12 Creativity & Innovation courses delivered Live Online

Whether it is for your personal development, your own career or your business, this life-changing training is for everyone who would like to develop their skills such as communication, confidence, entrepreneurial thinking, flow-state and creativity – the future skills every human needs to master.

Introduction to Design Thinking: In-House Training Innovation is the cornerstone of highly successful companies, especially those that continue to be successful over the years and decades. Design thinking practices fuel this continual innovation, as they are the critical links from inspiration to delivery, concept to showroom floor, and start-up to global business. Design thinking is a structured approach to promoting innovation and creative problem-solving. It is not a new approach. It has been around for centuries, as the art, architecture, and inventions of mankind illustrate. By examining the steps to achieving great design and maximum utility of product, design thinking approaches provide a framework in which to develop new solutions to problems and new products to sell. This highly interactive course is designed to help participants think like designers to generate innovation, and to help teams to produce more innovation and creativity. Since design thinking is based on doing rather than thinking, we participants are challenged to apply the techniques, in the classroom, to create new ideas and solutions to a case study project. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain the underlying principles and value of using Design Thinking for innovation Describe the basic concepts of the Stanford Model for Design Thinking Evaluate a set of basic Design Thinking techniques for application to your projects Apply tools, techniques, and skills aligned with the 5 stages of the Stanford Model Drive innovation through Design Thinking at some level in your work environment Foundation Concepts Problems and solutions The Design Thinking difference Design Thinking skills and abilities Design Thinking mindset Design Thinking frameworks Stages of Design Thinking Problems and solutions The Design Thinking difference Design Thinking skills and abilities Design Thinking mindset Design Thinking frameworks General Practices Team formation Visualization Improvisation Personalization Empathize Practices Overview of Empathize techniques Observation Engagement Interviews Define Practices Overview of Define practices Unpacking techniques Defining the customer techniques Integrating the Define experience Ideate Practices Overview of Ideate practices Reusable techniques for the Ideate stage New Ideate techniques to explore Prototype & Test Practices Overview of Prototype practices Examples of prototypes Overview of Testing practices Forms of testing techniques Adopt and Adapt Design Thinking Overview of Design Thinking implementation Design Thinking implementation challenges Success in implementing Design Thinking Summary and Next Steps Workshop summary Next steps: Personal Action Plans

Introduction to Design Thinking: Virtual In-House Training Innovation is the cornerstone of highly successful companies, especially those that continue to be successful over the years and decades. Design thinking practices fuel this continual innovation, as they are the critical links from inspiration to delivery, concept to showroom floor, and start-up to global business. Design thinking is a structured approach to promoting innovation and creative problem-solving. It is not a new approach. It has been around for centuries, as the art, architecture, and inventions of mankind illustrate. By examining the steps to achieving great design and maximum utility of product, design thinking approaches provide a framework in which to develop new solutions to problems and new products to sell. This highly interactive course is designed to help participants think like designers to generate innovation, and to help teams to produce more innovation and creativity. Since design thinking is based on doing rather than thinking, we participants are challenged to apply the techniques, in the classroom, to create new ideas and solutions to a case study project. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain the underlying principles and value of using Design Thinking for innovation Describe the basic concepts of the Stanford Model for Design Thinking Evaluate a set of basic Design Thinking techniques for application to your projects Apply tools, techniques, and skills aligned with the 5 stages of the Stanford Model Drive innovation through Design Thinking at some level in your work environment Foundation Concepts Problems and solutions The Design Thinking difference Design Thinking skills and abilities Design Thinking mindset Design Thinking frameworks Stages of Design Thinking Problems and solutions The Design Thinking difference Design Thinking skills and abilities Design Thinking mindset Design Thinking frameworks General Practices Team formation Visualization Improvisation Personalization Empathize Practices Overview of Empathize techniques Observation Engagement Interviews Define Practices Overview of Define practices Unpacking techniques Defining the customer techniques Integrating the Define experience Ideate Practices Overview of Ideate practices Reusable techniques for the Ideate stage New Ideate techniques to explore Prototype & Test Practices Overview of Prototype practices Examples of prototypes Overview of Testing practices Forms of testing techniques Adopt and Adapt Design Thinking Overview of Design Thinking implementation Design Thinking implementation challenges Success in implementing Design Thinking Summary and Next Steps Workshop summary Next steps: Personal Action Plans

