Business Innovation Certificate

Creative Problem Solving

This highly-interactive, fun, and fast-paced session provides a framework for understanding and applying tools to meet real business needs. You will walk away from this session with increased confidence to generate creative ideas, techniques to recognize/replace unproductive thinking
patterns, and a methodology to foster creative potential and innovation. Participants are encouraged to think about real-life organizational problems and bring these
situations to the program to discuss and brainstorm together. By walking through these problems together, participants will learn the steps to creatively solve problems.

Customer Experience

In this program, participants will learn how to strategically deliver customer experiences with purpose. Delivering exceptional customer service is all about the details. In order to exceed expectations, you need to create systems and processes to make sure that nothing is left to luck. Learn ways to be intentional to create memorable experiences.

Discover unique ways to make sure your customers are telling others about their excellent experience with your organization.

Design Thinking

In this one-day program, you will have a hands-on experience while learning both the mindset and method of Design Thinking. Covering the principles of empathy, problem framing, ideation, prototyping, and testing, you will leave with tools and stories you can take back to your business for immediate application.

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that is 100% focused on people. You begin by examining the needs, dreams, and behaviors of people you want to affect with your solution. This is the ‘Desirability’ lens, and you will continue to view the world through this lens throughout the design process. Then, you begin to view solutions through the lenses of  ‘Feasibility’ (what is technically and organizationally feasible) and ‘Viability’ (what is financially viable). These two lenses are introduced carefully during the later phases of the design thinking process. Finally, the program will stress that true breakthrough solutions will overlap all three lenses.

Storytelling for Innovation

More than ever, there is one thing that truly separates many brands and companies today—that one thing is STORY. When it comes to creating powerful brand connections, engaging innovations, and inspirational business strategies, a good story can make whatever brands share more impactful. For this full-day workshop, presentations include surprising insights, engaging personal stories, fun movie references, hands-on exercises, and “Hollywood-esque” tools. Participants will leave with a series of inspiring story fundamentals, examples, and methods that can be applied by ANY role within an organization and in ANY industry. Using the building blocks of storytelling, participants will be able to develop strategies to bring innovative ideas and methodologies back to the organization.

Creative Problem Solving:

• How to define and unleash creativity
• Understand the myths of creativity
• Learn to identify problems with effective brainstorming
• Gain skills to strengthen creativity
• Capture ways to think differently
• Learn The Three-Legged Stool of Innovation
• Tackle actual organizational problems

Customer Experience:

• Learn what makes a great customer experience
• Unlock deep customer understanding to reveal customer pain points
• Map the customer’s journey to reveal emotions and insights
• Develop customer personas and segmentation
• Turn insights into actions
• Pursue customer-centered innovation

Design Thinking:

• See new opportunities in a consistent manner
• Connect deeply with customers
• Use the needs and wants of customers to guide ideation and solution-making
• Transform insights and data into actionable ideas
• Create and implement new solutions with business impact in a faster and more effective way
• Discover solutions through three different lenses

Storytelling for Innovation:

• Defining and leveraging the most distinctive quality of the brand idea in the stories
• Understanding how empathy serves as the foundation for both the story and innovation strategy
• Knowing where to look to find the best “stories” to learn from
• Utilizing story principles to ensure data and analytics are delivered in the most powerful and compelling way
• How to use a story sequel plan for the brand’s strategy and long-term pipeline
• Creating focused and clear presentations by leveraging a powerful story theme
• Crafting and using an elevator pitch to leave the audience wanting more