Innovation Facilitation

Momentum Innovation Facilitation TrainingMomentum Facilitation Trainingv1

Accelerate Innovation by training staff facilitators in advanced tools and techniques

Innovation Facilitation is best done with a highly specific set of principles, tools, and techniques. Leaders and project managers who know these tools, and have these skills, accelerate innovation. Professional facilitators are expensive, and, they often don’t know enough about the given context. Having better facilitation skills in-house improves every meeting, session, or process in an innovation effort. That’s worth investment.

Learning to be an effective innovation facilitator can take years — if you don’t get training. Can your organization afford to wait? The sweet spot for innovation facilitators is a combination of tools, frameworks, and experience inside a focused project.

Facilitation skills amplify innovation frameworks

If you don’t have a framework (such as Agile, Lean, or Design Thinking) Momentum Facilitation Training provides a straight forward innovation project management approach. Organizations just getting a formal program underway would do well to start with this training, it’s an essential building block. Organizations with internal facilitators and existing frameworks in place sharpen their skills and add new advanced tools to their portfolio.

This is intensive hands-on training. Participants learn by doing, and in small groups. Thoughtful guidance is provided to improve skills in a safe environment.

Master trainer Gregg Fraley leads this two-day* training. Gregg is a highly experienced, and creative, innovation trainer and practitioner. Selected by the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) as a Distinguished Leader, he’s been training professional facilitators for many years. He teaches classic power tools (like Brain Writing and Challenge Mapping) but also new methods and approaches that are advanced practice. Training in these advanced tools, such as BrainWalks, IdeaKeg interactions (Trend driven innovation), Future Tense Stories, or MoshPit (concept blends) are not available from any other source.

Knowing how to use these advanced innovation process tools is a competitive advantage.

From visioning to brainstorming to implementation, these facilitation skills are an opportunity to improve and grow innovation at your organization. Participants leave the course with tools they will use immediately.

Benefits

  • Save time by creating and sustaining faster, more efficient, innovation cycles
  • Save money by reducing or eliminating the need to hire expensive professional facilitator’s and outside consultants
  • More growth through successful innovation projects

Course Content Overview

Facilitators learn how to manage and facilitate innovation project teams.

  • Role of facilitator, and adapting to an organizations needs
    • Working with difficult groups and conflict management
    • Session needs assessment and design
      • Meeting logistics, materials, AV, Stage-setting
    • Understanding the organizational mandate for innovation
    • Innovation Roadmapping
  • Building a team with diverse thinking skills, and why and how to create an effective innovation team
  • Visioning what’s possible and choosing candidate projects
    • Visioning and strategy session design
    • This training can be combined with the Innovation MoshPit Service, to find breakthrough projects and ideas
  • Frameworks overview, choosing one, or working with:
    • Design Thinking
    • Agile
    • Lean
    • Osborn-Parnes CPS
    • Stage-Gate
    • Home Grown system
  • Conducting strategy and idea generation sessions that combine:
    • Homework, Virtual Work, and Group sessions
    • Exposure to, and best practice with regard to using Idea Management Systems (IMS)
    • Advanced Ideation Tools: Brainwriting, Brainwalking, Scaffolding, Forced Connections, use of Improv games, Convergence tools, and more
  • Idea/Concept development and writing up ideas, a continuation of idea generation, using compelling “future tense” stories
  • Pitching management for resources and commitment
  • Managing continuous innovation project cycles

Schedule Training

Organizations like Hershey, University of Chicago, UCal Berkeley, Notre Dame, YUM, Sanofi Pharmaceutical, Adams State University, Abbvie, and Johnsonville Sausage have all benefited from this training. For more information about design, pricing, customization, and scheduling, contact Gregg Fraley directly: gregg@greggfraley.com

*  Two-days is the standard to cover this material and provide enough hands-on practice. The course can be up to three days, or, as short as 1.5 days. Course logistics and final design are customized to your location and needs.