Connect, learn, be inspired!
Regular activities facilitate the sharing of experience and wisdom across the community while highly topical issues are addressed. Whether you are interested in disruptive tech, leading innovation processes, managing innovation teams, running an innovative organisation, or being an innovator, you will find much to interest and educate you. You’ll become part of a special community of impressive peers.
The Innovators’ Assembly
The Assembly is open to all across the manufacturing ecosystem, and is a one-day gathering where topical issues are addressed collectively. Participants such as service providers, research institutes and academia are welcome. The day fosters connections and optimises cognitive diversity, while fuelling fresh thinking. See our exciting pans for the Sep ’24 Assembly below.
Three activity streams, Gyms, Matches and Circles
These can be subscribed to by hi-tech manufacturers of all kinds – e.g. engineering, chemicals, digital, pharma, and bioengineering. Gyms are intensive online workshops to earn tools for problem-solving; Matches are mentoring pairings carefully arranged across the membership; and Circles are highly confidential round tables for small groups of senior innovators to do a deep dive and receive valuable input on a “wicked” challenge each participant faces in bringing innovation to fruition.
The streams run through the season from September to the following June. See the more in-depth descriptions below. Subscribers to all three streams become “Full Members” and benefit from a discounted package rate, plus a discount off the Assembly.
Flexibility: It’s possible to join each stream half-way through the season, i.e. Jan/Feb. And it’s possible to select just the streams that suit your organisation’s needs.
Gyms can also be purchased to run internally for those organisations wishing to enhance collaboration across silos and sites.
Executive Coaching
We offer in-depth one-to-one support for senior innovators aspiring to, or who are already at Director level, and who are keen to make a substantive difference in their organisation’s capacity to innovate. Our special brand of coaching caters to the needs of highly intelligent individuals who can quickly grasp useful models and clear explanations of human system phenomena.
Management Team Facilitation
Experienced support can greatly accelerate the decision-making capabilities of the management team and design pragmatic approaches to engaging staff in transformational change, invaluable when introducing disruptive innovations.
The Network is effectively a carefully curated community. Do get in touch today to explore if your organisation is a good fit and how our activities will support its success.
We look forward to engaging with you!
Activities
The Innovators' Assembly
This event provides a unique opportunity to leaders across the high-tech manufacturing ecosystem to dialogue about the many systemic contexts in which they operate, for example:
Global issues such as the disruptive rise in AI, climate change and implications of international regulations, the economic decline of the “West” vs BRIC, etc.
National/international issues such as the implications of war on supply chains, focus on a specific nation e.g. China, Russia, etc.
Organisational issues such as the demographic time bomb re talent availability, the challenge of retaining good talent, harnessing digitisation in manufacturing (big data, AI, IoT), how to overcome internal barriers to innovation, etc.
Individual issues such as personal resilience and self-care in times of turbulence, leading a more diverse team e.g. with neurodiverse members, etc.
There is a wealth of experience within the community guaranteed to generate rich dialogue. A variety of links to stimulating (and in some cases controversial) expert sources is provided here to get the juices flowing.
A Topic Forum allows registrants to begin interacting about what to delve into on the day.
“It’s a conference, Jim, but not as we know it!”
The Assembly take a very different approach to traditional conferences – it’s carefully designed to ensure that a diverse mix of peers connect and enjoy dialoguing together, generating rich insight they can take back to their workplace. Topics are democratically chosen, and a gentle (and unique) process ensures full participation.
We manufacturers to send a representative from up to four distinct functions, e.g. from any of long-term product development, product management, operations, sales, marketing, HR, Finance. This helps build shared understanding across silos and adds more clout to any good ideas brought back to the organisation.
In 2023 the Assembly was an in-person event and we plan to continue this in 2024, as this is by far the highest quality mode for trust-building and dialogue.
The Assembly for the 22-23 was
Thursday 14th September 2023
8am registration for 8.30am start
4.30pm end
Where:
We were delighted and grateful to be kindly hosted by MacDermid Autotype at their excellent facilities in Wantage, easily accessible from the M4 and A34.
For the 23-24 season, we have a larger venue in mind that is similarly accessible and in a beautiful setting. We also have a guest speaker lined up to kick off proceedings for the day who will address the exciting topic of
Space and Sustainability
Col “Foggy” Fogarty, Chief of Staff, UK Space Command, will enlighten us on the opportunities of new frontiers, set against threats from nefarious actors, space weather and debris. We’ll hear about the international state of play and the emerging role of UK Space Command in ensuring that space is safe, secure, and sustainable for future generations.
Participation will be capped by the venue constraints so please get in touch if you would like to be part of this unique experience and particularly if you think your organisation is a candidate for the Innovation Network.
Three Streams
GYMS
So what is a “Gym”?
There are four of these expertly facilitated practice spaces for innovators to build confidence and capability, while getting to know colleagues from other organisations, and seeing through different cultural lenses. Invaluable!
Sessions are 3hrs long and there are two types that run twice each during the Sep-Jun season.
