Training | Classroom Workshops

Engage your organization around innovation

Classroom Workshops

Classroom Workshops

Our interactive and stimulating workshops challenge your teams to think differently, share ideas, and apply critical skills that enable them to collaborate effectively and solve problems. Participants learn new techniques and capabilities that empower them to start adding value to their everyday work right away.

What?

  • Five courses delivered in long half- or full-day sessions
  • Interactive and collaborative exercises foster hands-on engagement 
  • Superior case studies that are relevant, current, and out of the ordinary
  • "Best in class" facilitators trained in cognitive learning principles 
  • Participant "take-aways" include a workbook, set of innovation tools, and innovation tips and tricks

Why?

  • Address real business challenges with expert innovators on-hand
  • Encourage cross-functional collaboration within large global organizations
  • Energize teams and boost morale

Who?

  • Organizational Leaders, High Performers, and Individual Contributors

Where?

  • On-site (at your preferred location)

Courses

Innovative Thinking: Out-of-the-Box Techniques for Better Problem-Solving

“Be creative!” “Think outside the box!” We’re often pushed to think this way—but how? In this lively, interactive workshop, gain practical knowledge to tackle problems and envision answers in new ways. Learn proven techniques for defining the root causes of problems so that you can execute an effective solution more quickly.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers, Individual Contributors
Format:
Classroom Workshops
Tags:
Creative Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Defining Problems, Ideas

Practical Innovation: Get Better Ideas to Market Faster

What does it mean to be innovative? How do you best focus your resources to make your efforts a success? Discover the variety of ways that leaders innovate, unlock the key approaches to selecting the best ideas, and garner new ways to start engaging in innovation immediately. During this workshop, teams will learn the key approaches to strategic ideation, how to evaluate ideas, balance their portfolios, and overcome their innovation barriers. This collaborative session includes discussion questions to tie the content to their business issues, and it ends with tactical Tips and Tricks to help them start being more innovative NOW. Participants leave the session not just knowing more about innovation, but have specific ways to start leading the charge for their business.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers, Individual Contributors
Format:
Classroom Workshops
Tags:
Basics, Defining Innovation, Innovation Basics, Portfolio Balancing, Problem Solving, Process to Innovation

Leading Innovation: Strategic Approaches to Drive Change

Creating a climate of innovation that embraces smart risk and change is what sets leading innovators such as Best Buy, Pixar, and Zappos apart. In this energizing session you’ll get a taste of the “secret sauce” for creating an innovative culture that sustains success for the long-term. Gain a wealth of tangible, tactical techniques for igniting an innovative atmosphere within your organization immediately.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers
Format:
Classroom Workshops
Tags:
Breaking Silos, Climate, Collaboration, Embracing Change

Collaborative Thinking: Leverage Outside Resources to Reduce Risk and Accelerate Your Efforts

What could partnering with a competitor or university do for your organization? What might another business unit bring to the table for your group? Successful innovation demands cross-pollination and dialogue with disparate departments and external partners. In this eye-opening workshop, discover the dozens of ways organizations break down silos, get rapid input, and learn to share works-in-progress for better results.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers, Individual Contributors
Format:
Classroom Workshops
Tags:
Breaking Silos, Ideas, Ideation, Partnering

Disruptive Thinking: Challenge Assumptions and Break Rules to Generate Breakthrough Ideas

What exactly is “disruptive innovation”? How do you do it in an established industry? Groundbreaking ideas come from being unafraid to shake things up and create new conventions. Learn the art of upending paradigms, challenging assumptions, and identifying rules to break, both internally and externally.

Audience:
Organizational Leaders, High Performers, Individual Contributors
Format:
Classroom Workshops
Tags:
Ideas, Ideation, New Business Models, Problem Solving
  • Ready to build your team's innovation skills?
    Contact us

Client Quotes

  • “Innovation is deliberate, if done well. There is a science and process to it. futurethink has done their homework to provide a wealth of practical knowledge to their customers.”
    Senior Vice President of Innovation, Wells Fargo Wells Fargo
  • “Any innovative company must develop processes for understanding and responding to consumer needs in a very focused way. Otherwise, they're just inventors, they're not necessarily innovators.”
    Tony Tomazic, Director of Consumer Innovations, Humana Humana
  • “futurethink's sessions included excellent examples and energizing exercises that brought innovation to life. They got us to look at our business with new eyes.”
    Joan P. Lawrence-Ross, Chief Learning Officer, AXA
  • “futurethink's research and 'how-to' tools have been essential to building our innovation program.”
    Cindy Morgan, Innovation Manager, New England Federal Credit Union New England Federal Credit Union
  • “Working with futurethink was a very rewarding experience for our team. They brought a great combination of provocative outside ideas, market perspective and a program design that challenged us to think of our own business in more innovative ways.”
    Jim Daly, Vice President of Human Resources, Standard & Poor's Standard & Poor's
  • “futurethink is enabling us to build critical innovation skills and share best practices across our global organization.”
    Jeff Honious, Vice President of Innovation, Reed Elsevier Reed Elsevier
  • “If you don't innovate, be creative and look to the future and the possibilities of what will evolve over time, you will cease to be relevant.”
    Randy Voss, Senior Manager, Global Strategy & Business Development, Whirlpool Whirlpool
  • “futurethink made the topic of innovation, which means different things to different people, real, meaningful, and actionable.”
    Steven Rubinow, Chief Information Officer, NYSE Euronext NYSE Euronext Logo
  • “The futurethink workshop not only provided an incredible jolt of energy to our collective innovation efforts and established the common understanding of innovation concepts, but it was also a wonderful team-building event. I don’t think it could have been organized and conducted any better.”
    Michael Ripa, Manager, FRI Infomatics
  • “We need to look beyond our organization's walls to innovate.”
    Mehmoon Khan, Global Leader, Innovation Process Development, Unilever Unilever
  • “futurethink is always thinking ahead about learning and 'innovate' it before we ask! Their programs have been a huge success with our teams.”
    Director of Learning & Development, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Sonovian Pharmaceuticals
  • “futurethink is the innovation expert. They fine-tune their training to our clients' needs. I'm constantly looking for new opportunities to engage them in our work.”
    Brian Weberg, Director, National Conference of State Legislatures
  • “If you don't make innovation a strategic part of your business plan and you don't drive that into the culture, I don't think you'll have a strong innovation pipeline.”
    Mark Hausfeld, Innovation Manager, Global Business Services, Procter & Gamble Procter & Gamble
  • “futurethink's proven methodology, research, and tools help ensure we're always ready to meet the evolving public service challenges of tomorrow.”
    Sandy Stosz, Rear Admiral, United States Coast Guard United States Coast Guard
  • “futurethink made my leadership team think in new ways and helped us develop winning business ideas right in the room. My team now embraces innovation rather than fearing it.”
    Mary Fennoglio, Managing Director, Citigroup Corporate Investment Bank Citigroup
  • “The futurethink team did an outstanding job in designing and facilitating an innovation event for our senior leaders, many of who regarded this as the best innovation workshop that they had ever been a part of. I would recommend futurethink to any organization that is looking for clear and actionable pathways to Innovation.”
    Wayne Pethrick, Director, Marketing and Consumer Insights, Pitney Bowes Pitney Bowes