Amandine Devergies

What is an innovation workshop and why you need one

Innovation is the key to success in today’s competitive and fast-changing world. But how do you come up with new and better solutions for your customers, your business, or your society? How do you unleash the creative potential of your team and collaborate effectively across disciplines and boundaries?

One powerful way to do that is by conducting an innovation workshop. An innovation workshop is a structured and facilitated process that helps you and your team to:

  • Define and understand a problem or opportunity
  • Generate and explore diverse and novel ideas
  • Evaluate and prioritize the most promising ideas
  • Prototype and test feasible and desirable solutions
  • Plan and implement the next steps and actions

An innovation workshop can help you achieve various goals, such as:

  • Developing new products, services, or business models
  • Improving existing processes, systems, or customer experiences
  • Solving complex or wicked problems
  • Exploring new markets, trends, or technologies
  • Building a culture of innovation and collaboration

An innovation workshop can also bring many benefits to your team and organization, such as:

  • Enhancing creativity and innovation skills
  • Boosting motivation and engagement
  • Fostering trust and communication
  • Leveraging collective knowledge and diversity
  • Creating value and impact

If you want to learn more about innovation workshops and how to run them effectively, you are in the right place. In this webpage, I will share with you some practical guidance and tips on how to plan, prepare, run, facilitate, and follow up on an innovation workshop. I will also provide you with some examples and references to inspire you and help you along the way.

A hand holding a light bulb with icons of innovation emerging from it and a laptop showing a world map in the background.

How to plan and prepare for an innovation workshop

Before you run an innovation workshop, you need to do some planning and preparation to ensure its success. Here are some steps that you need to take:

Identify the problem or opportunity

The first step is to identify the problem or opportunity that you want to address with your innovation workshop. This will help you to define the scope and objectives of your workshop, as well as the criteria for evaluating the ideas and solutions.

To identify the problem or opportunity, you can use various methods, such as:

  • Conducting research and analysis of your customers, competitors, market, and industry
  • Interviewing or surveying your stakeholders, such as customers, employees, partners, or experts
  • Observing or experiencing the current situation or process
  • Brainstorming or using other techniques to generate questions or challenges

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you structure and articulate the problem or opportunity, such as:

  • The Five Whys: A technique that helps you to dig deeper into the root cause of a problem by asking “why” five times
  • The Problem Statement: A concise and clear description of the problem, its context, and its impact
  • The How Might We: A question that reframes the problem as an opportunity and invites creative thinking

For example, if you want to improve the online shopping experience for your customers, you might use the Five Whys to identify the problem:

  • Why are customers dissatisfied with the online shopping experience?
    Because they find it difficult to navigate the website and find what they are looking for
  • Why do they find it difficult to navigate the website and find what they are looking for?
    Because the website is not user-friendly and does not provide enough information or guidance
  • Why is the website not user-friendly and does not provide enough information or guidance?
    Because the website design is outdated and does not follow the best practices of user interface and user experience
  • Why is the website design outdated and does not follow the best practices of user interface and user experience?
    Because the website was developed a long time ago and has not been updated or improved since then
  • Why was the website developed a long time ago and has not been updated or improved since then?
    Because the company did not invest enough resources or attention to the website development and maintenance

Then, you might use the Problem Statement to describe the problem:

The problem is that the website is outdated and not user-friendly, which makes it difficult for customers to navigate and find what they are looking for. This affects customer satisfaction, loyalty, retention, and the company’s sales and reputation.

Finally, you might use the How Might We question to reframe the problem as an opportunity:

How might we redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better online shopping experience for our customers?

A creative Asian woman professional immersed in a brainstorming session with colorful gears, graphs, and a light bulb.

Define the scope and objectives

The next step is to define the scope and objectives of your innovation workshop. This will help you to focus your efforts and resources, as well as to communicate and align with your stakeholders.

To define the scope and objectives, you need to answer some questions, such as:

  • What is the specific problem or opportunity that you want to address with your innovation workshop?
  • What are the expected outcomes and deliverables of your innovation workshop?
  • What are the success criteria and metrics that you will use to measure the results of your innovation workshop?
  • What are the constraints and assumptions that you need to consider for your innovation workshop?
  • What are the risks and uncertainties that you need to mitigate or manage for your innovation workshop?

