Innovative Problem Solving workshop
(2-Day Course)

Workshop Overview

Innovation Management is the process of managing the creation and delivery of value to the customer. Innovation is aptly described as Mind to Market – an idea or an invention does not qualify to be called an innovation till it does not find acceptance from the customers. Innovative problem solving is the systematic approach towards removing the hurdles encountered in the process of value creation and delivery to the customers.

The program will introduce participants to the core skills that are inherent in all of us and provide hands-on practice on real-world problems. Innovative thinking is the systematic development and application of those skills in resolving the non-typical situations encountered in the process of value creation and delivery to customers.

The workshop is targeted at middle to senior management involved in operations and projects. In an enterprise wide deployment of innovation management this workshop is intended to serve as the catalyst for management to make the process of innovative problem solving more predictable.

Workshop Objectives

  • Sensitize participants on the hurdles to be overcome in generating innovative solutions
  • Identify improvement opportunities within the work area and deploy sustainable (win-win) solutions.

Workshop Outline

Day 1

  • Introduction to Creativity and Innovation
    • Routine problems versus Creative Problems
    • What is Innovation and Innovation Management
    • Why unbridled creativity is inefficient
    • How to make the process of Innovation predictable
  • Fundamental Concepts
    • Understand the concept of Element – Parameter  – Value (EPV)
    • Understand how EPV is applied in a real world context
    • Understand the concept of Functions and how to write Functions
    • Understand Types of functions
    • Learn System Operator or Multi-screen thinking and its application in problem definition and resource identification
  • Skill # 1 Innovation Opportunity Identification
    • Four dimensions for innovation opportunities
    • Three dimensions to understand customer value creation opportunities
      • Tasks or Jobs
      • Measures of outcome
      • Constraints
    • Mapping to the Buyer Experience Cycle
  • Skill # 2 Abstraction and Analogy Thinking
    • Abstraction thinking
    • Analogy thinking
  • Skill # 3 Ideal Scenario Thinking
    • Envision the state of Perfection
    • Evaluate current solution from Ideal Final Result (IFR)
      • Expressing Functions appropriately
      • Identify Useful/Harmful Functions
    • Refine solution
  • Review of concepts covered during the day

Day 2

  • Skill # 4 Contradiction Thinking – Identify and resolve contradictions
    • Identify the barriers and/or contradictions in given situation
    • Understand how to express contradiction (using EPV) and the algorithm of resolving contradictions.
    • Understand how to make use of Contradiction Matrix
  • Skill # 5 Resource Thinking
    • Learn how to express the core problem in terms of Tool, Product and System
    • Identify readily available resources to move solution towards Ideal Final Result and to resolve Contradiction.
  • Skill # 6 Systems Thinking Network
    • Present cause-and-effect linkages of current situation and proposed solutions
    • Identify core problems to be addressed
  • Skill # 7 Generate Failure Hypotheses
    • Principle of Inversion to generate failure analysis
    • Link to Resource thinking skill
  • Resolving Secondary Problems/ Generating Action Plans
    • Apply earlier concepts in iterative manner to resolve secondary problems
  • Review of concepts covered during the day