Today’s most successful businesses are in a constant state of innovation. As a result, these companies tend to establish more new competitive advantages, develop innovative ideas, and improve business performance. Their secret, it turns out, is through collaboration. Team members in top organizations contribute to a variety of teams, work successfully across functional lines and develop fresh ways of thinking.

COLLAB-OVATION LABS℠ is a proprietary Catalytics training program designed to to help your organization evolve to excel in these areas. The format is an intensive, one-day workshop, with effective prelude activities and follow-up assignments to maximize its benefits. The program can be conducted for intact or mixed teams, and customized for associates at all levels in your organization.

Our approach uses an Action Learning methodology that is based on the principle that adults learn best by doing. We engage participants in solving a real-world business problem that’s important to the company, while also creating opportunities to reflect on and improve the effectiveness of the group as they work on the problem. Group workshop activities are supplemented by individual feedback and coaching outside the workshop to support participants in their personal growth and development.

We utilize an inquiry-driven group process that promotes original thinking, challenges assumptions, creates clear and robust problem statements and solutions, and leverages the diversity of thinking and experiences within the team to build on one another’s perspectives and create innovative ideas and solutions.

In preparation for the workshop, Catalytics conducts one-on-one interviews with participants to discuss individual and group strengths and establish needs and goals for the workshop. Participants will complete an individual personality profile (e.g., Myers Briggs, DiSC, Birkman, etc.) to help them understand their personal interests, styles and needs and similarities and differences within the team. Catalytics then meets with the program sponsor(s) to finalize workshop plans and identify a current business challenge that will be addressed by the group in the workshop.

A one-day intensive workshop is structured in two modules.

The opening module focuses the group on their individual and team personality reports, similarities and differences among participants, strategies on how to leverage differences within the group to work most effectively as a team and individual planning on how to apply the learning in their day-to-day roles. The rest of the workshop is dedicated to working on the business problem or issue. The process includes real-time group and individual feedback on leadership, communications and team dynamics. Insights and themes discussed in the opening module are brought to the attention of the team by the facilitator to help the group apply their learning. We also introduce a variety of processes, tools and techniques to use within the workshop to stimulate innovative thinking and new approaches.

The workshop’s second half activates the team. They’ll collaborate to prepare and delive a recommended solution to the problem – either to the workshop facilitator, a program sponsor or executives familiar with the problem being addressed by the team.

Following the workshop, the Catalytics’ facilitator conducts a brief coaching call with each of the workshop participants to discuss the group’s performance in the workshop as well as the individual’s participation, demonstrated strengths, contributions to the team and plans for their application of the workshop learning and ongoing development.