I am a seasoned consultant with 20 years experience helping employees and their organizations become more effective.When you work with me you get deep knowledge in innovation and organization development paired with a proven creative approach and a smile.
The workshops below represent options for you. And the advantage in working with me is that everything will be designed to work for your participants and to meet your objectives.
Innovative Leaders
In the 2010 IBM Global CEO Study Creativity was cited as the top skill desired by 60% of the responding CEOs. As noted in the study Creative Leaders:
- Will invent and expect to make more business model changes
- Invite disruptive innovation
- Change the enterprise to improve the setting for innovation
- Are comfortable with a ambiguity
- Score higher on innovation as a crucial capability
- Alter the status quo
In Innovative Leader Development sessions we will:
- Assess your leaders’ personal creative style.
- Assess the climate for innovation leaders are fostering.
- Build and practice innovation skills.
- Apply insights to real-life strategic challenges
Design Thinker
Design Thinker is a computer -based simulation that helps build innovation skills to solve business challenges.
Built in collaboration with innovation and design firm IDEO, Design Thinker recently won the 2011 Edison Award for Best New Product. The experience confers competitive advantage by helping you:
- See new opportunities consistently.
- Connect deeply with customers.
- Transform insights and data into actionable ideas.
- Create and implement new solutions with business impact faster and more effectively.
In this energizing workshop, teams flex their design thinking skills to solve a realistic and complex challenge. In so doing, they engage with the terms, techniques and thought patterns of successful innovators. Participants leave ready and able to effect meaningful change back on-the-job.
Truly, an outstanding way to learn real-life innovation skills.
What people are saying about Design Thinker:
“This gave me the tools to use with my team and energized me to use them.”
~ Dave Wiltz, Engineering Manager, Intel
“Fun & engaging – and I took away real tools to use!”
~Karen Weisz, Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Services, The Standard
“A creative way of learning. A lot of fun and a useful process.”
~Lorina McAdam, Country Director, Democratic Republic of the Congo, MercyCorps
Idea Labs
Brainstorming is one moderately effective technique for addressing problems that require a creative approach—but there are better techniques to get the best thinking from a team. An Idea Lab is a complete process that includes analyzing and identifying the right problem, idea generation and implementation plans. The entire suite includes tools that will pull the best thinking from all personality styles on your team.
“Theory and application, experiential activities, group learning – all positive and valuable!”
~ Participant in Management Offsite
Creative Meetings
We all know the difference between a successful meeting and an unsuccessful meeting. I’ve been facilitating meetings for 20 years, from team building to strategic planning, and I know that good design and advance planning is the key.
As an objective outsider I can help you ensure a meeting that will:
- focus on your most critical work
- keep the team input balanced and productive
- drive to specific outcomes
- energize (rather than exhaust) your team
Moreover, I will know how to add creative approaches to decision-making and problem solving. Call me when you want to have a more enjoyable AND effective meeting or event.
Corporate Creativity Salons
For your Creativity Salon I will visit your workplace to explore and apply facets of innovation. This can be done during the lunch hour or as part of a monthly meeting. Included will be activities to explore your personal style, opportunities to use creative problem solving tools and techniques and discussions to enhance your climate for innovation. Fun? Absolutely. Useful? I wouldn’t have it any other way.
