Influencing in a Business Environment

Professionals become frustrated, aggravated, and discouraged when they feel like they are limited in what they can do, are not being heard, or their ideas are not grasped or appreciated.

Description

Organizations oftentimes have many different departments that work together to achieve the overall mission and vision. However, these departments can become siloed and develop agendas of their own. How does a professional get buy-in from colleagues at all levels of the organization in this type of business environment?

The key is influencing. This one-day program will provide strategies to influence others no matter their position or title to achieve common goals that will propel the overall organization toward success. Goal setting, preparation to be persuasive, and crafting an effective message for specific audiences will all be discussed through conversations and experiential activities.

Audience

Employees at all levels who need to effectively influence others up, down, and over in order to achieve personal, team, and organizational goals.

Outcomes

Participants will walk away with these skills:

  • Understanding and leveraging various ways to be influential
  • Creating a plan to become a trusted advisor that colleagues seek out for guidance
  • Strengthening the ability to have a voice that is heard
  • Defining clear outcomes and identifying objectives, obstacles, strategies, and tactics
  • Responding to concerns and hesitations in an impactful way
  • Maintaining commitments to earn trust and credibility

Venue

Cintas Center
1624 Musketeer Drive
Cincinnati, 45207 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
513-745-1094

Business Innovation Certificate

In this inspiring and highly interactive program, we will share innovation methods and tools across the areas of Design Thinking, Storytelling, and Creativity/Improvisation.

Our internationally recognized facilitators have more than 75 years of experience between them in innovation and have touched hundreds of companies and brands.

To obtain a Business Innovation Certificate, participants will attend the following one-day programs:

Program Dates

  • April 4, 2023 (8:30am-4:00pm)
  • April 18, 2023 (8:30am-4:00pm)
  • May 2, 2023 (8:30am-4:00pm)
  • May 16, 2023 (8:30am-4:00pm)

Description

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.

Audience

Individuals that strive to bring design thinking and creativity to their organization’s daily practice and are looking to build a culture of innovation within the organization.

Outcome

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

Venue

Cintas Center
1624 Musketeer Drive
Cincinnati, 45207 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
513-745-1094

Business Storytelling

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.

Description

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.

Audience

Any professional within any industry can benefit from developing storytelling skills.

Outcomes

Participants will walk away with these skills:

  • 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

Venue

Cintas Center
1624 Musketeer Drive
Cincinnati, 45207 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
513-745-1094

Storytelling with Data

Data is needed to make smart and appropriate business decisions. However, if data is not presented in a compelling way, the decisions can be undermined.

Description

Data provides the foundation for making smart and appropriate choices in many contexts. However, it is not unusual for managers to be overwhelmed by the amount of available data within their organization and the marketplace. To tell an effective, data-inspired story, it is important to know the intended audience and present the most applicable information in the most effective way.

This session will begin by helping participants understand what questions need to be addressed and discerning what data is relevant to answer those questions. Then, the program will focus on what makes a story convincing and how to adapt stories to the needs of different audiences. This will be followed by applying that understanding to create powerful, data-driven stories that will change mindsets and facilitate the right business choices. Participants will also explore the interpretation of data and ensure that data is used accurately and completely.

Audience

Professionals in any industry wanting to improve data-driven storytelling practices.

Outcomes

Participants will walk away with these skills:

  • Discovering the end objective that needs to be assessed
  • Identifying the data that best informs the end objective
  • Clarifying how to interpret the collected data
  • Understanding the audience and how they need to receive information
  • Translating the data into an effective story for the target audience
  • Incorporating relevant visuals to support the story behind the data

Venue

Cintas Center
1624 Musketeer Drive
Cincinnati, 45207 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
513-745-1094