innovate / creative risk for teams

TLDR

For teams that need to explore new ideas quickly and safely. Helps you take small, reversible risks in real work using practical innovation techniques that blend thinking and doing, policy and delivery, and ideas and evidence.

Public sector teams are encouraged to move faster and fix things, to test ideas earlier, and to blend policy and delivery thinking so that what gets decided can be made to work on the ground. The intention is clear, but teams are rarely shown what that actually looks like day to day. There are plenty of discussions and briefings, but fewer opportunities to try ideas out in low-risk ways and see how they play in delivery. This is particularly useful when policy and delivery need to work together, as one side tends to optimise for precision while the other works through iteration and tests.

This team-based programme focuses on that practical gap. It gives teams a structured way to take small, reversible risks by making ideas tangible early, testing them with structured feedback, and adapting based on what they learn. Working on a real piece of work, the team moves through discovery, ideation, low-fidelity prototyping and feedback loops. The outcome is a tested prototype, clearer delivery insight, and a repeatable method for exploring ideas without waiting for perfect information, extra budget or specialist support.

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  • By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

    • Understand a challenge through delivery and user lenses, not just abstract requirements

    • Generate multiple solution options quickly using structured ideation

    • Turn early ideas into low-fidelity prototypes to make thinking visible and testable

    • Use feedback patterns to refine ideas without overcommitting

    • Blend policy intent and delivery experience when shaping solutions

    • Take small, reversible steps that build insight before decisions harden

    • Work productively across different working styles, particularly where precision and experimentation need to coexist

  • Teams leave with:

    • A tested low-fidelity prototype linked to their real work

    • A practical method for exploring ideas before committing to them

    • Clearer understanding of how an idea plays in delivery, operations or user experience

    • A shared way of working across roles without waiting for extra budget or specialist teams

    • Greater confidence in using evidence from lightweight experiments to inform decisions

  • Full-day core workshop (in-person or virtual)

    For smaller teams or focused topics, the workshop can sometimes be run as a half-day.

    Follow-up virtual meetup (2 hours, 1 month later, OPTIONAL)

    • Review commitments and progress

    • Share embedded practices and lessons learned

    • Identify any new support or development needs

  • 09:30 — Welcome & Challenge Framing
    Define the specific problem or opportunity for the session.
    Expectations and objectives.

    10:00 — Empathy & Journey Mapping
    Map the experience, needs and pain points of users, staff or delivery partners.

    10:45 — Innovation Myths & Mindsets
    Identify beliefs that restrict creative risk-taking and test more useful alternatives.

    11:15 — Break

    11:30 — Rapid Ideation (Crazy 8s)
    Generate multiple ideas quickly in timed rounds; share and cluster top options.

    12:15 — Prioritisation (Effort/Impact)
    Select ideas with the right balance of feasibility and impact for early testing.

    13:00 — Lunch

    13:45 — Low-Fidelity Prototyping
    Sketch, map or mock up selected ideas to make them testable.

    14:45 — Feedback (Like / Wish / What If)
    Exchange prototypes and apply structured feedback to refine and improve.

    15:30 — Break

    15:45 — Commitments & Next Steps
    Capture insights, adjust prototypes and define small, safe follow-on experiments.

    16:30 — Close

Teamshaper's Innovate training module