BOTI’s Innovation and Creative Thinking Training is a one-day course that teaches managers and team leaders practical techniques for generating ideas and turning them into workable improvements. It is one of our leadership and management training courses. It runs in-house at your premises, at BOTI’s venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or live online.
The current course runs at your offices anywhere in South Africa, live online or at a BOTI venue. The course page has the up-to-date outline and group prices.
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Course Introduction
Thinking “out of the box” is no longer a luxury. In a fast-changing business environment, organisations that cannot find new ways of working fall behind. This creative thinking course gives managers a structured way to spot opportunities, generate ideas with their teams and build a workplace where innovation is expected rather than accidental. You may see this kind of programme described as creativity and innovation training, creative thinking skills training or an innovation course. The aim is the same: practical creativity that leads to better processes, projects and products.
This course enables managers to do the following:
- Demonstrate an understanding of the techniques that promote creativity
- Analyse their own unit in terms of opportunities for innovation
- Lead a team through a creative thinking process
- Develop a plan for creating an environment conducive to innovation
Who should attend this creative thinking course
The course is designed for people who are responsible for improving how work gets done:
- Managers and supervisors in public or private organisations who need fresh ideas from their teams
- Team leaders who run improvement, process or project meetings
- Specialists moving into roles where they must suggest and test new approaches
- HR and L&D practitioners looking for creative development training for a management group
No previous training in creativity is needed. Delegates get the most from the day when they bring a real problem or process from their own workplace to work on.
Course Outline
- Analyse your own organisation (public or private) in terms of opportunities for innovation. Identify the features of an environment that promotes innovation: openness, creative thinking, questioning, encouragement of sensible risk-taking, recognition for new ideas, a culture of enquiry, challenging the status quo and learning from mistakes. Assess whether your current environment promotes innovation.
- Understand the techniques for promoting creativity. Creativity and innovation techniques are identified in terms of generally accepted theory and practice, and three techniques for promoting creativity are explained with practical examples.
- Develop a plan for creating an environment conducive to innovation. Describe the manager’s role in building that environment, with reference to continuous improvement. Record the processes, actions and approaches needed in a plan, and describe how the plan will be implemented and promoted within the organisation.
- Lead a team through a creative thinking process. Apply techniques for promoting innovation and creativity to generate ideas for a new or improved process, project or product. Generate a number of alternative solutions, select the strongest option, then develop, record and communicate a concept for implementation.
- Understand the world as a set of related systems, and how an innovation in one area could affect another.
- Use science and technology to assist with idea generation and to record ideas.
- Consider your responsibilities as a citizen in local, national and global communities when introducing change.
- Recognise and develop entrepreneurial opportunities.
What you will be able to do after the course
- Run a short, structured idea-generation session with your team instead of an open-ended discussion
- Separate idea generation from idea judgement, so that early suggestions are not shut down
- Compare alternative solutions against clear criteria and choose one to take forward
- Turn a chosen idea into a written concept that others can approve and implement
- Draft an action plan that makes your unit more open to new ideas
Creative thinking techniques teams use at work
Creativity at work is less about sudden inspiration and more about using a reliable process. Some widely used approaches that managers find practical include:
- Structured brainstorming: collecting as many ideas as possible in a fixed time before any are evaluated.
- Reverse brainstorming: asking “How could we make this problem worse?” and then reversing the answers to find solutions.
- Mind mapping: placing the problem in the centre and branching out causes, ideas and links, which helps teams see a problem as part of a wider system.
- “How might we” questions: rewording a complaint or obstacle as an open question that invites ideas.
- Small tests: trying an idea on a limited scale before committing time and budget to it.
The course explains three creativity techniques with practical examples, and delegates apply them to their own work during the day.
Delivery Method
- One-day instructor-led training, in-house at your premises, at BOTI’s venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or live online
- Strong delegate participation and practical application of theory
- Course material is provided to all delegates
If you would like the course run for a management team, you can request a quote and tell us about the challenges your team is facing.
Related BOTI courses
- Creative Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Course (2 days), for teams that want more depth on analysing problems as well as generating ideas
- Problem Solving and Decision Making Training (1 day)
- Kaizen Training Course – Continuous Improvement (2 days), for turning ideas into steady process improvement
- Change Management: Formulate Recommendations for a Change Process (1 day)
Frequently asked questions
What is creative thinking training?
Creative thinking training teaches people structured techniques for generating, comparing and developing ideas, so that teams can find better ways to run processes, projects and products. BOTI’s version is a one-day course aimed at managers and team leaders.
Is this innovation course accredited?
No. The Innovation and Creative Thinking Training is a non-accredited professional skills programme. Delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
Can the creativity course be run in-house for our management team?
Yes. BOTI can run the course in-house at your premises, at its venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or live online, and the exercises can be based on your team’s own work challenges.
What is the difference between creative thinking and creative problem solving courses?
The Innovation and Creative Thinking course focuses on generating ideas and building an environment that supports innovation. The Creative Problem Solving and Critical Thinking course adds more time on analysing problems and evaluating options critically.
To book or tailor this course for your team, see Innovation and Creative Thinking Training. Call BOTI on 011 882 8853 or email [email protected]. Training runs in-house at your premises, at BOTI’s venue in Sunningdale, Johannesburg, or live online. This course is not accredited. It is delivered as a professional skills programme, and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
