Innovation Workshop Buffet

INNOVATION WORKSHOP BUFFET

WHAT IS IT AND WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE

By Saran Davaajargal

THE OFFICE OF RESEARCH & INNOVATION (ORI) continues to innovate and meet the needs of our industry partners and our growing research community at Humber through value-added offerings. A prominent example of this is our Innovation Workshop Buffet series, offered free-of-charge, 90-minute long virtual training sessions, developed and curated by our team of experts.

These workshops primarily focus on developing creative problem-solving skills, promoting values-based innovation and adopting design thinking methodologies. We offer these workshops to our industry partners to empower them to incorporate these skill sets into their workforce for effectiveness and competitiveness in the age of innovation. Industry partner representatives, faculty and staff at Humber who have participated in these workshops have gained valuable insights.

ORI has successfully facilitated two seasons of the Innovation Workshop Buffet series. The Fall 2021 Innovation Workshop Buffet was offered from October 14th to November 19th, 2021. The workshop participants have been able to expand their learning, explore human-centred frameworks, re-think problem solving and learn how to effectively make an impact on their audiences.

Fall 2021 Innovation Workshop Buffet by the numbers

10 Sessions Held

133 Participants Attended

92% of surveyed participants who responded "satisifed/very satisfied" with the session

We are delighted to have received encouraging feedback, and due to popular demand, ORI will continue to offer these workshops. The Winter 2022 Innovation Workshop Buffet series is scheduled from February to March 2022.

Here’s a little sneak peek at what you can expect

Do you want to learn more about Human-Centred Design? Develop your ability to understand others’ perspectives better? Learn skills that will help you generate impactful solutions? Then join our Introduction to Human-Centred Design workshop. The workshop is facilitated by our Senior Project Manager Camila Perez Pena.

Camila is a passionate Strategic Innovation Designer and Project Manager convinced that human relations, collaboration, and co-creation can change the world. She knows that both public and private organizations are developed in a dynamic and multidimensional environment in which meeting the needs of their internal and external stakeholders becomes the main challenge to keep or increase the value they deliver to the economy, industry, and society.

Regardless of our backgrounds, we are all designers.

Learning outcomes of Introduction to Human-Centred Design:

• Explore how this framework can allow you to perceive the world through the lens of others

• Build deep empathy and generate impactful solutions that reflect the voice of your users

• Reflect deeply and discover hidden motives that drive people

Here is what an Introduction to Human-Centred Design workshop participant shared:

The most important takeaway for me was the whole thought process around Human-Centred Design and how I can apply it while working with Humber students in the design and development phase of our project.

—Humber faculty

Want to create feasible and user-focused solutions? In the age of innovation, you need to discover your own and your organizations’ values to inspire, direct and evaluate innovation. How can you explore your own Values Perspectives? We recommend the Introduction to Design Thinking and Introduction to Values-Based Innovation workshops. Both workshops are facilitated by ORI’s Innovation Program Manager, Raeshelle Morris. Raeshelle holds a master’s degree in Leadership from the University of Guelph, a double-major honours bachelor’s degree in Management and Organizational Studies from the University of Western Ontario. She is also a certified project manager (PMP) trained in Creative Problem Solving, Values-Based Innovation through Values- Perspectives, Design Thinking, Change Management and Human-Centred Design.

Learning outcomes of Introduction to Design Thinking

• Learn essential design thinking techniques, mindsets, and behaviours

• Understand the design thinking process

• Understand how to grow ideas into powerful solutions

Learning outcomes of Introduction to Values- Based Innovation

• Understand your values perspectives

• Understand the importance of values alignment for organizations

• Understand the impact of values alignment on business model innovation

An industry partner participant, who attended the Introduction to Design Thinking workshop, expresses:

Design thinking is a great avenue to open up to more possibilities and to provide more chances to address real problems. It is a great tool to figure out where the real issues are so we can solve problems more effectively.

—Workshop participant

Have you ever got stuck while solving a new challenge? Ever wonder why you work so well with some people and not so well with others? Then the Introduction to Creative Problem Solving* workshop is for you. In this introductory workshop, we explore how to effectively solve challenges and create new opportunities. We also examine how the Basadur Simplexity Profile developed by Min Basadur, PhD., sets the stage for optimizing how we solve challenges and opportunities both individually and collectively.

This workshop is facilitated by industry expert Debra Pickfield. She is a dedicated “Minion” who has facilitated Simplexity sessions for over ten years and watched groups navigate from frustration to “ahhh—we get it” as they explore the real issue seeking to be solved. Debra’s commitment to recognizing problem solving as a key driver of innovation is what brings her to Humber College, and she is looking forward to sharing her passion and supporting anyone or any team as they learn new skills to approach any opportunity or challenges facing them. Debra possesses MBA in Leadership and BA in Social Sciences (Economics).

Learning outcomes of Introduction to Creative Problem Solving

• Understand your unique problem-solving profile

• Understand how to navigate working with team members who may have different views on creative problem solving

• Explore the problem-solving process

*This introductory workshop is a pre-requisite for Simplexity Level 1 for Problem Solving.

A participant, one of our valued industry partners, shares an insight:

Bringing together a diverse group of individuals creates opportunities for meaningful interactions in defining and solving a problem or challenge.

—Workshop participant

Last but not least, ORI is offering the Introduction to Data Analytics & Storytelling (Excel & Tableau) workshops, where we will have some fun learning the essentials of data analytics tools and how to use them in telling a great story about your data. Data storytelling is the best way to use data to create new knowledge and new decisions or actions. This workshop is facilitated by our data experts, Barath Roy Michel and David Weisz.

Barath holds a Master of Social Work (MSW) with a specialization in Human Resources. He worked as an HR Business Partner in TVS ASL, with an opportunity to dive into multi-million dollar client projects located in the Middle East. His key deliverables were related to recruitment, training, quality improvement, HR budgeting, performance metrics, data maps, agile implementation, and data analysis.

David is a data journalist and educator passionate about storytelling, spreadsheets and pandas (both furry and Python varieties). David is also the creator of Data Driven, Canada’s premier data journalism symposium. He is currently exploring new ways to collaborate on data-driven storytelling as a co-founder and director of Humber College’s StoryLab.

Learning Outcomes of Introduction to Data Analytics & Storytelling (Excel & Tableau)

• Working knowledge of MS Excel, how to build Pivot Tables and how to crunch data

• Tableau functionality and how to build basic visualizations

• How to tell better stories about your data

If you want to expand your learning, cultivate the art of creative problem solving, explore a humancentred framework, develop a design thinking mindset, understand and align values to support business model innovation and have fun learning how to effectively convey a story through your data, join us for the Winter 2022 Innovation Workshop Buffet series.

ORI looks forward to meeting you at the virtual table!

To register and see all our upcoming events, please visit humber.ca/research/upcoming-events