Pre-Conference Workshops
You may choose to begin your week by attending a one-day Pre-Conference Workshop. Each is unique and offers an opportunity to dive into that which piques your interest! The Pre-Conference Workshops will take place on Sunday, June 20th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and lunch is included. Choose ONE workshop:
- Building Innovative Organizations **1 seat left**
- Creativity in our Classrooms
- Facilitating Creativity in a Culturally Diverse World
- Facilitating LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ **SOLD OUT**
- One-Day Jump into CPS
- Painting On Water Workshop - Achieve your Goal With The Flow
Can't attend the Pre-Conference workshops on the 20th? Take a look at our two-day Post-Conference workshops on the 25th and 26th. Read more...
Building Innovative Organizations **1 seat left**
What is innovation and how do we make it an integrated part of our organization?
Wise leaders know that innovation is the key to long term return on investment. The word “innovation” is in every other corporate communication and showing up in most organizational value statements. And while we know it when we see it, how do we create an organization that produces innovation steadily, over time, and across the enterprise?
How do we make sure that we not only have new or improved products and services, but also have innovation in our internal business practices? How do we work with our external partners, suppliers and customers in ways that create innovative opportunities?
In the last few years, the general “noise” about creativity and innovation in commerce has grown much louder. With this increase in volume, it is common to experience a need to say to investors “yes, we do that too” but the actual knowledge of what works and what doesn’t lags behind the desire to have it.
A myopic view of innovation results in unnecessary mistakes and resources squandered in its pursuit. Research and experience shows the path to profitable differentiation by being more innovative than those in your competitive class. It’s no longer a question of who will build a great innovation culture, it’s a question of who does it better, sooner and more wisely.
This program will look at the things that enable -- and block -- a steady culture of innovation that grows value sustainably and organically. We’ll explore:
- The incredible opportunities available when you focus not only on products, but also people, processes and context.
- The key leader behaviors needed to energize an innovation culture and how great intentions often end in failure.
- Ways to manage the polarity between risk reduction and the need to experiment.
- Key lessons that can be taken from successful case examples and how to avoid the trap of one-size-fits-all benchmarking.
- How measurement and accountability are necessary to create a culture that innovates over the long haul.
- Moves that can be made from varying parts of the business to create the migration from business as it has been to innovation as the new norm.
- How the various creative processes (i.e. Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking, TRIZ, Synectics etc.) fit in a system designed for sustained innovation.
- Ways to assure that you gain the benefit, and avoid the backlash that can come from IT-enabled idea management systems
We will be fast-paced, experiential, supported by research and by many years of practical experience across a wide range of industries and organizational types.
You will end the day with the foundation of a plan to take back to your organization which will form a launchpad to propel you up to the next level of “innovation intelligence.” Helmets and safety goggles are optional.
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Creativity in our Classrooms
This Workshop is for individuals interested in exploring, developing, and implementing appropriate courses, curricula, and pedagogical techniques for the teaching/learning of creative thinking and problem-solving at college and high school levels.
Workshop sessions will be devoted to:
- Discussion of specific goals and intended learning outcomes for courses (and programs) on creative thinking and problem solving;
- Presentation of findings from a current literature search on the pedagogy of creative thinking and problem solving;
- Presentation of research and evaluation findings from the presenter s teaching of semester-long courses on creative thinking and problem-solving, along with a discussion of implications of those findings;
- Discussion and sharing of individuals experiences in their own capacities as teachers or learners of creative thinking and problem solving; and
- Exploration of obstacles/limitations in implementing such courses and programs.
Finally, and most importantly, the presenter hopes to assemble a community of individuals who wish to continue to collaborate in the exploration, innovation, development, implementation, and evaluation of individual course curricula, of creativity-across-the curriculum, and of specific pedagogical techniques and approaches for the effective teaching and long-term learning and use of creative thinking and problem solving.
