Creative and Innovative Leadership Workshop for Supervisors, Team Leaders and Managers

Introduction

Leaders at all levels in the organization have a critical role to play in ensuring creativity, innovation, and continuous improvement. These, in turn, are vital to meeting the challenges of a continually changing and competitive world and the increasingly sophisticated needs of customers (both internal and external).

This exciting and interactive seminar provides an opportunity both to understand the strategic context of creativity and innovation and to develop the skills and attitudes needed to develop creative and innovative thinking throughout the organization.

Objectives

This course aims to enable participants to:

• Set creativity and innovation in a strategic context
• Understand the drivers for a greater emphasis in business on creativity and innovation
• Identify the processes and activities which support creativity and innovation in organizations
• Identify the strategies, tools, and techniques to improve levels of creativity and innovation
• Understand how the process of change can block or enable employees at all levels to resist or embrace a greater emphasis on creativity and innovation
• Understand the crucial role and skills of the leader in creating an environment where creativity and innovation thrive

Target Audience

Supervisors, team leaders, and professionals who want to learn how to transform their organizations through the successful application of strategies to encourage greater levels of creativity and innovation

Management & Leadership Outline

The course covers the following topics:

Setting the context

• What is currently happening in organizations - trends for the 21st Century
• Why is there a need for change?
• What are creativity and innovation, and why are they important?
• The role of leadership in transforming organizations
• The organizational climate
• How to develop a creative and innovative culture
• Understanding and overcoming resistance to change
• Forums for developing creativity and innovation

Creative Thinking Processes

• The creative process - incubation, inspiration, and implementation
• Creativity and how the mind works
• Creativity and the team
• Group processes which support and inhibit the creativity and innovation
• The leader’s role
• Thinking Hats and constructive debate

Creative Thinking Techniques and Facilitation Skills

• Facilitating brainstorming
• Process Review Matrix
• Lateral Thinking
• Random stimulation techniques
• Slip Techniques
• Picture representation

Decision Making and Getting Support

• Assessing and refining innovative ideas
• Cost-benefit and risk analysis
• Anticipating objections
• Making a case
• Influencing skills-building support
• Overcoming resistance

Innovative Leadership: Implementing and Executing

• Planning the implementation
• Basics of project planning
• Why change initiatives sometimes fail
• Monitoring and adapting
• Learning, continuous improvement and the learning organization