Course Outcomes

This business creativity course will:

  • Suggest methods for overcoming roadblocks and unlocking creativity.
  • Explore a range of theories related to creativity.
  • Provide program participants with multiple tools for generating new ideas.
  • Outline processes for evaluating ideas.

Course Overview

Once a group’s creative juices are flowing, ideas can materialize at astonishing speed. Sure, some are wacky, and some are zany, but some are revolutionary approaches to solving serious business challenges. This hands-on workshop looks at the value of creativity at work, beliefs and actions that can crush creative ideas and discourage even conservative risk taking, methods for identifying problems, and a range of ideation techniques for crafting solutions to business challenges. 

This workshop is offered in both a half-day and full-day format. The main difference between the two options is the number of ideation techniques we will introduce and the practice time allotted to each activity.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Explain how creativity can improve business choices and operations.
  • Describe various theories related to creativity.
  • Recognize idea killers and conditions that encourage a stagnant climate.
  • Use a host of ideation tools.
  • Methodically evaluate their ideation efforts.
  • Put a plan in place to encourage workplace creativity.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline

Don’t Stop Before You Start: Recognizing Idea Blockers

This session begins with a brainstorming activity about the benefits of creativity at work, the risks, and actions attitudes that can block the idea pipeline. Next, we’ll take a quick look at the history of creativity and how different societies have viewed the concept over time. Following that discussion, we’ll examine several theories associated with the creative process. Once armed with basic academic knowledge, participants will then work through a short series of creative challenges and confirm the agenda for the remainder of the session.
 

The Creative Outlook: Valuing Creativity

“The way we’ve always done things” can kill an idea before it’s had the chance to be fully developed or evaluated. Likewise, the status quo can decide whether a frontline employee who came up with an offbeat suggestion ever comes back to the table with another improvement, idea, or tip. This part of the course looks at best practices for encouraging and rewarding new thinking. During this part of the course, participants will identify ten barriers to creative thinking and solutions for lowering those walls or eliminating them all together.
 

What’s Your Problem?: Methodical Mess Finding

Creative problem-solving techniques need a challenge to which they can be applied. This workshop segment focuses on techniques for surfacing problems. We’ll discuss both proactive and reactive activities and methods for exploring and confirming issues.
 

Opening the Ideation Tap: Problem, Meet Solutions

This part of the program introduces between 10 and 20 ideation techniques. Working alone, in teams, and as a larger group, participants will practice a range of creative thinking tools: brainstorming, brainwriting, forced connections, mind maps, collage, DRIVE, SCAMPER, celebrity consultant, morphological analysis, group doodle, random words, and others. The specific tools introduced during this module will depend on the problems the group identifies in the previous segment.
 

Great Idea, or Is It? Evaluation Time

When applied, ideation techniques usually do what they are supposed to do, produce ideas. Some are good, and others should not be acted on under any circumstance. This course component looks at methods for evaluating solutions and getting value from the creative-thinking process.
 

Staying Juiced: Encouraging Everyday Creativity

The program concludes with participants identifying specific actions they will take to improve their creativity and use of creative thinking when back on the job.
 

By the end of this session, participants will be armed with a range of tools they can use to creatively attack the next problem they encounter.