BUSINESS STRATEGISTS LEARN COLLABORATION PROCESS

We were engaged to give this worldwide firm’s staff the skills to innovate in close collaboration with their clients. This program used a blended learning approach that touched over 1000 employees, from new hires to seasoned veterans. The year-long engagement comprised workshops and large-audience events in the USA, Europe, and India, a series of webinars and videos, and ongoing support using their internal collaborative media platform that helped to transform the company culture. (The client's name must remain confidential.)

BRINGING INNOVATION AND TEAMWORK TO KUWAIT

Innovationship partnered with the Anderson School of Management at UCLA to act as the Learning Director and design thinking experts for this inspirational program for the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science. Working within the KFAS framework and collaborating closely with UCLA Anderson, we guided the creative learning journey teams from ten companies in Kuwait, ranging from finance to food service to real estate development. The four-month schedule combined design thinking, team dynamics, and business model innovation over three workshops, coaching calls, and online collaboration with over a dozen teachers and coaches.

INNOVATING IN BANGKOK'S BUSINESS COMMUNITY

TMA invited us to Bangkok for work with one hundred representatives from the public, private, and academic sectors. The collaborative work focused mostly on strategic planning: how might we design a future that best supports empathic, creative, and collaborative engagement in these three essential sectors? It was wonderful to witness participants engage with bold curiosity to discover the power of design thinking to address challenges at scale. The trip was delightful: the venue, TMA’s supporting staff, the warm hospitality, participants’ enthusiasm, and, of course, amazing food… We look forward to our next collaboration.

BUILDING A COHORT OF CREATIVE COLLABORATORS

We delivered a one-day workshop with thirty Honda executives Southern California, focusing on human-centered innovation and the value this approach can add to Honda’s already outstanding service offering. It was inspiring to work with a diverse group of bright professionals who keep pushing themselves to find new ways to excel. We took a deep dive into the interdependence of empathy, creativity, and collaboration, and by the end of the day, had teams presenting compelling scenarios of potential future developments. We’re excited to see how what we did in one day continues to unfold and grow.

NONPROFIT NETWORK EMBRACES DESIGN THINKING

We have collaborated for several years with this remarkable network of eleven community healthcare clinics in Los Angeles that serves over 23,000 patients. We worked with them to apply the design thinking process to the creation of a new clinic that vastly improved care for children. Another project guided the executive team through the development of a five-year strategic plan that is uniquely human-centered. Most rewarding has been to see this group integrate design thinking into their daily work practice, transforming VFC into a creative organization dedicated to “providing enhanced quality primary healthcare to people in need.”

INNOVATING NEXT-GENERATION SUPPORT SERVICES 

The Information Experience group asked us to help make a “change in thinking that would take them out of their rut.” The three-month engagement, comprising four two-day workshops and regular mentoring sessions, focused on learning how to apply design thinking to a new product concept, creating something that is “significantly different and better than what we had at the start.” The participants learned new methods for coming up with creative ideas and to develop and manage these ideas. The brainstorming process and client empathy techniques were noted as particularly valuable for the team.