What are the two types?
- one type teaches and practices applying a powerful cognitive tool to address a shared systemic challenge. This is a well-recognised problem-solving approach used in change management. Attendees can bring this back and teach it to their colleagues.
- the other type teaches and practices how to facilitate others to solve an innovation challenge of their own – an invaluable capability for developing team members and can also be deployed when seeking to understand and support customers.
What are the benefits?
Participants learn valuable problem-solving tools that are immediately applicable back in the workplace, both for collaborative problem-solving, and facilitating others to solve their own challenge.
They also get to view a problem through the eyes of peers in different industries, who have the same problem, but address it differently.
Fresh perspectives spark fresh thinking and generate new ideas to apply straight away.
Participants find the gyms fun, illuminating and highly practical.
Some of the comments from participants, who range from mid-career to senior innovators:
“Clear direction with the session – took us on a journey”
“I gained a useful tool to take away to my own organisation”
“The session was well-presented and easy to understand.”
“Interesting how other companies are facing the same issues.”
“Great opportunity to talk through similar challenges with those independent of the norm.”
“The group discussions, especially with those I don’t normally interact with, provide huge value.”
“Great forum to share and refreshing to hear that all of us in the breakout faced the same issues, but with varied ideas and solutions.”
“Good to think of innovation in cultural, not just technological terms.”
“Good diversity of individuals within the session, breadth of experience and seniority”
CIRCLES
The Innovator Circles are a rare and unique confidential space for an intimate group of senior leaders and innovators to share personal challenges and receive input…
a) from their deeply experienced peers, and
b) the rich expertise of the facilitator – a wide variety of models and thinking tools are brought to bear as and when appropriate, helping to
- more clearly identify and analyse the systemic components of the issues put on the table
- generate and explore options to address the issue
- generally, equip participants to be able to work more effectively on resolving the issue they brought, and on future challenges
Participants can be transformation leaders, product developers or leaders of customer-facing teams.
An intimate round-table environment of no more than four participants enables candid in-depth exploration of issues with sensitive facilitation and high-quality support.
The venue is either a comfortable meeting centre, or the board room of a member organisation. It is a whole day activity.
What are the benefits?
Here are the words of some participants:
“The session had an engaging atmosphere that led to some really interesting dialogue between the delegates.
The agenda for the session was to discuss, as a group, an ongoing issue that we each were personally attempting to deal with in our organisations. This led to some insightful discussions around wider geo-political issues that are affecting us all right through to some specific actions that each of us could take back and apply.”
Research and Innovation Manager
“The Innovator’s circle is support we all would like from our own organisations but rarely experience. The ability to discuss pressing work-related issues with likeminded individuals from different corporate cultural influences in an open and “safe space” is both cathartic and enabling.
We often try to think of radical and innovative solutions to our problems when we are in the office – “brainstorming” our way out of the situation – when the real answer is much simpler and often hidden in plain sight. It takes a “friendly stranger” to point these things out sometimes.
The topic I chose was relevant and timely. The thoughts and actions developed in the Innovators Circle will guide my approach to resolving the situation.”
Innovation Manager
MATCHES
Willing mentors are matched with volunteer mentees across the Innovation Network community for two consecutive rounds of four sessions. There is a mandatory and highly valuable orientation session each for mentors and mentees at the outset. As a natural outcome, wisdom is exchanged between generations and cultures.
What are the benefits?
The two rounds in each pairing provide a powerful developmental opportunity:
Mentoring skills developed and are directly applicable by leaders in their own organisation.
Mentees gain valuable insights into their challenges, enhancing their performance.
Both mentors and mentees gain a fascinating window into other organisations, helping them step beyond unconscious cultural biases.
Some comments from Mentors:
“I think I got as much from it as my mentee”
“I was surprised how quickly it felt ‘natural’ between myself and my mentee – which was great as it drove the sessions and meant we were able to cover more ground.”
“I think we were able to cover a lot of detail in our four mentor sessions and that the relationship was open quickly, which also helped in covering topics.”
“It’s good to know that many of the problems seen in other companies are very similar to those we have experienced in the past”
Some comments from Mentees:
“Different insights into common themes has given me different avenues to explore.”
“I valued the listening, focus and understanding.”
“I enjoyed the experience”
“The reassurance I was given regarding some aspects, as I am at the beginning of my engineering career, helped quench some self-doubt and performance related anxiety. Along with this, there were areas where I have been doing well and this was pointed out by my mentor which instilled confidence. I now have a clearer path towards achieving my goals.”
“I feel more relaxed about not knowing how to do something and am more inclined to seek advice to tackle the problems that I encounter. The belief that there is an unrealistic performance expectation is no longer there.”
“The mentoring helped me learn how to better capitalise on my skills to excel in my current role; helped me bring into focus ambitions / expectations about career progression and define areas of improvement for career progression.”
“I appreciated the very open, insightful, and supportive discussions.”
Flexibility
Discounts for “Full members”
Calendar
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