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you define the scope and objectives, such as:

  • The SMART: A technique that helps you to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives
  • The Project Charter: A document that summarizes the key information and agreements about the project, such as the problem statement, the objectives, the scope, the stakeholders, the roles and responsibilities, the timeline, the budget, the risks, and the communication plan
  • The Project Canvas: A visual tool that helps you to capture and communicate the essential elements of your project, such as the vision, the goals, the value proposition, the customer segments, the key activities, the resources, the costs, the revenue streams, and the risks

For example, if you want to redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better online shopping experience for your customers, you might use the SMART technique to set some objectives:

  • Increase the website traffic by 20% in the next six months
  • Reduce the bounce rate by 10% in the next six months
  • Increase the conversion rate by 15% in the next six months
  • Increase the customer satisfaction score by 25% in the next six months
  • Increase the customer retention rate by 10% in the next six months

Then, you might use the Project Charter or the Project Canvas to document and communicate the scope and objectives of your innovation workshop.

A light bulb with green leaves symbolizing eco-friendly innovation on a desk with tools and a laptop, and digital graphics of innovative ideas aiming at defining project scope and objectives.

Choose the right participants and facilitators

The third step is to choose the right participants and facilitators for your innovation workshop. This will help you to ensure the diversity, quality, and engagement of your team and your ideas.

To choose the right participants and facilitators, you need to consider some factors, such as:

  • The size and composition of your team: You want to have a team that is large enough to generate diverse and creative ideas, but small enough to collaborate effectively and efficiently. A good rule of thumb is to have between 5 and 20 participants per workshop, depending on the scope, context and objective of your workshop. You also want to have a team that represents different perspectives, backgrounds, skills, and roles, such as customers, users, experts, stakeholders, decision-makers, and implementers.
  • The roles and responsibilities of your team: You want to have a clear and shared understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each team member, such as who is the sponsor, who is the leader, who is the facilitator, who is the recorder, who is the presenter, and who is the feedback giver. You also want to have a clear and shared agreement on the expectations, norms, and rules of your team, such as how to communicate, how to collaborate, how to contribute, how to respect, and how to have fun.
  • The skills and experience of your team: You want to have a team that has the necessary skills and experience to participate and contribute to the innovation workshop, such as creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and facilitation. You also want to have a team that is willing and able to learn and adapt to new situations, methods, and tools.

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you choose the right participants and facilitators, such as:

  • The Stakeholder Map: A tool that helps you to identify and analyze the stakeholders that are involved or affected by your project, such as their interests, needs, expectations, influence, and relationship
  • The Team Canvas: A tool that helps you to define and align the team’s vision, goals, values, strengths, weaknesses, roles, responsibilities, and rules
  • The Facilitator’s Guide: A document that provides guidance and tips for the facilitator on how to plan, prepare, run, and follow up on the innovation workshop, such as the agenda, the methods, the tools, the materials, the logistics, and the evaluation

For example, if you want to redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better online shopping experience for your customers, you might use the Stakeholder Map to identify and select some participants, such as:

  • Customers: To provide feedback and insights on their needs, preferences, and experiences
  • Users: To provide feedback and insights on their behaviors, motivations, and challenges
  • Experts: To provide knowledge and advice on the best practices and trends of website design and user experience
  • Stakeholders: To provide support and resources for the project, such as the web developer, the web analyst, the marketing manager, and the project sponsor
  • Facilitator: To design and lead the innovation workshop
A conceptual image of innovation and technology, with a small glowing light bulb surrounded by large people, dressed in business attire or lab coats, and a world map in the background.

How to run and facilitate an innovation workshop

Once you have planned and prepared for your innovation workshop, you are ready to run and facilitate it. Here are some steps that you need to take:

Create alignment and trust

The first step is to create alignment and trust among your team and with your problem or opportunity. This will help you to establish a common understanding, a shared vision, and a positive atmosphere for your innovation workshop.

