Innovation Session

Innovation Session

Activity number: Type of skills: Competences (21st century skills) covered: 2

Cultural

Creativity and Innovation / Collaboration / Communication / Critical thinking and Problem solving [Cultural]

Activity title: “Innovation session”

Type of activity Workshop Abstract • We often see and consider things from a thinking system. A thinking system that allows us to learn very quickly through the stability of quickly built patterns. As a result we build a set of successful patterns of thinking and acting that we have made our own. But this thinking system, which draws its strength from the stability of patterns and habits, is by definition also

difficult to break and to enable creative thinking • Creative thinking is a set of thinking attitudes, thinking skills, thinking techniques and thinking processes that increase the chance of pattern breaking, making new connections in our brains. • Creative basic skills are: ❖ Creative observation ( I can associate milk with…) ❖ Postponement of judgment ( listening, accepting, exploring, judge) ❖ Flexible association (dissociation and reassociation) ❖ Divergence (Ideas dump, flower association,, superheroes, etc.) ❖ Development of imagination (the skill of using images instead of verbs/ picture thinking) TIP: In addition to being able to conduct an innovation session with a homogeneous group such as young people, it is advisable, when you want to tackle a problem of an organizational nature that appears to be difficult to solve, to choose your participants from: 1) PROFESSIONALS: direct colleagues from your own field ( 60% participation) 2) GENERALISTS: colleagues from your own organization but not belonging to your field (20% participation) 3) WILD GEESE: participants who are not working within your organization(20% participation)

Goal

In the innovation session we focus on basic creative skills that can help us break through our thinking patterns such as: creative observation, delay of judgement, flexible association, diverge and converge and develop imagination. Objectives Is part of the theme: “Knowing myself: Better understanding of ourselves/ More awareness of the way we view things” Target group Youngsters between 16- 27 years Duration 3 hours Venue Room where there is enough space to walk around, to put papers on the wall and chairs that can be put in half a circle Requirements flipover/10 post-its / 4 (A5) paper on the wall / 3 posters (A5) with the 3 cocd boxes ( yellow, blue and red ideas) / laptop / ballpoints / colored small round stickers (needed\: red /yellow and blue) / photos ot al list (with superhero’s / or objects) / markers (red /blue and black) / for each participant a sheet with the same 8 words / for each participant a sheet with the names of superheroes and super companies /small ball

Content

Description of each phase/part of the activity Duration The role of the trainer The role of the participants Requirements

Preparing the space and all the necessary tools and handouts, 45 min Getting things ready n/a See above

laptop, screen, power point presentation, flip overs, the COCD box, ballpoints, paper, small ball, etc. Welcome and general explanation about the workshop 10 min ➢ Introduces him- or herself ➢ Explains the purpose and duration of the workshop related to the theme “Knowing myself”. (Do not tell the content of the workshop here yet. This is discussed in detail in the power point presentation) Listening

Getting to know each other 10 min Introducing exercise: Find the similarities (2 minutes) ➢ All participants receive an A4 with 8 words on it. Everyone has the same words; ➢ Participants start a conversation with someone to find a word with which they both 'have something in common'; ➢ When the pair have a word, they write each other's name next to that word and quickly move on to meet others. The goal is to get as many names as possible for all words. Participants look each other up and start to talk to each other trying to reach as many as possible other participants.

PowerPoint presentation Innovation Session 30 min Presents the PowerPoint presentation Listening and interacting with the Sheets for every participant with the same 8 words on each sheet. Choice of words can be different. See the handout as an example. In any case concepts that participants can discuss with each other.

Projector/laptop and projection

Briefing 10 min Tip: as a trainer, look in advance for a problem that the participants have in common and for which you can use the innovation session. You can do this, for example, by sending a short questionnaire in advance as homework that the participants have to fill in. These can be questions about their areas of life, problems they encounter, goals they want to achieve, motivation, etc. Collect those answers and look at the common denominator( s) and chose 2/ 3 possible problems to work on. ➢ At the beginning of the workshop, presents ( already written on a flip chart) a maximum of 2/3 problems you choose prior to the workshop ➢ Discusses with the participants the starting question (problem) on the flipchart ➢ Reformulates the question with: “How can we …?“ and check whether everyone agrees with the starting question for the session ➢ Writes the reformulated question on another sheet of the flip chart. trainer. Interact with trainer, discussing about defining and reformulating the starting question. Flipchart/markers (black/ red and blue)

screen/loudspeakers

Diverging phase

Diverging phase: 1. THE IDEA DUMP

Diverging phase: 2. THE FLOWER ASSOCIATION 2 min Before the start of the diverging phase, shares a pile of post-its and a pen to each participant 10 min ➢ Asks the participants to write possible ideas/solutions that could solve the problem and write them down on a post-it and to hand them over to the trainer and at the same time say out loud what they have come up with. ➢ Gathers and numbers all post-it and put them on a large white paper (no. 1) 15 min ➢ Draws on the flipchart a flower with a heart surrounded by three or four rows of petals and ask the participants to choose a keyword from the starting question to put in the heart of the flower ➢ Asks the participant to name terms that can be associated with the keyword and write them in the first circle of leaves surrounding the heart of the flower until all leaves have been filled in with a word ➢ Asks now to choice one word from one of the petals and to put it in Participants try to write individually as many ideas as possible and hand them to the trainer.

Participants discuss with each other and the trainer about the choice for the keyword

Participants name associated terms

Participants chose one word and to start associate with the term

Participants chose one word and to start associate with the Flipchart / markers / post-its / ballpoints

Diverging phase: 3. SUPERHERO 4. SUPER COMPANY the second row of petals and to associate terms with that second chosen word until all the petals are filled here too ➢ Repeats the operations again to fill a third or even a fourth row with petals. Until the named terms are far away from the keyword in the middle in terms of association ➢ Asks the participants to choose one word from the outer ring with petals ➢ Asks the question: How can “that chosen term” solve the initial question/ problem and asks the participants to write their answers on post-its, to hand them over to the trainer and at the same time say out loud what they have come up with ➢ Encourages the participants to give as many answers as possible ➢ Numbers all post-it and put them on another large white paper (no. 2) 10 min Tip: you can do superheroes and super companies together in 1 exercise or separately in 2 exercises. term

Participants chose 1 word

Participants start to write answers and handle them over to the trainer while saying what they wrote

Participants share which hero they choose Participants write their ideas on A4 with names of some male and female superhero’s / super companies