Reckitt Benckiser Three Days of Creativity and Innovation Training

Creativity and Innovation

Three Days of Creativity and Innovation

Reckitt Benckiser are a global company committed to passionately delivering the best solutions in household cleaning, health and personal care to their customers and consumers. They are also extremely committed to innovation. That's why their New Technologies Group contacted us about running a three day creativity programme to help with their ongoing product development and innovation.

The New Technologies Team wanted to be able to better facilitate their own creativity sessions in-house and were also looking for new brainstorming techniques to provide additional support to their idea generating sessions. We designed the mother of all three day creativity and innovation courses that would become a benchmark for us and a revelation to the team at RB.

Day one was an exploration of creativity styles using our unique 'Five Windows process'. Implementing our central philosophy of using what already works about a person, we helped each participant to identify their creativity style. No labels were strictly applied but the unique way each participant approaches the creative process was identified. An essential part of running a successful brainstorming session is understanding 'how' your people are creative. When the balance is right, ideas flow like the Trevi fountains; and we splashed around all day.

The focus of day two was on how to facilitate a creativity and innovation session. This included some communication skills and managing individuals and groups. We drew inspiration for this day from our cornerstone Train the Trainer programme to help the team get to grips with all the aspects of running a room. We explored the effects of environment on creativity and experimented with the different human senses to create optimum conditions for brainstorming.

Day three involved the group splitting into small teams and each team designed and ran a ninety minute brainstorming session for the others. Here is where the creativity of the team at RB shone through and became truly inspiring for us. We had sessions that included everything from punk rock music blaring, people drowning in a multicoloured parachute and dodging giant tennis balls - to virtual clients hanging from the walls. Darkness turned to light, hot to cold and confusion became enlightenment back to confusion, finally leaping into the promise of future innovations to come.

At the end of the final day the group shared their thoughts and feelings and it quickly became apparent that together we had all broken through some old barriers and re-invigorated our creative muscles. It was clear that this team was equipped, eager and ready to innovate. After much hugging, mutual stroking and warm hand shaking the Impact Factory team left the building.

Exhausted and content, our energy levels slowly lowering in synch with a big orange sunset, we set off westward home.

A wise person once said I'll probably forget what you say, I might remember some of what you did but I'll never, ever, ever, forget how you made me feel.

That was three days of creativity and innovation we'll never forget.

Another Three Days of Creativity and Innovation

Read about their second successful Three Day Creativity & Innovation programme.

If you would like to talk to us about a Creativity and Innovation Programme or any of the soft skills development work we do, call us on

+44 (0)20 7226 1877

or e-mail us at

enquiries@impactfactory.com