To create alignment and trust, you can use various methods, such as:

  • Conducting an icebreaker or a warm-up activity to introduce yourself and your team, to break the ice, and to have some fun
  • Sharing the purpose, objectives, and agenda of your innovation workshop, and inviting feedback and questions from your team
  • Explaining the rules and norms of your innovation workshop, such as how to communicate, how to collaborate, how to contribute, how to respect, and how to have fun
  • Presenting the problem or opportunity statement, and validating it with your team and your customers or users
  • Creating a persona or a customer profile to empathize with your customers or users, and to understand their needs, preferences, and experiences
  • Creating a customer journey map or a user story to visualize the current situation or process, and to identify the pain points, opportunities, and emotions of your customers or users

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you create alignment and trust, such as:

  • The Empathy Map: A tool that helps you to empathize with your customers or users, and to capture what they say, think, feel, and do
  • The Value Proposition Canvas: A tool that helps you to understand the value proposition of your project, and how it matches the customer segments, the customer jobs, the customer pains, and the customer gains
  • The Business Model Canvas: A tool that helps you to understand the business model of your project, and how it creates, delivers, and captures value for your customers and your organization

For example, if you want to redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better online shopping experience for your customers, you might use an icebreaker activity to create alignment and trust, such as:

  • The Two Truths and a Lie: A game where each person tells two truths and one lie about themselves, and the others have to guess which one is the lie
  • The Human Bingo: A game where each person has a bingo card with different characteristics or facts, and they have to find someone who matches each one
  • The One Word: A game where each person says one word that describes how they feel about the innovation workshop, and then explains why

Then, you might use the Empathy Map, the Value Proposition Canvas, or the Business Model Canvas to create alignment and trust with your problem or opportunity.

A brainstorming meeting with professionals focused on delivering the best solution symbolizing innovation and idea generation.

Generate and explore ideas

The second step is to generate and explore ideas for your problem or opportunity. This will help you to unleash your creativity and innovation and to discover new and better solutions for your customers, your business, or your society.

To generate and explore ideas, you can use various methods, such as:

  • Brainstorming or using other techniques to generate as many ideas as possible, without judging or filtering them
  • Clustering or using other techniques to organize and categorize your ideas, based on themes, patterns, or criteria
  • Diverging or using other techniques to expand and enrich your ideas, by adding more details, features, or variations
  • Converging or using other techniques to narrow down and select your ideas, based on the criteria and metrics that you defined earlier

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you generate and explore ideas, such as:

  • The SCAMPER: A technique that helps you to generate ideas by asking questions that modify your existing ideas, such as Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, or Reverse
  • The Six Thinking Hats: A technique that helps you to explore ideas by adopting different perspectives, such as the white hat (facts and data), the yellow hat (benefits and optimism), the black hat (risks and criticism), the red hat (feelings and intuition), the green hat (creativity and alternatives), and the blue hat (process and overview)
  • The TRIZ: A technique that helps you to generate ideas by applying the principles and patterns of inventive problem-solving, such as the contradiction matrix, the 40 inventive principles, the 76 standard solutions, and the trends of evolution

For example, if you want to redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better online shopping experience for your customers, you might use brainstorming to generate ideas, such as:

  • Adding a chatbot or a live chat feature to provide instant and personalized assistance to the customers
  • Implementing a recommendation system or a personalization engine to suggest relevant and customized products or offers to the customers
  • Creating a loyalty program or a referral scheme to reward and retain customers
  • Integrating a social media or a community platform to enable the customers to share and review their purchases, and to interact with other customers or experts
  • Designing a gamified or interactive interface to enhance the engagement and enjoyment of the customers

Then, you might use clustering, diverging, converging, or other techniques to explore your ideas.

A colorful illustration of an idea sheet with various elements of innovation, technology, and productivity surrounding it.

How to prototype and test solutions

The third step is to prototype and test solutions for your problem or opportunity. This will help you to validate and improve your ideas, and to learn from your customers, your users, or your stakeholders.

