Excelsior Learning

Ignite Your Imagination

Purpose:

Ignite Your Imagination is an invigorating one day creative-thinking skills training program. This program is a non-conventional experience that enables individuals and teams to collaborate to generate innovative solutions to business priorities.

Audience:

The program is designed for individuals and teams who need to improve their creative-thinking, problem-solving, and facilitation skills.

Learning Objectives:

Upon the completion of the program, participants will...

Learn and apply a researched based, practical, and repeatable creative-thinking process
Use a rich array of creative thinking tools, techniques, and exercises that increase the quantity and quality of innovative
ideas and solutions
Strengthen, develop, and select innovative solutions and actions plans for real business opportunities
Identify the factors that affect creativity in teams, and design methods and techniques to foster collaboration and synergy
Identify the barriers to individual creativity, and develop barrier busting practices to overcome them
Rediscover a spirit of creativity, innovation, and risk taking through unconventional activities, learning exercises
and experiences

Experience Description:

The program goes beyond traditional creative-thinking and problem-solving skills training. It is hands on and chock full of relevant and practical content, creative-thinking and problem-solving steps, exercises, tools, and techniques. This dynamic approach enables participants to encounter immediate learning, and to apply their learning and develop innovative solutions to their real world challenges, opportunities, problems, and projects. The program is designed to produce a highly innovative learning environment so that participants can think and behave in a fresh, creative, and highly productive manner. The following is the full program agenda.

Pre-Program:

Participants identify a challenge, goal, opportunity, problem, or project that they work on during the program.

Ignite Your Imagination

10 min.	1. Introduction & Immersion:
	Sponsor/facilitator discuss the following: Purpose of the program – what’s the urgency? Timing of the program – why now? Outcomes – what will be expected going forward? Learning map – what is the process for the day?	Discussion
1 1/2 hrs.	2. Conditions for a Creative Climate & the Creative-Thinking Process:
	Facilitator discusses the factors that impact individual creativity, and creativity in teams Participants take a "magic carpet ride" creative-thinking exercise and are called upon to think quickly to solve a difficult problem Facilitator debriefs the creative-thinking exercise Facilitator introduces the creative-thinking process and the divergent creative thinking techniques/tools write it & shout it, and brainwriting Participants apply the creative-thinking techniques/tools to their challenges and goals Facilitator leads a debrief and transfer of learning points	Discussion Creative-Thinking Exercise Discussion Instruction Application Discussion
20 min.	Take a Creative-Thinking Break & Incubate
1 hr.	3. Creative-Thinking Process - Phase 1: Climb the Right Mountain:
	Participants ask divergent and convergent questions to improve their questioning and discovery skills; facilitator debriefs the creative-thinking exercise Facilitator introduces Phase 1 and the divergent creative-thinking techniques/tools pump it up, and break it down Participants apply the divergent creative-thinking techniques/tools to their challenges and goals Facilitator leads a debrief and transfer of learning points	Creative-Thinking Exercise Instruction Application Discussion
3/4 hr.	4. Creative-Thinking Process - Phase 2: Storm the Brains:
	Facilitator introduces Phase 2 and the divergent creative-thinking techniques/tools scamper and reverse hidden assumptions Participants apply the divergent creative-thinking technique/tool to their opportunities or problems Facilitator leads a debrief and transfer of learning points	Instruction Application Discussion
3/4 hr.	Refuel the Creative Brain and Eat Lunch
1 1/4 hrs.	5. Creative-Thinking Process - Phase 2: Storm the Brains (cont.):
	Participants get innovative, go "out of the box" and combine stuff to develop a new product or service Facilitator debriefs the creative-thinking exercise Facilitator introduces the divergent creative-thinking techniques/tools excursions,attribute listing, and forced connections Participants apply the divergent creative-thinking techniques/tools to their opportunities or problems Facilitator leads a debrief and transfer of learning points	Creative-Thinking Exercise Discussion Instruction Application Discussion
1/4 hr.	Take a Creative-Thinking Break & Incubate
1 hr.	6. Creative-Thinking Process - Phase 3: Strengthen & Select the Best
	Facilitator introduces Phase 3 and the convergent creative-thinking techniques/tools,three plusses and a wish and evaluation matrix Participants apply the convergent creative-thinking techniques/tools to their ideas/solutions Facilitator leads a debrief and transfer of learning points	Instruction Application Discussion
3/4 hr.	7. Creative-Thinking Process - Phase 4: Ignite Your Engines
	Facilitator introduces Phase 4 and the convergent creative-thinking techniques, quicksand prevention and rapid implementation Participants apply the convergent creative-thinking techniques to their solutions Facilitator leads a debrief and transfer of learning points	Instruction Application Discussion
10 min.	Take a Quick Incubation Break
1/2 hr.	8. Celebration & Closing
	Participants apply their creative-thinking and problem-solving skills in the "juggernaut" learning exercise Participants action plan and publicly commit to integrating their prioritized creative-thinking and problem-solving skills back on the job Sponsor and facilitator close the program in an innovative fashion	Creative-Thinking Exercise Planning Remarks