Work Smart Club

EP 09: Think Outside the Box. Hold an Innovation Lab

April 13, 2022 Dr. Cynthia Howard Episode 9
Work Smart Club
EP 09: Think Outside the Box. Hold an Innovation Lab
Show Notes

Thinking outside the box is more than a cliche. During today’s episode, we introduce the Innovation Lab, a process you can use with your team to engage people. What drives an Innovation Lab? Bringing people together who are close to the problem, who want to find a solution to the problem, and who have intimate knowledge of the problem. Tune in to hear how Cynthia came to develop the Innovation Lab concept, why finding the right solution depends on choosing the right problem, and how Cynthia worked with a business to resolve its difficulties through three Innovation Labs. It all starts with identifying the problem, before choosing the right people to partake, and creating a time frame of 100 days, divided into 10-day segments. Learn why the desired outcome must always be defined by the leader, and find out why it is so important that people are challenged within the workplace. Join us today to hear all this and more! 


Key Points From This Episode:

  • An introduction to today’s episode and a summary of what we discuss.
  • How Cynthia came to develop the Innovation Lab concept.
  • The hands-on process whereby adults learn.
  • Why finding the right solution depends on choosing the right problem.
  • An example of how she worked with a client to build systems through three Innovation Labs.
  • Resolving the bandwidth problem and the bottleneck issues around recruiting, hiring, tracing, and evaluating staff.
  • The problem she identified: not processing the right candidates in a timely fashion to meet the demands of the employer.
  • Another issue she identified: identifying the right person for the job.
  • Why identifying what your desired outcome is must fall to the leader.
  • Why it is necessary for people to be challenged within the workplace.
  • How if you don’t have a high standard, people will do the basic minimum.
  • Why the members of the team need to have an intrinsic understanding of what needs to be done.
  • The profile of the group you need to successfully complete an Innovation Lab.
  • How you can complete this process within a time frame of 100 days divided into ten days.
  • What the first meeting consists of: laying the foundation.
  • Exploring the problem and building a case around it including threats and opportunities.
  • Defining what it means to have high-level satisfaction.
  • The A3 Tool in Lean Sigma that provides the information you need to understand what you’re working on and where you are going.
  • How conflict around big issues can destroy momentum.
  • Identifying roles for customers and potential candidates. 
  • Where you can find out more about hosting an Innovation Lab over 100 days: the Work Smart Club.
  • The most important points: define what you are doing, set up a beginning, middle, and end, set up a 100-day timeline, and have an expectation of success. 


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Downloadable Resources

Cynthia Howard on LinkedIn

Work Smart Consulting

Work Smart Club Network