Cultivating an Innovation Mindset 
Last date for registration: 14 Jan, 2019
End Date : 25 Jan, 2019
Early Bird Discount Date : 03 Jan, 2019
The overview/ objectives of the programme
The world of business is increasingly becoming more VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). Leadership is now more of an adventure on the brink of uncertainty than a steady task of maintaining status quo. Surrounded by unprecedented levels of flux and change in the environment, managers who fail to innovate are finding themselves stuck and frustrated. Their brains are trapped in paradigms that keep them wedded to the past and unable to see or create future possibilities.
The ability to innovate is critical in all facets of business and this trend is only going to get stronger in the years to come. While innovation in technology is mostly at the frontiers of this change, the cascading effect of this is the need for innovations in business strategy, organizational structure, management styles and the nature and design of work itself.
A decade ago researchers were debating about whether innovators are born or made. Today however, research from neuroscience and positive psychology has proved beyond doubt that our brains are plastic, implying that mindsets and attitudes can be learnt, unlearnt, cultivated, and developed - but we need the right tools to do that.
In this intensive power packed two day program you will learn tools that will help you cultivate an innovation mindset. Tools that will enable your brain to think like an innovator so that you are no longer afraid of change, rather your brain is continuously on the lookout for how you can make things better - for yourself and for others. If you would like to participate in a powerful boot camp that will help you break free of existing paradigms and rewire your brain to think in terms of questions, possibilities and choice then this program is for you.
Contents and Outline
Day 1 - Morning: Unleashing the Power of Questions
Asking questions is fundamental to innovative thinking and most of us are pros at asking questions as children. However many of us lose touch with our natural sense of curiosity as we grow older and we get socialized into a way of thinking where the ‘right answer’ becomes more important than questions. In this session we revisit the lost art of asking questions. Participants will learn a technique called Question Storming, which is a powerful way to consciously generate provocative questions in a given context. Not all categories of questions are the same when it comes to innovation and participants will learn to distinguish between ‘why’ questions and ‘how’ questions. We will also use a tool called the choice map to introduce participants to what is known in management as ‘question thinking’ and through that explore the differences between learner questions and judger questions.
Day 1 - Afternoon: Overcoming the Fear of Failure
The number one impediment that stops our brains from thinking innovatively is the fear of failure. Innovation involves change, involves risk, and demands a willingness to venture into the unknown and experiment with possibilities not tested before. Fear is a natural and evolutionary reaction in such situations but the good news is that it can be managed. In this session participants will learn about how fear influences the workings of our brain by distorting perception, information processing and sensemaking. However they will also learn practical tools from the field of positive psychology that can be used to offset the fear of failure so that perception can be broadened in order to access a wider range of possibilities than are otherwise inaccessible when under the grip of fear.
Day 1 - Evening: Networking Dinner
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Day 2 - Morning: Leveraging Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry engages stakeholders in self-determined change through a practical process that combines the power of asking the right questions along with an attitude of appreciation. Participants will experience the power of discovery interviews and realize their potential to generate interesting, and often previously untold, stories related to the focal topic. They will learn how to leverage these stories so that they become a spring-board to creativity and innovation. Appreciative Inquiry revolutionized the field of positive organizational studies and through this session participants will learn how it can also be used to consciously foster innovation in themselves as well as for others - in both individual and team contexts.
Day 2 - Afternoon: Practising Integrative Thinking
Integrative thinking is the ability to constructively face the tension generated by opposing solutions and instead of compromising or choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution through the creation of a brand new idea that is superior to either.
The capacity of holding two opposing ideas in fruitful tension, without panicking or simply settling for one alternative is fortunately a skill or mental discipline that can be learnt. In this session participants will learn tools and mental habits that they can use to cultivate an ‘opposable mind’ for themselves so that they can use an integrative thinking approach to come up with innovative solutions to seemingly wicked problems in their businesses and lives that appear to have no readily acceptable solution.
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This two day workshop is for those who are looking to bring a more innovative approach to their work. The tools and strategies for rewiring the brain that will be shared in the workshop are something that can be used in any field of work, be it technology, business, education, governance or social work. In fact it is an approach that can also be used for reinventing one’s own life as well.
Attending this workshop will literally change the way you use your brain. It will empower you to acknowledge your inherent ability to find creative solutions in any situation and context. You will learn to identify the roadblocks and thinking patterns in your brain that prevent your brain from being able to identify novel and useful situations to any problem. You will cultivate a habit to literally live in questions so that your brain can begin to operate beyond the limiting frames of fear, judgement and conclusion that keep your brain (and therefore you) operating in a box that at any given time only represents a small fraction of the infinite possibilities that might otherwise be available to you.
The pedagogy for this course will involve lectures, in-class exercises as well as the sharing and practice of practical tools. Ramya uses an eclectic mix of right and left brained teaching approaches to create an environment that is playful, fun and engaging. You will learn the practical application of tools to retrain your brain and it’s thinking patterns but you will also learn the theoretical foundations of why these tools work so that you can create your own tools for your customized need.
Programme Fee and Payment
INR 74,000/- Residential (+ Applicable GST) per person for participants from India and its equivalent in US Dollars for participants from other countries.
The participants are required to work on assignments, cases and prepare for the classes the next day during the programme days. The programme therefore has been structured as a residential programme. Non-residential option is not available.
Early Bird Discount
Nominations received with payments on or before 03-Jan-19 will be entitled to an early bird Discount of 10%.
- Early Bird Fee (Residential) INR 66,600/-(+ Applicable GST)
Please Note:
All enrolments are subject to review and approval by the programme director. Joining Instructions will be sent to the selected candidates 10 days prior the start of the programme. Kindly do not make your travel plans unless you receive the letter from IIMB.
A certificate of participation will be awarded to the participants by IIMB.
- The programme fee should be received by the Executive Education Office before the programme commencement date.
- In case of cancellations, the fee will be refunded only if a request is received at least 15 days prior to the start of the programme.
- If a nomination is not accepted, the fee will be refunded to the person/ organisation concerned.
Dr. Ramya Ranganathan has a B.Tech in Electronics from IIT Madras, a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad and a PhD from London Business School. After working in blue chip companies like ICICI, Infosys, and Citibank she went on to explore the fundamental question ‘Why do people work’? Her quest led her to scour the fields of psychology, philosophy, neuroscience and theology, looking for tools and best practices that can help the human spirit flourish at work and in life.
For the last eight years, Ramya has been designing and teaching courses at IIM Bangalore where she invites students and executives to step into the driving seat of their own lives so that they can take a more proactive role in the way they work and live. She teaches Post Graduate, Doctoral and Executive Courses on Positive Psychology, Aligning Personal Values and Goals, Innovation, Intrinsic Motivation, Emotional Intelligence, Managing Stress and Personal Energy. She has designed and taught in customized workshops for clients such as Atlas Copco, Essilor, Novartis, Bosch, ISRO, Hindustan Lever, Aditya Birla Group, NHPC, NEEPCO, GAIL, Pernod Ricard, Novo Nordisk, etc. She has previously held the positions of Programme Director, Management Programme for Women Entrepreneurs, and the Programme Director, Management Programme for Entrepreneurs and Family Businesses at IIM Bangalore.
Ramya dreams of a world where there is no longer a chasm between happiness and work. Her many avatars include poet, philosopher, professor and parent. She is also a yoga teacher, an energy healing practitioner, a travel writer, and an artist. She published her first collection of poems titled ‘I’m Choosing Life’ in 2017.