The strategic problem this addresses
Teams jump to solutions before they understand the problem, then defend those solutions with opinion rather than evidence. The result is wasted effort, slow decisions and change that does not land.
Intended audience
- Innovation Ambassadors
- Innovation Practitioners in their first stage
- Team and unit leads
- Improvement and delivery leads
- Anyone expected to frame and test ideas as part of their role
Prerequisites
- Digital Introduction (recommended)
- A live challenge from your own work to bring into the room
Duration and delivery format
2 days. In person or live online, delivered as a cohort of 12 to 24.
Capability outcomes
By the end of the programme and its workplace application, participants can:
- 01Map stakeholders and users and identify where evidence is missing
- 02Frame a challenge so that it is specific, testable and worth solving
- 03Generate and prioritise concepts against explicit criteria
- 04Surface and rank the assumptions a concept depends on
- 05Build a low-fidelity prototype and design an experiment to test it
- 06Make a recommendation based on what the evidence shows
Course experience
Day one starts with the challenges participants brought with them. Teams map stakeholders, interview each other as proxy users, and reframe their challenge until it is sharp enough to work on. The afternoon moves into structured ideation and prioritisation.
Day two is about assumptions and evidence. Teams identify the riskiest assumption behind their preferred concept, build a prototype that tests it, and design an experiment they can run back at work within two weeks.
The programme closes with each team presenting their framed challenge, prototype and experiment plan to a sponsor or senior colleague, and receiving structured feedback.
Methods
- Design Innovation and Design Thinking
- Lean Innovation and Lean Startup
- Problem framing
- Ideation
- Rapid prototyping
- Experiment design
- Evidence-based decisions
Tools
- Miro or Microsoft Whiteboard
- Microsoft Teams
- Copilot, ChatGPT or Claude for synthesis and ideation
- Capability Portfolio
Where AI supports this programme
Research planning and evidence synthesis, Ideation and concept development, Rapid prototyping, Experiment design. Human ownership of decisions, source checking and your organisation’s information-handling rules apply throughout. How we govern AI use.
Practical outputs
Work products recorded in the Capability Portfolio.
- Stakeholder map
- Framed challenge
- Prioritised concepts
- Assumption map
- Prototype
- Experiment plan
Workplace application
Within four to six weeks of the programme, participants run the experiment they designed, record the result and write a short reflection on what they learned and what they would decide next. The evidence is submitted through the Capability Portfolio.
Assessment and recognition
Assessed workplace application: a framed challenge, an experiment run in the workplace, the results and a reflection. Reviewed by an Innovation Network assessor or an accredited internal facilitator.
Certified Innovation Associate
Awarded only after the required workplace application has been completed and assessed.
Position within the wider pathway
The Align stage, and the common foundation for every role. It leads to Innovation Practitioner for those who will run live challenges, and stands alone for Innovation Ambassadors.
- 1Aware
- 2Align
- 3Apply
- 4Deliver
- 5Sustain
Part of the recommended pathway for: Innovation Ambassadors; Innovation Practitioners and Unit Teams; Internal Facilitators; Core Teams and Capability Specialists. See the role-based pathways.
Related programmes
Place in the Innovation Capability System
Design Thinking to frame and prototype; Lean to test assumptions with evidence.
See the whole systemEnterprise deployment options
Standalone programme
One programme, one cohort, one live challenge each
Best for: A team or unit that needs a specific capability now, or an organisation testing the approach before committing further.
Facilitated cohort
A role-based pathway for a cohort, with sponsored challenges and coaching
Best for: Developing practitioners, facilitators or leaders for a defined part of the organisation with visible results.
Enterprise capability academy
The full pathway run at organisational scale, with internal facilitators
Best for: Organisations building innovation and AI capability as a permanent asset rather than a programme.
Relevant case study
Defence and government
Building innovation capability across UK Defence
UK Ministry of Defence
A structured pathway, funded through UK Defence Innovation and the Defence Academy, that develops innovation practitioners across ranks and functions and turns training into applied work on live defence challenges.
Read the case study