March 2022, Sawsan Khuri. Innovation defines the process of creating something new. Workshops are often used to describe facilitating the process of innovation. However, here at Collaborative Capacities, we prefer to use the term intervention.
A workshop is used with many different meanings and can imply a passive exchange of information between people through a discussion. The word intervention is more than a workshop, it serves as an act of interfering and disrupting a process with an outcome. When you intervene, you create change.
In medical terms, an intervention is a treatment or a lifestyle change that helps alleviate symptoms. Similarly in our innovation and facilitation work: the client needs help and we intervene, often over more than one session. An approach must be designed that will have the most effective outcome and result in the change necessary. For example, a company whose team is moving towards hybrid work needs an intervention to develop the best solutions for their business culture, or a business whose revenue has plateaued needs an intervention to design a new product or re-energise their team and realign them with the company purpose.
The result of innovation is a change, an improvement, an active outcome. Active outcomes require active processes. That medical analogy still holds: an intervention is about doing something in a difficult situation to improve it or prevent it from getting worse. Innovation is a breath of fresh air in a stuffy room, a cup of water for a wilting plant, the process of making something new to revive the old. The word workshop simply does not seem enough.
An innovation intervention is the perfect word to describe what we at Collaborative Capacities can do for you, because we catalyse change. We help you understand the issues, define solutions, set goals and develop a roadmap on how to achieve them. We intervene for positive impact.