INNOVATION WORKSHOP

HOW WE RUN THE FIW

Prior to running the Frontline Innovation Workshop, we will first need to establish an Innovation Challenge for the workshop and (ideally) an Innovation Strategy pertinent to that challenge.   This will serve to focus people's thinking and efforts as they work toward increasingly more well–defined concepts and ideas (convergence).   If needed, we can guide your leadership team through the process of developing a well–conceived Innovation Strategy for the particular challenge(s) being presented in these workshops.

We then custom tailor the FIW experience to fit this challenge and the specific audience level being engaged (executives, directors, managers, or general staff).   We do this using a broad toolbox of techniques which we borrow from Design Thinking, Outcome–Driven Innovation (ODI), and Experiential Learning.   Some of the specific tools we can use include things like observational and experiential field trips, storyboards, trend & barrier maps, metaphor maps, use scenarios, solution-space canvasses, business model canvasses, stakeholder maps, and many more.   We use whatever tools are best suited to the challenge at hand so that we can draw out the insights and the "a-has" the team needs to connect as many dots as possible.  

One of the pivotal things we do in these workshops is that we challenge your teams to begin not by thinking of new ideas, but by first peeling back the many layers of the situation so as to look at the problems, needs, and challenges involved in entirely new ways... ways that redefine them at their more fundamental levels (known as "reframing").   We want your teams to first get at the real "problem behind the problem", as this is where the most impactful new innovations will ultimately derive from.

In this process we want everyone involved to connect as many dots as they possibly can.   To this end, we will spend a lot of time asking and discussing questions, as this is the best way we can have individuals and teams connect new insights together for themselves.   Your teams will also find that many of the answers to these questions will continue to emerge over time (well after the workshop), as they continue turning over the questions in their minds.

We bring two very important assets to the Frontline Innovation Workshop — deep expertise in the innovation process, and the unbiased objectivity of an outside facilitator.   This is crucial, as in all cases the objective will be to deliver actionable insights and ideas that can be leveraged across key areas of your business.