Organizations that sustain competitive advantage do so by continuously generating useful new ideas and turning them into outcomes. The Innovation & Creativity in Management Training Course from Oxford Training Centre helps managers move beyond occasional brainstorming to create repeatable, scalable approaches for creative problem-solving.
The programme combines mindset work (psychological safety, tolerance for ambiguity, growth-oriented feedback) with practical methods (design thinking, structured ideation, rapid prototyping) so that creativity becomes an operational capability rather than an ad hoc event.
Participants will learn how to diagnose barriers to innovation in their teams, design environments that encourage experimentation, and manage trade-offs between creativity and delivery. The course emphasises cross-functional collaboration, rapid learning cycles, and continuous improvement, ensuring promising ideas are selected, piloted, and scaled efficiently.
Managers leave with a toolkit of techniques, templates, and a 90-day action plan to embed innovation into daily work—improving problem-solving, employee engagement, and organizational agility. This course also complements the Organizational Change & Transformation Training Course, enabling participants to align creativity with strategic transformation initiatives.
Objective and Target Audience
This course is designed for managers and leaders who need to lead, sponsor, or enable innovation inside their teams or units. Typical participants include:
- Mid-level and senior managers responsible for product, service, or process improvements.
- Project and programme leads who want to introduce creative methods into delivery.
- HR, L&D, and OD professionals building capability in innovation and intrapreneurship.
- Team leaders in R&D, operations, customer experience, marketing, and IT requiring structured ideation skills.
- Emerging leaders and high-potential employees earmarked for roles demanding creative leadership.
- No prior design-thinking expertise is required—participants gain practical methods applicable to real work challenges.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Explain core innovation concepts and the manager’s role in enabling creative work.
- Apply design-thinking stages (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test) to workplace problems.
- Run structured ideation sessions and evaluate ideas using clear impact-feasibility criteria.
- Design low-cost experiments and prototypes to validate assumptions quickly.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration to broaden perspectives.
- Build governance and metrics to track innovation outcomes.
- Embed continuous-improvement loops that turn learnings into scalable practices.
Course Modules
Module 1 — Foundations: Creativity as a Managerial Capability
Explores the why and how of innovation in organizations, focusing on psychological safety and leadership behaviours that enable creative thinking.
Module 2 — Empathy & Problem Framing (Design Thinking Start)
Teaches empathy-driven problem definition through user interviews, observation, and synthesis.
Module 3 — Ideation Methods & Creative Techniques
Introduces ideation methods such as brainstorming variants, SCAMPER, and rapid sketching for structured creativity.
Module 4 — Prototyping & Low-Risk Experimentation
Covers rapid prototyping and low-cost experimentation for testing assumptions.
Module 5 — Decision Rules & Prioritisation for Innovation
Teaches impact-effort analysis and portfolio thinking for selecting and scaling viable ideas.
Module 6 — Collaboration & Cross-Functional Execution
Focuses on mobilising cross-functional teams and aligning stakeholders toward shared objectives.
Module 7 — Scaling & Continuous Improvement
Covers scaling validated pilots, managing change, and embedding institutional learning.
Module 8 — Embedding Innovation: Roadmap & Playbook
Consolidates learning into a practical 90-day roadmap and playbook for sustainable innovation.
Teaching Methods & Activities
Includes hands-on labs, empathy interviews, ideation sprints, peer reviews, templates, and a capstone pilot project.
Assessment & Certification
Participants complete an innovation brief, experiment design, and 90-day implementation plan. Successful completion earns a Certificate in Innovation & Creativity in Management from Oxford Training Centre.
Duration & Delivery
- Intensive: 2-day in-person workshop
- Virtual cohort: 4 × half-day online sessions
- Blended: 1 day in person + 2 virtual follow-ups
Trainer Profile
Trainers are experienced practitioners in design thinking, product development, and organizational change.
Organizational Impact & ROI
Organizations benefit from faster problem-solving, higher-quality solutions, and improved engagement—supporting long-term competitive advantage.
Conclusion
Innovation and creativity are learned capabilities. The Innovation & Creativity in Management Training Course from Oxford Training Centre gives managers a structured path from insight to impact through design thinking, rapid experimentation, and continuous improvement.