Half day interactive open workshop in Toronto on creativity and innovation in the workplace.

1. Becoming more creative & innovative by Toronto Training and HR January 2011

2. 3-4 Introduction to Toronto Training and HR 5-7 Elements contributing to a creative and innovative culture 8-10 Customer-focused innovation 11-14 Leaders of innovation and managing innovation 15-17 Sustainability as a driver of innovation 18-19 Coaching and creativity 20-22 Become a better creative strategist 23-24 Rules for running experiments 25-28 Increased creativity and innovation 29-30 Bold innovation 31-32 Myths of innovation 33-34 Innovative teams 35-36 Ways to kill innovation 37-38 Creating a climate for innovation 39-40 Conditions for innovation 41-43 Conditions for creativity 44-45 Creative work environments 46-47 Drill A 48-49 Drill B 50-51 Conclusion and questions Contents Page 2

3. Page 3 Introduction

6. Improving employee engagement & morale

8. Page 6 Elements contributing to a creative and innovative culture 1 of 2 INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS A few committed individuals from diverse sectors and unusual partnerships Individuals who are comfortable living outside of silos and/or systems Individuals with an entrepreneurial and network mind-set Individuals with passion who persevere in the face of resistance

9. Page 7 Elements contributing to a creative and innovative culture 2 of 2 SYSTEM ELEMENTS A collaborative and/or networked funding culture that frames failure as learning and an opportunity for the re-invention of an idea An awareness of three spaces where the system is connected or fragmented Fostering critical connections An interdisciplinary environment that crosses traditional boundaries Incubators that provide opportunities to create ideas Learning and thinking globally while acting locally

10. Page 8 Customer-focused innovation

11. Page 9 Customer-focused innovation 1 of 2 Creating your company’s future requires being in the right markets Creating your company’s future requires contemplating the future Creating your company’s future requires anticipatory and proactive management Creating your company’s future requires breakthrough strategies Creating your company’s future requires breakthrough thinking

12. Page 10 Customer-focused innovation 2 of 2 Creating your company’s future requires numerous other capabilities Bifocal management Breakthrough execution Speed and agility Being a learning organization Not falling prey to the paradox of success It all comes down to people

13. Page 11 Leaders of innovation and managing innovation

14. Page 12 Leaders of innovation and managing innovation 1 of 3 LEADERS OF INNOVATION Good knowledge of the area in which they work Mission-definition perspectives Support for followers Skills of resource acquisition and resource distribution Evaluative feedback Ability to induce structure where it is not well defined Organizational outreach

15. Page 13 Leaders of innovation and managing innovation 2 of 3 MANAGING INNOVATION Organization models and structure Operational processes Organizational alignment Knowledge management Management style and leadership Individual employees

16. Page 14 Leaders of innovation and managing innovation 3 of 3 MANAGEMENT INNOVATION Transparent financial data Open and honest feedback Service level agreements Open evaluations My BluePrint Employee first councils

17. Page 15 Sustainability as a driver for innovation

18. Page 16 Sustainability as a driver for innovation 1 of 2 Viewing compliance as opportunity Making value chains sustainable Designing sustainable products and services Developing new business models Creating next-practice platforms

19. Page 17 Sustainability as a driver for innovation 2 of 2 BECOMING MORE SUSTAINABLE Don’t start from the present Ensure that learning precedes investments Stay wedded to the goal while constantly adjusting tactics Build collaborative capacity Use a global presence to experiment

20. Page 18 Coaching and creativity

21. Page 19 Coaching and creativity What is coaching? Encouraging creativity and the introduction of new ideas Honouring and supporting work-life balance Engagement and support of employees through effective employee assistance Creating and maintaining a civil work environment

22. Page 20 Become a better creative strategist

23. Page 21 Become a better creative strategist 1 of 2 Do not think that your domain experts--your operations people, accountants, or statisticians--cannot contribute innovative ideas to other areas of your business. Block out time for creative exploration throughout the day. In every meeting, no matter how tight its schedule, set aside a little time to explore creative ideas. Tell your people, "Let's think about how many different ways we could solve this problem." This expands the innovative capacity of your people and may lead to breakthrough ideas.

