Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) 2018

Are you a leader, manager or educator who has struggled with leading change initiatives? An internal or external consultant, coach or facilitator who has found the change process nearly impossible to direct? You are not alone. According to Harvard Business Review, the statistics on failed change initiatives come in around 70%. That’s a lot of time, money and energy consumed by activities that did little or nothing to make organizations more effective, innovative or creative. We will explore how to lead change through the creation of shared vision and the whole brain approach in many organizational situations. You will:
• Explore how to align a team or organization around an important but ambiguous opportunity.
• Learn how to revitalize your organizational vision, values, purpose or product.
• Understand how to design more innovative, agile and creative organizational futures. (Note: The presenter, Anna Pool, is a colleague and co-author with long-time CPSI leader Majorie Parker from Norway!)

All through history, "Chance" and "Change" have remained two potent tools of creativity and innovation. Creativity also tends to oscillate within a somewhat symbiotic process within a developmental paradigm. After all, success is all about growth and innovation. Just as creativity is a chance to change, it is also an opportunity to change every chance. Irrespective of the type of innovation – whether incremental, radical or semi-radical – the chance to engage in it is a phenomenon opened to all. While all individuals, groups and organizations have the chance (unlimited capacity) to change the course of history – either through the steering of unique developmental projects or the resolving of contemporary challenges – others display the courage to change (do things differently) chance. You will:
• Fire up your passion to see "chances" everywhere in your environments.
• Appreciate the factor of "change" as precursor to creativity.
• Explore diverse examples of "chance" and "change" as agents (masters of innovation) or others.

Teaming is the new black. Research has shown we spend more and more time at work engaging with others in pursuit of a goal. Yet for this time in team environments, many teams struggle to reach their full potential. The question is: Can we identify the essential elements of effective teams, and then use that knowledge to grow T.W.I.G. Teams – or teams where The Whole Is truly Greater than the sum of the parts? The answer is yes. Every day we are learning more about what it takes to “team.” Surprisingly, the most effective teams are not those where everyone gets along beautifully, and no one ever disagrees. On the contrary, they are teams that empower a diverse group of voices who can leverage the creative tension that lies in their differences. You will:
• Discover a road map for how to create a T.W.I.G team and the five key components for successful teams (including undoing some of the assumptions we may have about what good teams look like).
• Learn to apply a simple score card for assessing the current state of your team and to track progress.
• Explore what it takes to be part of a T.W.I.G. team.
• Learn tools and techniques for moving the needle toward teaming excellence.

The role of today’s leader is complicated. More than five generations of employees are in today’s workforce working side by side, everyone is expected to do more with less, and the world keeps changing before our eyes. Sometimes these challenges can be overwhelming for our teams. Understanding the value of emotional intelligence in the workplace, how to best communicate with different generations, and how to get your team to be passionate about what is most important are critical elements for a leadership style that fits today’s workplace. With the tools, techniques and methods provided, you will discover how to empower your team and meet the future with excitement, while listening and caring for yourself. Don’t miss this opportunity to continue your leadership growth by being better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today. You will:
• Learn about the different generation mindsets and discover ways to engage all generations at the same time.
• Understand what emotional intelligence is and how you can grow an emotionally intelligent team.
• Gain techniques to build resilience and flexibility in yourself and your team to meet today’s ever changing climate.

Creating and sharing valuable, interesting and thought-provoking content has become a prerequisite for success in many sectors. While getting your ideas and products out into the world is easier than ever, getting them noticed is another story. Find out how CPS and design thinking tools can help you create and promote good content without pulling your hair out. Whether you want to raise awareness, collect donations, sell products and services or encourage healthy habits, the creative tools explored will get you closer to communications that ignite the change you want to see. We’ll discuss the differences between message, voice, tone and channel, and learn how they work together to form a cohesive-yet-flexible content marketing strategy. Please note that while professional examples will be shared, some of the orientations and mindsets can also be used in personal communications. You will:
• Learn guidelines for getting to know your audience.
• Apply a framework for building your content strategy.
• Increase confidence in your ability to write and promote content that serves a purpose.

As pioneers in the field of creativity, we are called upon to use our expertise as a beacon to others searching for creative solutions. Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit? How about unique and untapped business or nonprofit ideas you’d like to share with entrepreneurial-oriented individuals ready to take them on? Want to use your Creative Problem Solving skills to generate unique waiting-to-be-actualized concepts? Join us! You will:
• Identify an idea or skill you would like developed and share it with group members.
• Experience an Entrepreneur Igniter model that you are free to replicate in your community.
• Discover and engage with community resources for entrepreneurs.

This session is for anyone at CPSI who is a woman, or is curious and clever man. If this does not apply to you, go ahead and stop reading and find another session. If you’re still here, come to this session to learn from a leader who has spent almost 25 years exploring and researching Freud’s most famous question. Come hear the results of Seed Strategy’s new research study, SheQ, on what women want to be successful in life and (what’s not so important, as well). And how certain categories are doing a particularly poor job at “getting women” and why. You'll discover:

• Literally, what women want and how it differs by generations.
• How and why gender is a powerful filter for relevance and communication preferences.
• Methods and insights to more effectively connect individually and as an organization with women!