Innovation Project Management: Virtual In-House Training Companies need growth for survival. Companies cannot grow simply through cost reduction and reengineering efforts. This program describes the relationship that needs to be established between innovation, business strategy, and project management to turn a creative idea into a reality. We will explore the importance of identifying the components of an innovative culture, existing differences, challenges, and the new set of skills needed in innovation project management. Companies need growth for survival. Companies cannot grow simply through cost reduction and reengineering efforts. Innovation is needed and someone must manage these innovation projects. Over the past two decades, there has been a great deal of literature published on innovation and innovation management. Converting a creative idea into reality requires projects and some form of project management. Unfortunately, innovation projects, which are viewed as strategic projects, may not be able to be managed using the traditional project management philosophy we teach in our project management courses. There are different skill sets needed, different tools, and different life-cycle phases. Innovation varies from industry to industry and even companies within the same industry cannot come to an agreement on how innovation project management should work. This program describes the relationship that needs to be established between innovation, business strategy, and project management to turn a creative idea into a reality. We will explore the importance of identifying the components of an innovative culture, existing differences, challenges, and the new set of skills needed in innovation project management. What you Will Learn Explain the links needed to bridge innovation, project management, and business strategy Describe the different types of innovation and the form of project management each require Identify the differences between traditional and innovation project management, especially regarding governance, human resources management challenges, components of an innovative culture and competencies needed by innovation project managers Establish business value and the importance of new metrics for measuring and reporting business value Relate innovation to business models and the skills needed to contribute in the business model development Recognize the roadblocks affecting innovation project management and their cause to determine what actions can be taken Determine the success and failure criteria of an innovation project Foundation Concepts Understanding innovation Role of innovation in a company Differences between traditional (operational) and strategic projects Innovation management Differences between innovation and R&D Differing views of innovation Why innovation often struggles Linking Innovation Project Management to Business Strategy The business side of innovation project management The need for innovation targeting Getting close to the customers and their needs The need for line-of-sight to the strategic objectives The innovation enterprise environmental factors Tools for linking Internal Versus External (Co-creation) Innovation Open versus closed innovation Open innovation versus crowdsourcing Benefits of internal innovation Benefits of co-creation (external) innovation Selecting co-creation partners The focus of co-creation The issues with intellectual property Understanding co-creation values Understanding the importance of value-in-use Classification of Innovations and Innovation Projects Types of projects Types of innovations Competency-enhancing versus competency-destroying innovations Types of innovation novelty Public Sector of Innovation Comparing public and private sector project management Types of public service innovations Reasons for some public sector innovation failures An Introduction to Innovation Project Management Why traditional project management may not work The need for a knowledge management system Differences between traditional and innovation project management Issues with the 'one-size-fits-all' methodology Using end-to-end innovation project management Technology readiness levels (TRLs) Integrating Kanban principles into innovation project management Innovation and the Human Resources Management Challenge Obtaining resources Need for a talent pipeline Need for effective resource management practices Prioritizing resource utilization Using organizational slack Corporate Innovation Governance Types of innovation governance Business Impact Analysis (BIA) Innovation Project Portfolio Management Office (IPPMO) Using nondisclosure agreements, secrecy agreements, confidentiality agreements, and patents Adverse effects of governance decisions Innovation Cultures Characteristics of a culture for innovation Types of cultures Selecting the right people Linking innovation to rewards Impact of the organizational reward system Innovation Competencies Types of innovation leadership The need for active listening Design thinking Dealing with ambiguity, uncertainty, risks, crises, and human factors Value-Based Innovation Project Management Metrics Importance of innovation project management metrics Understanding value-driven project management Differences between benefits and value - and when to measure Traditional versus the investment life cycle Benefits harvesting Benefits and value sustainment Resistance to change Tangible and intangible innovation project management metrics Business Model Innovation Business model characteristics Impact of disruptive innovation Innovation Roadblocks Roadblocks and challenges facing project managers Ways to overcome the roadblocks Defining Innovation Success and Failure Categories for innovation success and failure Need for suitability and exit criteria Reasons for innovation project failure Predictions on the Future of Innovation Project Management The Six Pillars of changing times Some uses for the new value and benefits metrics

Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving: In-House Training Two critical skillsets for the future of work are critical thinking and creative problem solving. These modes of working and thinking intersect and overlap; both are necessary and both can be taught. Having the ability to exercise creativity while at the same time applying structure and discipline to the thinking process is a key competency in the twenty-first century workplace. This course explores the interplay between critical and creative thinking, and the necessity of each to effective problem solving and decision making. Participants will learn a variety of techniques to apply critical thinking to real-life scenarios. They will experiment with different problem-solving approaches and will learn about cognitive influences on our decisions and choices. The course delves into the business value of creativity and involves participants in actively integrating criticality, creativity, and problem solving. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain basic concepts of problem solving Infer types of cognitive biases that impact decision making Utilize types of root cause analysis Differentiate among obstacles to sound decision making Apply a variety of problem-solving approaches / processes to existing challenges Evaluate alternative solution methods using various techniques Analyze real world problem scenarios to determine the lateral thinking type needed to address them Foundation Concepts Definitions Thinking modes and cognitive bias Basic problem-solving framework Problem Definition and Solution Generation Root cause analysis Basic problem-solving obstacles Generating alternative solutions Evaluating Alternatives Critical thinking guidelines Obstacles to sound decision making Tools for evaluating alternatives Exploring Lateral Thinking Problem-solving challenge Workplace application

Critical Thinking and Creative Problem Solving (Virtual) Two critical skillsets for the future of work are critical thinking and creative problem solving. These modes of working and thinking intersect and overlap; both are necessary and both can be taught. Having the ability to exercise creativity while at the same time applying structure and discipline to the thinking process is a key competency in the twenty-first century workplace. This course explores the interplay between critical and creative thinking, and the necessity of each to effective problem solving and decision making. Participants will learn a variety of techniques to apply critical thinking to real-life scenarios. They will experiment with different problem-solving approaches and will learn about cognitive influences on our decisions and choices. The course delves into the business value of creativity and involves participants in actively integrating criticality, creativity, and problem solving. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain basic concepts of problem solving Infer types of cognitive biases that impact decision making Utilize types of root cause analysis Differentiate among obstacles to sound decision making Apply a variety of problem-solving approaches / processes to existing challenges Evaluate alternative solution methods using various techniques Analyze real world problem scenarios to determine the lateral thinking type needed to address them Getting Started Foundation Concepts Definitions Thinking modes and cognitive bias Basic problem-solving framework Problem Definition and Solution Generation Root cause analysis Basic problem-solving obstacles Generating alternative solutions Evaluating Alternatives Critical thinking guidelines Obstacles to sound decision making Tools for evaluating alternatives Exploring Lateral Thinking Problem-solving challenge Workplace application Summary and Next Steps

For insights into how the four colour energies will transform your team dynamics and performance, join this virtual workshop and find out how to embed the four colour energies within your team. Find out your own communication preferences and how to work effectively with colleagues with a different preference.

By engaging in polymathic training on a daily basis, we change the structure (neuroplasticity) — the platform of the mind — to run new programs of increased levels of confidence, creativity and communication.

Join Matt Rivers in his Soul Writing for Healing course and learn to release stress, let go of old emotions and become more creative.

A writing workshop to release stress, explore our shadows and reveal our creative force.