One of the most important ingredients of a business’ recipe for success is innovation – which involves finding new solutions to problems to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Many organisations preach about innovation, at the risk of it becoming a buzzword. They also usually embark on extensive training programs featuring various methodologies, aiming to introduce lasting organisational change.
Untapped Innovation
However, one important question is whether a particular training program will effectively produce the impacts needed to embed processes and develop a culture that fosters innovation within an organisation. Oftentimes, innovation training can feel inspiring, but it also needs to result in genuine changes in how things are done once busy employees get back to their desks.
This problem is what inspired London-based business consulting firm Untapped Innovation to create a program that delivers rapid results that have a tangible effect on clients’ bottom lines. The Innovation Gym – which has the tagline of ‘Expert Training, Instant Impact’ – features live, two-hour sessions with expert trainers, as well as hands-on exercises using real-world case studies, allowing participants to learn by going through a two-way, interactive, and engaging experience.
According to Deirdre Walters, Co-founder of Untapped, the Innovation Gym finds a balance between two different modes of instruction that are very common in innovation training today. On one hand, classroom-based training is intensive and potent, but it can be expensive and time-consuming. It requires employees to take significant time away from their regular, day-to-day tasks, ultimately introducing a major productivity cost. On the other hand, self-directed micro-learning, which includes online courses, podcasts, and similar content, has the advantage of being flexible and doesn’t require that large of a time and monetary investment. However, micro-learning is also quite passive, which may not be as effective in making participants retain the lessons they receive.
“We believe that you can’t just go to the gym and expect results if you just watch a gym instructor do the exercises. You need to do the reps and feel the burn to reap the gains,” Walters says. “It’s this principle that we harnessed in creating the Innovation Gym. We apply various concepts in neuroscience to break down innovation training into easily digestible circuits to overcome the time and budget constraints of classroom-based training options while providing hands-on exercises for better retention.”
During each session, participants are divided into teams of five, which is the optimum team size to maximise interactivity, a critical point of difference for the program. Just like a regular gym workout, there are warmup and cooldown activities at the start and end of each session. To warm up, participants watch short two- to three-minute videos to prepare them for the main segment, while the cooldown is a takeaway sheet, preparing the participants with tangible assets ready to use for their projects.
The training course menu includes the different parts of the innovation journey, such as understanding users, creating ideas, developing products, and activating the market. Each course is built on two case studies, with the instructor taking the lead on the first case study, while the participants apply what they’ve learned on the second.
Co-founder Sally Kemkers adds that developing the Innovation Gym program has benefited even the firm’s core consulting services. Writing the program’s curriculum has allowed Untapped to refine its methodologies and continue its own journey of breakthrough innovation.
The three Untapped Innovation co-founders – Walters, Kemkers, and Suzanne Allers – are creating a playbook that will accompany the Innovation Gym program and distil the substantial body of knowledge the program has generated over the years.
“There’s nothing worse than doing a training course, then going back to your desk and feeling overwhelmed and unsure as to where to start,” Allers says. “By learning with the help of experts and relevant and practical case studies, Innovation Gym’s participants can take more away from each highly interactive session with real-world applicability.”
Media Contact
Name: Deirdre Walters
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