Generating Creative and Innovative Ideas


Overview/Description
Target Audience
Expected Duration
Lesson Objectives
Course Number



Overview/Description
Is creativity within everyone's grasp? Are people innately creative, or is this a skill that some learn, and others don't? If you have ever watched children at play, it's easy to conclude that all people start at the same level, with the same creative ability. Perhaps they lose their "creative toolboxes" with the self-consciousness of adolescence, or as other demands compete for attention. Whatever the reason, it's important that you regain your ability to be creative and innovative. More and more organizations are turning to in-house human resources as a rich source of ideas in the knowledge economy. Indeed, the well-known mantra: "People are our greatest asset" has never been so accurate. This course is designed to help you to boost your creative toolbox. You will look at team methods of fostering creativity and innovation in the workplace, such as brainstorming and the Nominal Group Technique. Then you will explore techniques that can be used individually for personal inspiration, including the importance of conflict, and how nature and history can help you in your quest for greater creativity. Finally, you will also consider the importance of "keeping grounded" and of building on ideas.

Target Audience
Anyone who wants to be more creative and innovative at work. This includes team members and team leaders, and those who have been appointed to roles with responsibility for innovation, such as innovation directors, product development managers, and research and development specialists.

Expected Duration (hours)
3.5

Lesson Objectives

Boosting Team Creativity

  • recognize the benefits of using team methods to enhance creativity and innovation in the workplace.
  • effectively run a hypothetical brainstorming session, to generate creative and innovative ideas.
  • sequence the steps of the Nominal Group Technique.
  • apply the steps of the Nominal Group Technique to a specified project.
  • analyze the success of a given role play situation.
  • Enhancing Your Creativity

  • recognize the benefits of enhancing your creative potential in the workplace.
  • classify creative or innovative ideas as being inventions, extensions, or demand-led discoveries.
  • distinguish between the target and source domains of specified analogies.
  • identify the considerations used to judge the effectiveness of an analogy.
  • identify strategies for using conflict to foster greater creativity and innovation in the workplace.
  • Improving and Building on Creative Ideas

  • recognize the value of keeping creative ideas grounded, and incubating them.
  • make an appropriate recommendation for improving the workability of a given creative or innovative idea.
  • select the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of builds.
  • assess the effectiveness of builds on specific creative and innovative ideas, in a hypothetical business situation.
  • Course Number:
    PD0032