Directed Innovation Methods Workshop

The Ways and Means to Unleash the Power of Your Development Team and Beat the Competition

This workshop can be customized to meet your needs, and is delivered at most locations internationally.

Contact us for more information.

Innovation is about delivering new value to current and future customers. “Directed Innovation” takes this one step further by focusing your development (R&D) team on identifying and solving specific customer problems. This workshop will teach your development team to deliver innovative products faster and better than your competitors.

HIGHER RETURN FOR YOUR R&D INVESTMENT
 

You have a large investment in your R&D personnel, and they are eager to deliver innovative products.  This workshop will provide them with the skills, tools and methods for applying their experience to developing products that truly meet the needs of your customers.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

We start by putting innovation in the context of your business objectives – this is the critical link to ensure profitable new products or services.  We continue by describing the customer’s role in innovation, ensuring that innovation is directed to specific customer requirements. Then we deliver a rich set of proven methodologies that transform customer, market and technology insights into profitable new products.

The collective experience of the creators of this workshop encompasses 25 years of helping development teams at innovative companies around the globe develop specific tools and a practical approach to innovation.  You’ll benefit from seasoned engineering and marketing professionals who have successfully applied innovation techniques to clients ranging from Fortune 500
companies to startups.

You’ll quickly learn how your organization can measure and track your innovation strategy, leading to your next
generation of profitable growth.  Your development team knows technology – we provide the tools and methods to allow them to collaborate and define innovative solutions.

WORKSHOP MISSION

• Define specific innovation objectives for organizations in competitive environments, with the intent to improve growth and profitability through new products.

• Teach participants specific methods and tools to identify and resolve customer problems using innovative solutions.

• Successfully identify and select the innovations with the highest potential.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

We understand that every organization has its own culture and business objectives. Thus, we can customize the workshop to achieve your goals. For example:

• We can provide minimum to comprehensive training with a wide variety of modules

• We can work with your team on a specific project

• We can tailor the syllabus with the topics of special relevance to your teams

• We can offer the class in a single session, or break it up into several smaller meetings

• We can train your trainers and facilitators

WHY PARTICIPANTS VALUE THIS WORKSHOP

• Highly interactive: Participants are continuously challenged by an instructor with deep experience in product development.

• Highly practical: Lectures are kept to a minimum.  Participants work in small teams, using every tool to ensure that they can immediately apply their new knowledge.

WORKSHOP OUTLINE

Definition of Innovation in a Business Environment

• Profitably delivering new value to current or new customers – the intersection of what your company can provide and what customers find valuable

• “Directed Innovation” to avoid innovation for the sake of innovation

• Innovation goals and clear business objectives as critical starting points

• Examples and short case studies

Types of Innovation

• Disruptive, incremental, radical, routine – and how each applies to your business objectives

• Managing an innovation portfolio and defining the right mix of innovation to achieve profitable growth

• Examples and short case studies
   

Practical Definition of Value

• The four dimensions of value

• The “Value Quotient”

• How customers view value, how they evaluate it, and how they differentiate

• Definition of the “whole product”
   

The Role of the Customer in Innovation

• The four “I” process for directed innovation
   

Preparing for Innovation – The Team, the Information, and the Activities

• Key ingredients for successful innovation teams

• Chartering, mission and vision for innovation teams – setting targets

• The role of executives and managers to enable innovation

• Exercises, templates and tools
   

Understanding Innovation Drivers

• Customer challenges: Identifying current and emerging customer needs and problems

• Technology trends: Identifying and operating on trends

• Creativity: Applying creativity to remove biases, “knowns” and assumptions
   

Advanced Communication Skills that Allow Teams to Innovate

• Semantics and clarity of communication during innovation and ideation

• The Ladder of Abstraction

• The Ladder of Inference and The Satchmo Effect

• The Five Whys
   

Tools for Innovation

• Lateral thinking: Consciously identifying new ways to look at current customers and products

• Ideal world: Visualizing your customer’s ideal solutions and working backward to focus on critical areas

• Trend matrix analysis: Systematically reviewing current trends and convergences against customer problems to identify new and better solutions

• “Managing Conversations” method of breakthrough thinking

• “Speak Accomplishment” to encourage innovation

• Exercises
   

The Innovation Process

• Creating consistent, actionable innovation programs in your company

• Translating innovation to new products

• Work session and action planning
   

OUR GUARANTEE

If for any reason you are not satisfied, write to us within 30 days after attending the workshop and return the materials and we'll arrange for you to receive a full refund - hassle-free!