The ability to frame problem, identify and select solutions, and bring innovative ideas to fruition is rare, yet crucial for success.
Organisations depend on innovation to establish and maintain competitive difference and advantage. Customers buy from providers who deliver what they need, but customer needs are dynamic and evolving, meaning that organisations need to innovate.
“Because the purpose of business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two–and only two–basic functions. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. ” Drucker, 1954
Innovation is difficult for most organisation because over time, organisations and the people within them become focused on maximum efficiency and effectiveness within the current structure (i.e. organisational culture). The ability to frame the problem through a different lens, come up with solutions that are different to the status quo and be able to gain support for them is rare.
So how do we re-ignite that sense of innovation within the organisation and help people within the organisation to bring reframe the problem and bring an innovation to life? How do we capture the ongoing support of key stakeholders? Design the solution and experiment with it? Get internal and external customers to adopt the innovation even for trial? Support ongoing innovation and people to transition to the next innovation?
People with the vision for innovation struggle to gain traction in many organisations focused on quality and efficiency. Such people need a range of soft skills, process steps and tools to garner support, select and develop the innovative idea, and to trial that idea.
This one-day program will provide participants with an opportunity to consider their own their organisation’s innovative capability, to work through a process, and to apply tools to their innovative project. This is an ideal opportunity to bring your project, your team and your sponsors to an environment where innovation is supported and time is provided for the project to be considered and developed.
About the facilitators
Dr. Graham Ferguson
Graham is an academic at Curtin University who leads a team exploring innovative ways to provide services to unheard consumers including elderly people, people with disability, and people with mental health needs. This included working with technology providers, service providers, older consumers & families, advocacy groups, local authorities and government to run co-design workshops to identify and implement innovative thinking in under resourced areas. Graham has a breadth of experience in innovative projects with large transport, manufacturing and insurance roles including 10yrs as a strategy consultant.
Dr Ben Thomas
Dr Ben Thomas is an academic at Curtin University within the Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Strategy and International Business discipline group. He has teaching experience at MBA, Postgraduate and undergraduate levels delivering courses on start-up business planning, strategy and leadership with a focus on practical application. His current research focus is developing a greater understanding of the entrepreneurial journey and the role of training programs in developing the key entrepreneurial skills required at each stage. Further, Ben cut his teeth as a founder in the wine industry, founding and exiting WA’s first online wine marketplace, Vine Collective, and more recently wine production company, Berserkr Wines.