Thinking Through Innovation

A highly interactive skills course transferring creative ideas into innovative practices

Fall 2013!

Overview

Lead Instructor:  Michael Cardus

Organizations that wish to remain competitive in the business environment must develop their capacity to generate creative ideas and then use their talent well to transfer these ideas into innovative practices. This leads to new processes and improved methods for the best use of existing resources, and increases the ability to solve problems and implement solutions that enhance the organization. In addition to broadening their personal capacity for creativity and innovation, leaders are better able to implement innovative ideas into their existing business model.

Using a mixture of inventive problem solving, creative problem solving and brain based leadership models the participants will find solutions to existing organizational situations and develop the steps to incorporate these innovations into their work.

Participants will spend 3 out of the 5 days at an onsite location in Western New York where innovation and creativity is happening in real-time.

The Western New York region has a strong innovation background and many talented people who are poised to take your company and themselves to new levels of innovation. Three out of the five days will be held at an organization where innovation and creativity is happening in real-time. This will be an interactive session where participants can hear from and ask questions with the area's leading innovation idea creators.

Speakers and Organizations Involved:

What is it?

  • In five full day (7 hour) modules, TTI will provide people with a toolbox of methods and skills for creativity and innovation that are transferable to their work.
  • An active learning experience that capitalizes on a fast-paced, production-focused mentality.
  • A mixture of learning from Western New York’s innovation idea creators and applied hands on innovation work.
  • Creating a connection between the community, your company and the people in the process.

Who Should Attend?

  • The content will be applicable to anyone who has the ability to make a change to how the work is completed and is able to have an impact on improving and creating new products and services.
  • Those that are at a level removed from front-line work whether in management or individual contributing roles will benefit greatest.
  • Possible people to send: Human Resources Directors, Quality Directors, Production Supervisors, Chief Operations Officers, Team Leaders, Product Designers, Training Directors, Financial Managers, Engineers, and others that have an impact of the products and services offered.

What are the outcomes?

The greatest outcome will be that each person will walk away with an improvement or a new product / service that can be immediately utilized within the company.

  • Develop a culture of innovation that engages team member creativity and energy
  • Challenge old ways of thinking and design new paradigms to drive greater success
  • Use existing resources to their greatest capacity
  • Share information amongst and between functions to reduce redundant work and speed productivity
  • Understand the levels of change within an organization and how to plan and delegate parts of that change to subordinates, in the proper way and at the proper time
  • How to promote idea development
  • When to bring the right people together for the change to take place
  • How to define the mission in a proper way to ensure that the change happens
  • Steps to ensure effective planning and implementation of the change
  • Steps to develop organizational absorptive capacity of the change idea
  • Learn ways to overcome “stuckness” in your thinking and quickly solve problems.
  • How to have discussions to lead others to think differently
  • Model’s and methods to think differently about existing problems that will lead to innovative products and processes
  • Use existing resources and knowledge to innovate solutions

Investment: $2,995*
*Includes all program materials and a catered lunch at each session.

Limited space available

Schedule

Introduction to the Thinking Through Innovation Process

Located at the CPD
Creativity & Innovation

Located at Block Club
Think Differently


Located at the Buffalo Museum of Science
Leading for Change


Located at Larkin Village

 Larkin Development Group
Conclusion: Putting It All Together

Located at the CPD
myCanisius