Idea Time Innovation with Dr. Jo North

20 times published author, international speaker and facilitator Paul Sloane is my guest on this episode of the Idea Time Innovation Podcast.   Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on lateral thinking, creativity, and the leadership of innovation.  He has written over 20 books on these subjects.  The latest, published by Kogan Page, is  Lateral Thinking for Every Day .  He gives talks and workshop...

Paul Slater from the change shed is today's podcast guest.   Paul's an expert on change culture and transformation. In this episode we focus on how to build an innovative culture in your organisation. We talk about what an innovative culture is, what it means in practice, what it means for leaders, and speculate on the future of AI and its interaction with employee creativity.   Topics include: Wh...

This episode focuses on harnessing AI, technology, and innovation in online learning. I'm joined by Taryn Haynes-Smart, Head of Product Development at the Digital Campus in Johannesburg, South Africa. Taryn is a creative innovator who loves to use AI, technology, and innovation to create fantastic learning experiences for people participating in online University programmes. We talk about online l...

In this podcast episode about knowledge exchange and innovation, I'm joined by my guest Amanda Selvaratnam, Associate Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of York in the UK.   Key topics we cover are: What is Knowledge Exchange and why does it matter? Collaborative Learning: Strategies for Effective Knowledge Exchange From Theory to Practice: How to Implement Knowledge Exchange in...

Problems are simply the gaps between where you want your business to be and where it currently is. And of course, helping customers with their problems is what we are all in business to do. In innovation terms, some business problems are “messy”, that is, they are connected to other problems. Or they might be “wicked” problems, meaning they’re unclear and keep changing and evolving. Just a few exa...

Are you excited by your business goals for 2023? Have you got clear plans in place to achieve them, with contingencies mapped out in case other things get in the way? In this live episode I’ll be sharing evidence-based insights, tools, and approaches on how to facilitate a goal achievement workshop for your business, or a mini “retreat” if you’re working on your own. I hope you’ll join me, either...

Are you thinking about working with your team to regroup, reset and refocus for a healthy, enjoyable, and high performing year ahead? In this episode, I share evidence-based insights, tools, and approaches for facilitating a High Performing Team Reset and Refocus Workshop. The definition of ‘High Performance’ I use is about achieving sustainably and well, over the long term. Wellbeing, connection,...

How well are your products and services performing? When was the last time that you sat down and did a strategic review of your portfolio?   For some businesses, it’s a regular, ongoing activity. They’re always on top of what’s working and spotting early signs that something needs to be tweaked or changed.   In many cases, entrepreneurial leaders know what’s going well and what isn’t, based on int...

One of the members of my  Idea Time for Workshop Facilitators Facebook Group  asked me for some ideas for creative facilitation activities to use when working with groups to establish their Mission, Vision and Values.   So, in this show I’ll share a toolkit that will help you to facilitate a super-successful Mission, Vision & Values Workshop for your team or client.   You can use my tried-and-test...

Have you considered a growth hacking sprint for your business?   It could help you and your team achieve a flying start to the year ahead, in just a couple of hours.   Growth hacking is an approach that helps businesses to scale by combining powerful data, technical expertise and marketing flair to find and test promising new ways of driving growth.   It’s not about ‘hacking’ in the sense of too-g...

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Einstein   It’s brilliant that so many businesses want to be part of the solution when it comes to combating climate change and protecting natural resources through improving day-to-day processes.   And, as Einstein observed, new challenges call for new solutions.   In addition to Government decarbonisation targe...

You don’t have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me. – Scott Adams In my day-to-day, I encounter so many great innovators who have what they think are brilliant ideas. However, some of them struggle to get these ideas across the line, because others don’t see the opportunity the sa...

I’ve always been fascinated by what makes some people innovative and enterprising – or intrapreneurial – at work, and why some people prefer to be more risk averse and focus on managing the day-to-day, rather than actively seeking to shape the future.   Businesses need both, of course, to be successful.   It was this sheer passion and joy for all things intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship and innov...

"Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction." — Kenichi Ohmae Setting meaningful, stretching but realistic goals is one of the keys to success in business innovation and growth. When individuals and teams collaborate to set goals, they create an environment where team members work towards a shared vision, collaborate and perform better overall. In this show, I discuss...

Are you looking ahead yet to 2022? Now’s a good a time to start as any, and I’ve done a bit of the hard work for you.  I’ve reviewed a range of the leading trends reports for 2022 and will be sharing my overview for innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders in this episode. Join me for a practical, evidence-based view of what’s likely to be important for consumers and businesses as the world...

Do you want to put a ding in the universe? Steve Jobs did.  And I think many of us want to, as well, in our own way. It doesn’t have to be a huge ding. Lots of smaller dings add up. As ding-making team members, innovators and leaders, we can all develop our innovation mindset to massively multiply the positive impact that we create. We can learn to strengthen and maximise our unique, personal inno...

Collaborative innovation happens when different organisations, or teams from the same organization, work in partnership to create new products, services or solutions. It can be a brilliant approach to solving big, important challenges that need diverse inputs, pooled resources, and shared learning. Collaborative innovation also has its ups and downs, at times! The key to success lies in understand...

I believe innovation is all about coming up with great, new ideas and using them to make a positive difference in the world.    Of course, innovation has always been with us. Everything we use or enjoy today is the result of an innovation from someone, somewhere.    But it feels like we have never needed innovation as much as we need it now: emerging from the pandemic, tackling climate change, bui...

How do innovation sprints, also known as design sprints, actually work?  If you’ve not experienced one before, an innovation or design sprint is a short, focused, purposeful event designed to achieve solutions to a specific challenge or opportunity. Together your delegates from inside and often outside your organisation will collaborate to collectively define what success looks like for your chall...

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if …   …everyone in business felt inspired, confident and unapologetic enough to think independently, create more and regurgitate less? …people trusted in themselves and listened to their own intuition? …they consulted others, took on board different perspectives, and then came to their own conclusions, thinking creatively AND critically?   Never before have we had so much...

People behave differently in groups than when they are on their own or one-to-one.   This episode is a deep-dive into group dynamics for workshop facilitators. I’ll share some fascinating and useful insights into group dynamics that are invaluable for remote and in-person facilitation.   Themes include: How our human need for social connection influences our behaviors in a group setting Insights i...

Join me and my special guest, Andy Jenkins of MyLeadership Strengths , for this episode on strengths-focused innovation. Leading innovation in organisations brings great responsibility as well as opportunity.  In Andy’s decades of work developing leaders, he’s seen a common response to that responsibility: leaders strive to be good at everything. Research, and his experience, show that the ‘perfec...

Psychological safety is the key ingredient of high performing teams. It is defined as "a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes” (Professor Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School).   This episode is a great guide to psychological safety for innovators, facilitators and change makers. I share: A definition of and deep-dive int...

In this episode, I share all the essential information you need to know to do a brilliant job of facilitating a business strategy workshop, either for the company you work for or for your clients. The tools, tips and techniques I share can be flexed for virtual / online, in-person and hybrid or blended meetings. I’ll help you to think through: The purpose and objectives of the session Planning, pr...

Hybrid working, which is sometimes called “blended working”, is a form of flexible working that allows employees to split their time between attending the workplace and working remotely (usually from home). In the current climate, more and more teams are considering or doing hybrid working. This week’s episode is a guide to hybrid working – the upsides, potential downsides and how to make it work...