Learn how to develop an innovation mindset in this training program.
The request usually sounds something like this: “We want our people to have more of a mindset for innovation.” Leaders see good ideas die in meetings, teams default to how things have always been done, and new tools or strategies stall because people are not ready to try something different. Our innovation mindset program builds the attitudes and habits that make innovation possible, then puts them to work on the real challenges your group is facing.
We have taught an innovation mindset to dozens of groups from organizations over the past decade, in person and virtually. Growth mindset is part of the program, since believing you can learn and improve is where innovative action starts. The focus goes further: curiosity, creative confidence, experimentation, and the courage to move ideas into action. Every program is customized, so choose the options below that fit your group, or contact us and we will design the mix with you.
Innovation Mindset Training Options
Innovation Mindset Workshops
Innovation Mindset Kickoff or Keynote
Open a conference, retreat, or change initiative with an interactive session where participants practice innovative thinking rather than hear about it. See our innovation keynote speaking options.
Innovation Mindset Workshop (Half Day or Full Day)
Tap into your creative side to generate more ideas, solve problems, and build the confidence to innovate on anything you choose.
Growth Mindset for Innovation
Build the belief that creative ability grows with practice, then connect it directly to innovating at work. For a growth-mindset-first session, see our growth mindset workshop.
Mindset in Action: Applying It to Real Challenges
Innovation Step-by-Step on Your Own Challenge
Apply a simple Challenge, Ideas, Action process to generate and develop ideas for a real problem your team brings into the room.
Design Thinking Mindsets for Teams
Practice the design thinking mindsets of empathy, experimentation, and bias toward action so teams can use them with any process. For a full methodology program, see our design thinking training workshops.
Getting Unstuck and Taking Action
Recognize the three places people get stuck, in learning, creating, or delivering, and practice moving past them. Read more on how to get unstuck in your mindset to innovate.
Communicating and Pitching New Ideas
Learn to present concepts in a way that earns acceptance, buy-in, and advocates for your idea.
Building an Innovation Mindset Across Your Organization
Multi-Session Innovation Mindset Program
A series of live sessions with online courses between them, so a cohort builds new habits over weeks rather than one afternoon.
Innovation Mindsets Assessment
Use the innovation mindsets assessment to show individuals and teams where their innovation strengths are before the program, then build on them.
Virtual Innovation Mindset Sessions
Gain methods, activities, and tools for innovating together online with Zoom or Teams and Miro or Mural.
Train Your Own Innovation Facilitators
Prepare internal leaders to carry the mindset forward by running innovation sessions themselves, through our innovative facilitator training program.
Innovation Mindset Program Learning Outcomes
- Experience how to tap into your creative side to generate more ideas, solve problems, and work to innovate anything you’d like to focus on with a design thinking growth mindset.
- Apply an innovation step-by-step process to start from scratch to generate and develop ideas for anything you’d like to innovate – from a small fix or learned method to working on the latest technological tool/advancement.
- Gain methods, activities, tools and techniques for innovating in a virtual environment collaboratively and individually.
- Learn approaches to communicate in a more innovative way and present your concepts to increase acceptance and to gain buy-in and advocacy.
- Understand the nature of innovation to keep your creativity alive to develop and pitch new ideas despite the obstacles.
Program Content
If our workshop is held in-person, we can utilize the special space we are in for our activities. You can click to see video clip examples of our live workshops and offsites and custom in-person workshops. Often though, we lead these workshops virtually. Our live virtual workshop program will utilize Zoom/Teams and Mural/Miro technologies that we’ve already tested with dozens of groups. See this webpage for video clips of what our activities can look like in action using these web-based virtual platforms.
Our agenda is customized to the learning outcomes identified above that we’ve heard from our client and will be further customized during the workshop based on the level and needs of the learners.
As a bonus, we will include the following online workshops, Innovation 101 and Innovative Mindset, for all participants so they can go deeper after our live workshop. A link with a code to access this content for free will be provided to participants. Our live workshop content and activities will also relate to these.
Bonus Content: Innovation 101 online course
This four-part online course provides an introductive experience where you will follow along with your own challenge to develop new products, programs, services, or organizational enhancements. The program includes 45 minutes of video plus materials.
- Part 1 – Your Unique Story, Purpose, and Motivation to Innovate
- Part 2 – Selecting your Innovation Challenge and Focusing it into Questions of Opportunity
- Part 3 – Generating New Ideas by Making it BrainRain
- Part 4 – Analyzing, Validating and Conceptualizing your Ideas to Communicate and Prototype
Bonus Content: Innovative Mindset online course
This online course focuses on your mindset or attitude to innovate. By doing something new you’ve never done before, you can reorganize yourself to a new and higher level. Since this process might be new and different for you, you have to learn how and develop your skill at it. The program includes over an hour of video plus materials.
- Part 1: Growing from where you are at with an innovative mindset
- Part 2: What is an innovative mindset?
- Part 3: Your innovation timeline and motivating origin story
- Part 4: Reorganize yourself at a higher level
- Part 5: How to think more rationally so you have confidence to take innovative action.
- Part 6: Innovative Mindset Program Project: The Acorn Project – What are small innovative habits you would like to do that could grow?
- Part 7: Innovation mindset inspiring quotes to sustain motivation and action
- Integration task: Journal or visual catalyst creation – what images, people, models, or quotes help you to understand innovation and inspires you to have an innovative mindset?
What Organizations Say About Building an Innovation Mindset
“People who did not think they had the capacity to innovate left with ideas, solutions and renewed energy for the project. The training was very team focused which led to a more creative approach to problem solving and ‘break-through thinking.’”
– Amy, University of Wisconsin, NIATx / Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies
“Darin’s approach takes the mystery out of how to think like an innovator. The results were breakthrough in nature. Solid innovative product and process concepts were developed by each team, which will now lead to formal funding and project assignments.”
– Steve, Senior Vice President, Quality & Engineering, Sparton Corporation
“Going through Darin’s training process was like learning to ride a bike… I clearly remember one session it just ‘clicked’ – instead of generating 20-30 ideas in each 3 hour brainstorm, I was coming up with almost 150 ideas. I was amazed at this newfound skill that previously seemed unattainable.”
– James, CEO & Co-Founder, Firebase (acquired by Google)
“You gave us the greatest gift which was planting the seed among our team, that it is possible to break the status quo and be creative.”
– HR leader, Medtronic global design thinking workshop
About your Innovation Mindset Facilitator:
Darin Eich, Ph.D. is the founder of InnovationTraining.org. Darin has helped over 100 organizations from Silicon Valley to London apply design thinking workshops for a mindset and culture of innovation.
Darin designs unique leadership and innovation programs that are used by National R&D labs, Fortune 500 companies, and universities like Oxford.
His programs are online or onsite and reach anywhere from just 1 individual to over 1 million people. His specialty is applying design thinking to develop leadership programs and teaching others to facilitate their own innovation workshops.
He is the author of Innovation Step-by-Step: How to Create & Develop Ideas for your Challenge, and Root Down & Branch Out: Best Practices for Leadership Development Programs.
Darin earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and currently lives in Madison.
Start your innovative mindset program journey today
InnovationTraining.org is here to help you learn more about the innovative mindset through structured in-person or virtual learning programs. With the right mindset, innovative thinking and action becomes so much easier! Tell us about your group and what you want to change, and we will suggest a program. Once people have the mindset, many groups move straight into an innovation workshop on a real challenge.