FLAME in collaboration with IBM held a workshop on Koham Innovation – preparing and positioning oneself for innovation. The theme for the workshop assumed importance in view of the internal changes at IBM wherein innovation and creativity were to be included in the performance evaluation parameters across all levels of employees. Therefore, the focus of the workshop was around:
- the new paradigm of innovation,
- the role of innovation and creativity and
- techniques to foster and develop individual creativity.
The highlights of the workshop were as follows:
- There were discussions centering on IBM’s changing and dynamic business model, outlining their initiatives in various fields, especially cognitive, data, cloud and mobility.
- New concepts like evaluating employee experience at par with customer experience were deliberated.
- Concepts of creativity and innovation were discussed along with their classical definitions in the industry. Characteristics and features of innovation, with lucid examples were described. The concept of “Koham”, Sanskrit for “Who am I?” was explained within the context of creativity. The essence of discovering the self for enhancing creativity was stressed upon.
- Group work to ideate and mull over what was covered thus far was also part of the workshop. Groups has to share the ideas they had thought about. They individually presented their top ideas which were deliberated and discussed by the participants. The participants feedback was that the brainstorming exercise opened their minds to a higher level of creative thinking and through this process, they were able to confidently provide more ideas.
- The post workshop analysis has highlighted the scope of offering similar workshops to specific companies or on an open basis.