageous to know some techniques and have a varied toolbox to support your thinking and collaboration needs when innovating or problem solving One particularly useful technique is storyboarding Storyboarding is an incredibly agile and versatile method for individual and collaborative thinking processes for everything from product development and improvement to people centred experiences like customer journey mapping to trouble shooting an organizational or technical system Storyboarding mixes well with other techniques and tools provides a foundation for creative and critical thinking and supports stakeholder involvement goals such as viewing a problem or situation from all perspectives In this workshop you will Learn the key steps and core elements of storyboarding Explore some of the many applications of storyboarding Experiment with techniques to disrupt and get the most out of your storyboard Practice storyboarding with a situation that is relevant and real to you Receive a deck of Dry Erase Storyboard cards for your toolkit The universe is made of stories not of atoms Muriel Rukeyser Half day 20 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
FRUGAL INNOVATION When asked what the major obstacles are to developing something new or different the first answer is almost always time and money While it is true that these resources put constraints on any initiative it may still be possible to achieve your goals by redefining and redeploying existing resources This workshop is about optimizing resources for your innovation and problem solving or other endeavours There are two key parts to this workshop 1 Find resources you didn t know you had Expand your understanding of what a resource is or could be and identify resources at three different levels of your business the system sub system and super system levels 2 Use your resource constraints to your advantage Explore examples of Frugal Innovation learn the guiding principles behind it and experiment with how to MacGyver your resources to create more desirable outcomes I don t care what it was designed to do I care about what it can do Gene Kranz NASA Chief Flight Director Apollo 13 Rescue Mission One day for both parts of the workshop but could be delivered separately CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT 21
STRATEGIC INNOVATION DEEP DIVE Are you looking to build a solid foundation for your culture and practice of innovation Or do you have a specific innovation method that you want to embed and activate in your organization Is your goal to develop skills at each stage of an innovation process and establish a toolbox for ongoing work This tailored capacity building program is aimed at deepening your team s ability to be more inventive and solve problems more effectively Through this highly interactive applied learning experience participants will take a deeper dive into each step of a selected innovation process your choice or our recommendation apply real challenges and opportunities and be introduced to a host of tools and techniques at each stage Identify a real challenge or opportunity to work on throughout the learning experience Systematically work through an innovation method learning the framework and understanding the key activities at each stage Practice applying tools and techniques for a range of activities at each stage of the process Receive a robust toolkit to support your ongoing innovation problem solving and improvement efforts There s a way to do it better find it Thomas Edison Option Special guest presenter Tobias Degsell Founder of Combiner and Former Curator of the Nobel Museum Stockholm 4 5 day intensive or scheduled in parts over time Coaching option 22 CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT
CUSTOM TOOLBOXES Is it time to replace or supplement your sticky notes with some new tools There are hundreds of possible tools you can use throughout the innovation process and beyond These includes canvasses card decks prototyping tools and games for business to name a few If you are looking to build or freshen your toolbox we can prepare a curated collection to match your objectives and needs Training on how to use the tools is also available to support the application and use in your business Types of Topics Types of Toolboxes Change Leadership Team Collaboration Tools Creative Critical Thinking Meeting Room Toolbox Leadership Conference Workshops Tools Team Development Innovation Lab Resources Process Mapping Storyboarding Onboarding Appreciation or Promotion Purpose Values Culture Gifts Reflection Dialogue and more toolboxes to suit your needs Situation Analysis Discovering Insights Stakeholder Customer Engagement Using the same set of tools can lead to complacency and cognitive biases that make you blind to alternative paths to the solution Aga Sz stek UX Designer Delivery time of toolboxes varies depending on availability and customization CLARIFY IDEATE DEVELOP IMPLEMENT Coaching option 23
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