Highly interactive & effective training for creativity, innovation and meeting management. Engaging & productive meeting & retreat facilitation.
www.ideaguides.com
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Designers, consultants and facilitators of global executive education and training programmes on creative leadership, creativity and innovation.
www.thecreativeleadershipforum.com
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Get the how-to innovation research and tools leading innovators use
www.getfuturethink.com
Workshops to Improve Your Team's Creativity & Problem Solving Skills
BottomLineInnovation.com
The Indusry's most effective Innovation Training
www.innovationmasterclass.com
Innovation & Leadership Consultant SYPartners: San Francisco, New York
www.keithyamashita.com
Become Part of a Global Network of Innovators. Sign Up Today!
www.innovation.gsk.com
Online creativity panel for new product ideation and development
www.DecisionAnalyst.com
Speaks the audience's language with programs that inspire and excite.
www.shifthappens.com
Software for organizing the early stages of new product innovation
www.make-ideas-work.com
Workshops, Videos, Assessment, Certification, Games, free ezine.
www.humanext.com
Article by Ric Lobosco, from Allies Consulting Services.
www.alliesconsulting.com
Online destination for brain health, fitness and achieving peak mental performance.
www.brain.com
Article by Carol Orsag Madigan, from Businessfinancemag.com.
www.businessfinancemag.com
Workplace learning consultants and speakers.
www.cew.wisc.edu
Bringing Creativity and Innovation to the Workplace.
www.chartcourse.com
Article - Grant Ingle is an organizational psychologist who specializes in developing programs of workplace innovation.
www.context.org
Web site relates to most of Dr de Bono's work in the teaching of 'thinking tools', lateral thinking and the communications framework.
www.edwdebono.com
Information on how to increase employees' creative potential.
www.employer-employee.com
The purpose of this site is to create a daily experience of humor, inspiration and creative problem solving.
enchantedmind.com
Creativity, relaxation, meditation, and personal transformation enhanced with entheogenic harmonics that entrain altered states of consciousness.
www.enterquest.com
National commercial real estate services firm-headquartered in Chicago,Illinois.
www.equiscorp.com
Custom imprinted promotional products, advertising specialties, and premium incentives used for increasing sales and profits, motivating employees, introducing new products and services.
creativeads.freeyellow.com
Information on creative hiring tools, culture transformation and current creativity in the marketplace.
www.geocities.com
Global collaboration of creative people promoting the development new ideas through creative thinking, creativity, innovation, invention, problem solving, idea generation, professional creative people inspire ideas, team building, strategy devel...
www.gocreate.com
Highly interactive & effective training for creativity, innovation and meeting management. Engaging & productive meeting & retreat facilitation.
www.ideaguides.com (Paid)
IMAC is an association of research, technology management, and innovation leaders in Canada.
www.imac-acgi.ca
Developer of visual learning and thinking software for Macintosh and Windows. Products are sold to multiple industries. This company was capitalized by private investment.
www.inspiration.com
Management of Innovation and New Technology (MINT)* Research Centre Home Page.
mint.mcmaster.ca
Non-profit with mission to create positive lasting change in the workplace by helping organizations improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.
www.outwardboundpro.org
The Productivity Commission, an independent Commonwealth agency, is the Government's principal review and advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation.
www.pc.gov.au
Provider of programs and consulting in creativity and innovative thinking to translate visions and ideas into actionable, impactful strategies.
www.prevail.org
Designers, consultants and facilitators of global executive education and training programmes on creative leadership, creativity and innovation.
www.thecreativeleadershipforum.com (Paid)
An association offering resources for personal creativity and organizational innovation.
thinksmart.com
Get the how-to innovation research and tools leading innovators use
www.getfuturethink.com
Workshops to Improve Your Team's Creativity & Problem Solving Skills
BottomLineInnovation.com
The Indusry's most effective Innovation Training
www.innovationmasterclass.com
Guide to Creativity and Innovation for Small Business
Creativity and innovation put you on the road to market leadership- Continue to deliver products and/or services that are valuable to your customers
- Establish yourself as a market leader
- Build a more vibrant and engaged workforce
- Become an expert at identifying and acting upon great ideas
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Encourage brainstorming and idea generation
Innovation is essentially the introduction of something new — the concrete result of creative ideas. With the right tools, everyone can be taught to think creatively.
I recommend:
Ten Ways to Spark Creativity will help you jumpstart the process. Go to Invention-Help.com for some simple brainstorming tools; see Innovation Tools to for a four-step problem-solving process. Go to this page on Innovation Tools for creativity software reviews. To download free creativity software, go to Download.com. For fun and insight, take an innovation quiz on Innovation for Dummies. Try a creativity coach: check one out at Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching.
Listen to your customers
Your customers are often your best source of new ideas. Ask them how they'd like your product or service improved, but also master the art of observing them. Look for trouble spots; they're your opportunity for innovation.
I recommend:
Follow the steps in Turn Customer Input into Innovation.
Develop systematic methods for evaluating new ideas
Consider all ideas, even the ones that seem a little crazy. But make sure you evaluate them objectively before investing time and money bringing them to market.
I recommend:
For step-by-step advice on assessing ideas, go to Planware.org. Also check out The Innovation Managers Check-List.
Protect new inventions
Great ideas breed copycats. First, do a thorough patent search to make sure you're not infringing on anyone else's territory, and then register your own patent or copyright.
I recommend:
If you have an idea for a new product, see The Inventor's Handbook to find out whether your idea is patentable. Go to The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to do trademark and patent searches. Access patent application forms on this page of the USPTO site. File a USPTO trademark application here.
Reward success (and failure!)
Employees need to feel invested in innovation, so reward them for suggesting great ideas that fly and for 'failing fast' with ones that don't quite get off the ground.
I recommend:
Follow these Seven Principles for Successful Employee Recognition. See The Power of Positive Employee Recognition for specific recognition ideas.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide- Customers can't always articulate their needs, so instead of asking them about your product or service, watch them using it and look for trouble spots.
- Educate employees about the rules of engagement for brainstorming (i.e. no negative comments!).
- If you've invented a new product, seek legal advice on patents and trademarks immediately.
- Great innovation breeds copycats, so stay one step ahead of the competition by innovating continuously, not just once.
- Prototype new ideas as quickly as possible to give them form and substance.
