FreeZone Innovation™
 Workshop Aim
 Creativity is the generation of ideas and innovation is the practical application of those ideas for business profits.
Due to increasing challenges in modern business, competitors continue to strive to out-do one another and this could in some instances mean the difference between a thriving and a declining business. The aim of this workshop is to teach participants new innovative ways of dealing with challenges. Participants will learn a model for innovation that is flexible enough to be applied to any product, service or situation.
 Workshop Objectives
- To learn and apply the basic model of innovation.
- To learn and apply the innovation techniques incorporated within each phase of the model.
- To learn and apply the skill to turn an idea into a company application.
- To learn how to set conditions that will promote and enhance creativity.
- To learn how to assess the feasibility for implementation to ensure success.
- To learn how to streamline the suggested solution in such a way that it will support a realistic implementation plan.
Workshop Outcomes
- The ability to harness the whole team's intuitive thinking ability in problem situations and to apply it in a way that it will create a high level of shared understanding of the solution required.
- A new awareness of the importance of having multi-level and functional teams solving problems innovatively.
- The ability to find new information from known elements and facts that will expand the scope for finding solutions.
- The ability to crystallise the most advantageous innovative option(s) for the resolution of a problem situation.
- The ability to use specific collaboration techniques that will facilitate the correct solution for a problem situation.
 The FreeZone Model
The FreeZone Innovation model consists of the following phases.
- Set the Task
To create a clear and common understanding of what needs to be achieved in the problem situation. The key lies in the ability to create an exciting and challenging task that will ignite the imagination and resourcefulness of the people involved.
- Situation Assessment
To open and expand the search for information so that everything is known about the problem situation, and to describe the problem situation as comprehensively as possible. The aim is to create a common understanding of the situation in such a way that will serve as the springboard for innovative ideas. Techniques such as functional, interface, problem/symptom and requirements analyses are used to ignite the possibilities for the problem situation.
- FreeZone Thinking
To jump-start innovation by creating the ability to find "new associations, insights and conclusions" from known elements and facts. This will help the problem solver to expand your scope for solution finding.
By applying idea associations, linkages, forced combinations, comparisons and new information generation techniques, it is possible to make useful deductions and conclusions about the facts at hand. Free Zone Thinking is the skill of evaluating information in such a way that it will produce new ideas, insights, techniques and relationships to produce a better way of doing something.
- Feasibility Assessment
To identify the most feasible option by identifying gaps and weaknesses in the suggestions. This stage will help the problem solver to ascertain the most promising ideas and its subsequent innovations for possible company wide implementation.
- Streamline the Solution
To address the weaknesses and obstacles of the suggested solution(s) and then to create an in-depth shared understanding of the final solution to be implemented.
 Method
The FreeZone Innovation workshop is a two-day hands-on, skills-building workshop that gives participants the opportunity to sharpen their skills through various innovation techniques and exercises. Participants will also practice the FreeZone Innovation model and experience its diverse applicability by applying it to their own job-related situations.
 Who Should Attend?
Managers, professional staff and certain technical staff whose jobs require innovative ideas, solutions and decisions.
 Company Benefits
- A thinking workforce that would be able to identify, describe, analyze and innovate any problem situation.
- Better and quicker acceptance of decisions made, especially those that need to be made in uncertain future situations.
- Well thought through solutions that have the commitment and support of everyone affected by the outcomes of the decision.
- A unique aspect of the FreeZone Innovation workshop is its emphasis on application to own-job situations. This prepares participants to implement what they have learned when they return to their jobs.
 Workshop Credentials
Dr.Charles Kepner and Dr.Mat-thys Fourie have developed the FreeZone Innovation workshop. This workshop is a result of their extensive consulting experiences in assisting their clients in finding innovative solutions to their unique problem situations. The workshop utilizes the latest thinking technology in divergent and convergent thinking and combines it with elements of FreeZone thinking, to present an advanced and innovative process in problem resolution.
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