24. Page 22 Become a better creative strategist 2 of 2 Encourage your kids to think. Asking "Why?” is a good thing. Encourage your people to keep asking why. Don't let them be satisfied by the accepted solution.

25. Page 23 Rules for running experiments

26. Page 24 Rules for running experiments Focus on individuals and think short term Keep it simple Start with a proof-of-concept test When the results come in, slice the data Try out-of the-box thinking Measure everything that matters Look for natural experiments

27. Page 25 Increased creativity and innovation

28. Page 26 Increased creativity and innovation 1 of 3 Ignore everybody The idea doesn’t have to be big…it just has to change the world Put the hours in If your business plan depends on you being ‘discovered’ by some big shot, your plan will probably fail You are responsible for your own experience Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten Keep your day job Worrying about ‘commercial’ v ‘artistic’ is a waste of time

29. Page 27 Increased creativity and innovation 2 of 3 Organizations that squelch creativity can no longer compete with organizations that champion creativity Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put in this earth to climb The more talented someone is the less they need the props Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds full stop If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside Dying young is overrated Nobody cares, do it for yourself Write from the heart

30. Page 28 Increased creativity and innovation 3 of 3 The most important thing a creative person can learn, professionally, is to where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do from what you are not The world is changing Merit can be bought, passion can’t Avoid the Water cooler Gang Sing in your own voice The choice of media is irrelevant Selling out is harder than it looks Don’t worry about finding inspiration, it comes eventually You have to find your own shtick

31. Page 29 Bold innovation

32. Page 30 Bold innovation In established firms, it’s impossible to start from scratch and hazardous to move too quickly Radically-minded management innovators don’t have the benefit of a roadmap We’re talking about people, not widgets

33. Page 31 Myths of innovation

34. Page 32 Myths of innovation The ‘eureka’ moment There is a clear path to innovation People dig new ideas The lone inventor “I’m not really that creative” You’ll know innovation when you see it The best ideas win Innovation is always good

35. Page 33 Innovative teams

36. Page 34 Innovative teams creator- high-level thinker, extremely “wacky” ideas catalyst- a ‘connector’ who recognizes those ideas and connects them to solutions champion- paves through the nay-sayers to get the idea to market

37. Page 35 Ways to kill innovation

38. Page 36 Ways to kill innovation more management layers (hierarchies) paperwork, reports & reviews over planning competition favouring the go-getters risk aversion skewing to high-level thinking valuing deadlines over doing it right demanding consensus

39. Page 37 Creating a climate for innovation

40. Page 38 Creating a climate for innovation Make innovation a priority Take an outside-in perspective Create a process for innovation Define the big levers and pull them Drive out fear Create trust Recognise both successful and unsuccessful innovators

41. Page 39 Conditions for innovation

42. Page 40 Conditions for innovation A motivation or direction Creative thinking / experimenter mentality Ability to convert dead ends into new motivations / directions Desire to challenge (or sometimes ignorance of) the status quo Threshold for risk & comfort w/uncertainty Time + $$$ for work

43. Page 41 Conditions for creativity

44. Page 42 Conditions for creativity 1 of 2 a safe space (ability to say potentially ‘dumb’ things) start from simple, move to difficult – game flow moving from personal to communal introducing different perspectives experimentation celebration of risk-taking transparency and openness

45. Page 43 Conditions for creativity 2 of 2 change of environment fun, laughter & enjoyment of activity clear understanding of rewards oodles of encouragement

46. Page 44 Creative work environments

47. Page 45 Creative work environments open spaces room for personalization close to parks, coffee shops etc. healthy snacks and drinks out in the open meeting spaces creation of personal connections

48. Page 46 Drill A

49. Page 47 Drill A

50. Page 48 Drill B

51. Page 49 Drill B

52. Page 50 Conclusion & Questions

53. Page 51 Conclusion Summary Questions