To prototype and test solutions, you can use various methods, such as:

  • Sketching or using other techniques to create low-fidelity prototypes of your solutions, such as drawings, diagrams, wireframes, or mockups
  • Building or using other techniques to create high-fidelity prototypes of your solutions, such as models, demos, apps, or websites
  • Testing or using other techniques to evaluate your prototypes with your customers, your users, or your stakeholders, such as interviews, surveys, experiments, or observations
  • Iterating or using other techniques to refine and improve your prototypes based on the feedback and data that you collected, such as adding, removing, or changing features or functions

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you prototype and test solutions, such as:

  • The Prototype: A technique that helps you to create a tangible representation of your solution, that can be seen, touched, or experienced by your customers, your users, or your stakeholders
  • The Test: A technique that helps you to collect feedback and data on your prototype, that can be used to measure its performance, usability, desirability, and feasibility
  • The Lean Startup: A technique that helps you to build, measure, and learn from your prototypes, and to apply the build-measure-learn loop to validate your assumptions and hypotheses

For example, if you want to redesign the website to make it more user-friendly and provide a better online shopping experience for your customers, you might use sketching to create low-fidelity prototypes of your solutions, such as:

  • A sketch of the homepage that shows the layout, the navigation, the logo, the banner, the search bar, the categories, the recommendations, and the chatbot
  • A sketch of the product page that shows the product image, the product name, the product description, the product price, the product rating, the product reviews, the add to cart button, and the related products
  • A sketch of the checkout page that shows the cart summary, the shipping address, the payment method, the coupon code, the total amount, and the place order button

Then, you might use building, testing, iterating, or other techniques to create high-fidelity prototypes and test them with your customers or users.

A 3D food product prototype getting out of a notebook with gears and other mechanical elements floating around.

How to follow up and implement the outcomes of an innovation workshop

The last step is to follow up and implement the outcomes of your innovation workshop. This will help you to ensure the sustainability and success of your innovation workshop and to create value and impact for your customers, your business, or your society.

To follow up and implement the outcomes of your innovation workshop, you can use various methods, such as:

  • Documenting and sharing the results of your innovation workshop, such as the problem statement, the objectives, the ideas, the prototypes, the feedback, and the data
  • Planning the next steps and actions for your innovation workshop, such as the tasks, the responsibilities, the deadlines, and the resources
  • Measuring and monitoring the impact of your innovation workshop, such as the outcomes, the deliverables, the benefits, and the costs

You can also use some frameworks or tools to help you follow up and implement the outcomes of your innovation workshop, such as:

  • The Action Plan: A tool that helps you to plan and track the actions that you need to take to implement your solution, such as the action, the owner, the date, the status, and the notes
  • The Impact Map: A tool that helps you to measure and communicate the impact of your solution, such as the goal, the stakeholders, the impacts, and the deliverables
  • The Feedback Loop: A technique that helps you to collect and act on the feedback that you receive from your customers, your users, or your stakeholders, such as the feedback, the analysis, the action, and the evaluation
A creative illustration of a 3D car prototype with the Earth as its glass envelope, surrounded by people, elements of urban development, and nature, symbolizing the integration of innovation in a team and environmental sustainability.

FAQs

What are some examples of innovation workshops?

  • The Design Sprint: A five-day process that helps you to answer critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers
  • The Hackathon: A short-term event that brings together programmers, designers, and other experts to collaborate on creating a software or hardware solution for a specific problem or challenge
  • The World Cafe: A conversational process that engages groups of people in exploring questions that matter, by creating a cafe-like environment and using a series of rounds of dialogue

What are some tools and techniques for ideation?

  • The Brainstorming: A technique that helps you to generate as many ideas as possible, without judging or filtering them
  • The Mind Mapping: A technique that helps you to organize and visualize your ideas, by creating a diagram that shows the relationships between concepts, words, or images
  • The SCAMPER: A technique that helps you to generate ideas by asking questions that modify your existing ideas, such as Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, or Reverse

How long should an innovation workshop last?

  • The duration of an innovation workshop depends on various factors, such as the complexity and urgency of the problem or opportunity, the availability and commitment of the participants and facilitators, the resources and budget of the project, and the expected outcomes and deliverables of the workshop.
  • A typical innovation workshop can last from a few hours to a few days, depending on the scope and objectives of the workshop.

How can I run an innovation workshop remotely?

  • You can run an innovation workshop remotely by using online tools and platforms that enable you to communicate, collaborate, and create with your team and your customers or users, such as video conferencing, chat, document sharing, whiteboard, polling, voting, and prototyping tools.
  • You can also adapt the methods and techniques that you use for your innovation workshop to suit the remote setting, such as by breaking down the workshop into shorter and more frequent sessions, by assigning pre-work and homework to the participants, by providing clear and concise instructions and feedback, and by creating a fun and engaging atmosphere

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