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Facilitating Creativity in a Culturally Diverse World
Tim Switalski | Laura Barbero Switalski
This program will focus on the unique challenges and opportunities that exist when we help individuals or groups to apply creativity in culturally diverse environments.
Using a variety of theoretical frameworks we will present the core cultural values that differentiate national cultures and we will connect them with our professional experience in facilitating creativity in a variety of cultural contexts. We will discuss how individuals and cultures may approach the creative process in different ways and demonstrate how different techniques can be used to harness this diversity and enhance creativity and innovation.
Finally, we will focus on the growing importance for facilitators to develop "cultural intelligence" (CQ) which can be defined as the capacity to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures. Participants will:
- Increase awareness and understanding of how we experience cultural differences;
- Explore each of the core cultural values that can be used to understand and measure cultural differences and identify our personal orientations to each of these values: time, context, individualism, power distance, and uncertainty;
- Experience "synthetic cultures" as a method for identifying cultural barriers to creativity and innovation; and
- Identify core competencies and facilitator best practices that can be developed to harness cultural diversity and enhance creativity and innovation.
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Facilitating LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ **SOLD OUT**
Jacqueline Lloyd-Smith | Douglas Smith
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ (LSP) is a facilitated thinking & communications technique. It draws on extensive research from the field of business, organization development, psychology and learning. Using hand- brain knowledge this 3D process helps teams surface information, explore ideas, create better options, develop deeper knowledge and identify solutions faster with 100% engagement. Learning Objectives:
- Custom develop and facilitate half day LSP sessions;
- Apply the four step processes to improve team communication;
- Identify when, LSP can be most useful;
- Supplement your creative program;
- Avoid conversational roundabouts;
- Use flow theory
- Exploration and discuss ideas on a deeper level;
- Create shared mental models to help teams perform their best;
Participants both experience the flow of being a client and also debrief from a facilitator's perspective. The room has two tables, the play table for experience and the theory table for facilitation debrief. The day starts fast with a brief introduction of the trainers and then we get our hands on the bricks. After individual skill building the day moves to individual model building and then group landscapes. LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY™ has three stages at each building step: Build, give meaning, tell the story, and reflect.
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One-Day Jump into CPS
Unable to join us for five days? Then spend a concentrated day focusing on the key elements of applying creative thinking and problem solving both professionally and personally. In this accelerated program, you will learn the basics of applying creative thinking so that you can clarify problems, generate ideas, develop solutions and implement ideas on demand.
This is also a good refresher if you haven't been to CPSI in a while or are new to CPSI and are not taking the Springboard Program.
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Painting On Water Workshop - Achieve your Goal With The Flow
FLOW is a desirable creative state. According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of "Flow," people say they are happier while they are in the flow.
How do you achieve that regularly in your busy schedule? Experience the optimal flow that all creative professionals thrive. An irresistible invitation for the muse. You will handle the uncharted waters, chaos and uncertainties in life with a new perspective. In this one-of-a-kind workshop developed by an engineer and award-wining artist, you will learn by doing, a 100% experiential experience.
The basic art of Painting On Water -- a contemporary version of the ancient Suminagashi (Sue-me-nah-gah-she) is based on an ancient art of flowing ink on the surface of water. Note the "Ahas!" transforming your personal and work applications. As a bonus, you will also gain insights into the Asian wisdom and Chinese legends. Both relaxing and energizing, this most requested creativity workshop is known to be fun and unique. It serves as an introduction as well as a review of the CPS, Creative Problem Solving model.
Learning Objectives
- Relax and energize
- Apply universal principles
- Transform perspectives in work and personal life
- Experience a new form of art
- Experiment with uncertainty and chaos
- Understand probability and opportunities
- Exercise creativity
- Practice tools & techniques
Take Away
- Learn to goal with the flow
- Gain insights into the culture and philosophy of China and Japan
- Journal your inner journey and gain Ahas
Suitable for anyone with a curious attitude. No pre-requisites. Must be 21% open-mined. No drop-ins.
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