Lean Innovation Course and Workshop Overview
Contact us at [email protected] to bring a lean innovation program to your organization in a way that works for you.
Learn and develop your skills and knowledge in lean innovation as an organization through a workshop or course at your site.
Organizations and corporations of all sizes and sectors are facing threats from rapid changes in technology and society, and from disruptions and competition, often leading to irrelevance and even extinction. There is an urgency to innovate, creating new products, services and business models. On the surface, it sounds logical to commence some new R&D or continuous improvement effort as is traditionally done. However, the practices and methods that initially made your organization successful may not elevate or sustain momentum to persevere.
All organizations go through cycles, recognizing where you are at in a cycle and what may be coming next can be essential for continued growth and even sustainability. The purpose of this series is to understand cycles organizations go through as they develop, grow, and age, as well as identifying where in the cycle your organization is and what may be coming next. Participants will learn how to use innovation and proven methods adopted from successful startups and organizations known for transformative innovation. While this course provides foundational theory and examples, it also provides practical, action-oriented approaches which can be used and applied.
Intended Audience: Leaders and Managers at all levels, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, Participants looking for break-through changes & innovation, Business owners looking to be better prepared for the future, long-term viability of their company. Whether you are exploring a new idea or an 85-year-old organization, this class is relevant.
Session I: Culture of Innovation – 1 day
In session 1 you will understand how startups and innovation are similar and how they are different, which can impact the failure or success of any innovation effort. You’ll establish foundational knowledge for where to begin and how to challenge the status quo in a positive way.
Topics covered include:
What is Innovation vs. R&D
Difference between continuous improvement & re-engineering
Why Innovation fails and continuous improvement may not be enough
Startups Are Not Smaller Versions of Large Companies
Three Horizon model
Entrepreneurship, Intra-preneurship, Micro-preneurship
Confluence of Intra-preneurship & Innovation training
Lean Innovation and Agile – similar but different offerings
Innovation and Organizational Culture of Innovation
Current State Assessment
Future State Assessment
Actions & Applications
Brainstorm session I of convergent and divergent thinking
Homework: Use your culture map alone and with a group
Session II: Innovation Foundational Concepts – 1 day
This session will build on foundational concepts but will be heavily activity focused. The goal is to use tools and techniques to create a foundation to build, measure, and experiment.
Topics covered include:
Creating a culture of innovation
Tactical cycles of build/measure/learn
Lean startup overview
Common lean startup & innovation mistakes
Business model progression
Going small and narrow to go big
Actions & Applications
Culture Map Debrief
Team formation – Hacker, Hustler, Designer, Visionary
Brainstorming – convergent and divergent approaches
First pass at defining your customer
Homework: Go out and talk to a customer
Session III: Focus on the Customer – 1 day
Session III is all about understanding your customer and what their hidden needs are. Traditional market research doesn’t quickly provide enough insight so we’ll show you new ways to triangulate your way to customer truths.
Topics covered include:
Focus on those Humans
Customer Empathy
Medicine Bottle Example
Customer Development Processes
Customer vs. Product Development
Customer Archetype
Signals of Needs
Segmentation based on need vs. demographics
Segmentation Matrix
Importance of Dialing in On Your Market Segment
Customer Zoom Tool
Tools & Models to understand your customer
Customer Safari, Card Sort, Camera Journals, Analogous Inspiration
Collage, Customer Interview, Interview Tips & Objectives, Flipping the Conversation
Interview Debrief & Processing Insights
Actions & Applications
Learning from existing and potential customers
Customer persona creation take II
Interview scripts and techniques
Homework: Customer Interviews
Session IV: Problem Immersion – 1 day
Session IV is about building on session III’s insights from customer interviews. We dive deep into the problem space and minimum viable solutions.
Topics covered include:
Focus On The Problem & value creation
Say / Do gap and behavior change
Problem/Solution Fit
Common Mistakes with Value Proposition
Value Proposition and the Minimum Viable Product
MVP of 1 vs. Market vs. Scale
Product/Market Fit
Riskiest Assumptions
Problem Zoom Tool
Solution Zoom Tool
Rapid Experimentation
Articulating & Prioritizing Assumptions
Rapid Experimentation
Convert Assumptions Into An Experiment
Running Experiments
Hypothesis, creating, debrief
Currency types
Using small data to validate
Rapid learning
Actions & Applications
Strategies and actions to keep reinventing & move through the cycle
Create your problem focus
Create a solution focus
Create your first experiment
Homework: Run your experiment
Session V: Advanced Topics for Entrepreneurs and Disruptors – 1 day
Session V builds on all previous sessions to go deeper into rapid experimentation, fast learning, multiple concurrent experiments, and spreading the process
Topics covered include:
Product Market fit
Pivoting, Persevering and Iterating
Market Opportunity Analysis
Viral Loop & growth engines
Sprint Planning
Skunkworks process to a culture of innovation
Actions & Applications
Tracking multiple experiments at once
Defining next steps within your organization
Keeping the process going
Metrics and ROI
Communicating the value
Tools and processes