Overview
In this highly rated seminar, you will discover that creativity is a skill that can be learned. You will break through your perceived limits as a manager or professional and develop the ability to find practical and profitable solutions to everyday business challenges. You will learn problem-solving methods that can be used to resolve minor issues such as diverging goals between departments—as well to address major crises like the loss of a key customer account or major source of revenue.

Key Concepts and Takeaways
You will learn the creative insights, tools and techniques used to:

• Solve minor an major issues and problems in your organization;
• Challenge assumptions, generate alternative and change perceptions;
• Apply creative thinking in new product development, marketing strategies, quality programs, customer service and organizational conflicts;
• Promote efficiency and effectiveness in strategy meetings;
• Create a business group or organization, which fosters innovation.

Who should attend

• Whether you’re constantly under pressure to come up with better solutions;
• If you would like to improve your leadership skills as a manager;
• If your competitors are coming up with answers your company could have implemented;
• If your work-group is “blocked” and not performing to its full potential.

Program Content
Learn creative management thinking techniques you can load and run, like software, whenever you need them. Individual and group exercises will help you understand how to apply creative thinking skills and your generated action plan will enable you to implement this new knowledge into your workplace.

Day One
The Nuts and Bolts of Creative Management Thinking

• The fundamental principles of creativity
• Why do our brain processes make creativity difficult?
• The Immune System of the Mind ©(IFTD) – learn how to stop censoring new ideas
• Overcome the ten blocks that stop organizations from having new ideas
• ‘Right-brain’ and ‘left-brain’ thinking
• Different types of thinking processes and their applications
• How logical and creative thinking enhance each other
• Creativity – vital for effective management thinking
• The benefits of improved management thinking

Think Better, Manage Better

• Management thinking as a skill – maximize your greatest asset
• Essential types of thinking
• Drawbacks of conventional thinking and the pitfalls of intelligence
• Multiple Intelligences (M.I.) – the eight types of intelligence and their importance
• Emotional IQ: How emotions affect our perceptions, thinking, and actions
• The stages of the creative thinking process
• ‘Mental Mapping’ techniques for note-taking, planning and for developing and organizing ideas
• The A-B-C-D-E Process ©(IFTD) – a flow chart for problem-solving and generating new ideas

Brainstorming

• Rules for effective brainstorming
• Focused, targeted brainstorming
• MindRangeTM techniques to improve team thinking in less time

Day Two
Problem-Solving and Thinking Outside the Box

• The MindRangeTM Program –“software for the mind” to improve planning, decision making,
problem solving, & creativity
• Process ideas, generate options, consider effects and assume others’ perspectives
• Discover and challenge assumptions, generate alternatives and change perceptions
• The Spectrum technique- move beyond judgement
• Alternatives to the brain’s ‘accept/reject’ system

Implement Creativity and Thinking Skills in the Workplace

• Methods for translating management thinking into action
• Organizing creativity in the organization
• Allocation of time to creativity
• Creating, nurturing and applying new ideas
• Creativity and the entrepreneurial executive
• Creativity training to enhance Quality, Excellence and CRM programs
• Planning and adapting creativity to needs

Preparation of Strategy & Action Plans

• Participants will generate an action plan to transfer their new thinking skills into their work environment.

Seminar Leader
Fred Rosenzveig
Fred Rosenzveig is President of The Institute for Thinking Development in Montreal, (www.mindrange.com). He consults and conducts programs on innovation for private and public organizations worldwide, including Pfizer, Ericsson, Air Canada, IBM, Merck, M&M Mars, Bell Helicopter, Alcan, Radio Shack, and Edward Jones. Fred leads seminars at McGill University, Queen’s University and the University of Ottawa.